Events

Artist Statement

Musicland was sparked by my love of the color and design of sleeves used for vinyl records in the 1960’s and 70’s. These thin paper envelopes were meant to protect a 45 single from dust and scratches, while at the same time, advertising the production company. Styles varied dramatically, but each sleeve was limited by a distinct, recognizable shape: a 7-by-7-inch square with a 3-inch diameter circle cut out of the center. Now, through the contact printing process, they are converted to photographic objects. We admire these nostalgic pieces for their artistic ingenuity and form. They are mementoes of the eras they came from, turning back to a time of swooping fonts, psychedelic patterns, and radiating lines. Photograms allows us to view these aesthetic forms in a new way, not as mass-produced, flimsy, and disposable sleeves, but as one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Their ubiquitous black holes are tiny portals to that swinging time and place of Musicland.

Artist Description

Like vinyl itself, the method used to create this series is a throwback to an analogue age. Working in the color darkroom, each sleeve acted as its own negative, like film. Placed on a sheet of photosensitive paper, they were exposed under light, then developed in traditional color photo chemistry (RA-4). The entire process is cameraless. We see the sleeves as a translucent overlay of both sides simultaneously, with unique, inverted color schemes.