honorable mention
Christopher Paul Brown united states
title
Aluminum in the Light
I met the model Katrin Dohse, the model in this series, in late spring of 2015 and liked her freshness, poise and strength. She also had, I soon learned, superb concentration. Whether spilling beans from a cup or twirling with fabric, paper or aluminum foil she was adept, elegant and playful in her execution of each motion. We shot this series at an abandoned warehouse. The space had dirt floors and skylights in some areas. The skylights we used were all just the right kind of dirty.
My approach with art is to simultaneously embrace intent and openness, two poles of a polarity that allows the flow of alchemy to occur. My intent is strong, but never specific. I expect surprise and serendipity. This can only occur outside of my control. My openness is what allows the alchemical flow of energies beyond my ken. In a sense, it feels like I am discovering a pre-existing object rather than creating something new. During the process I am like a wire conducting electricity or a lens conducting light.
String Theory scientists now describe our world as having eleven dimensions. I feel that I explore a portion of these unnamed dimensions with my art.
Brown received a BA in Film from Columbia College in 1980. He subsequently co-founded the experimental music groups Random Touch and Bosch. His video You Define Single File was nominated for the Golden Gate Award at the 47th San Francisco International Film Festival.
Although he had been shooting continuously, it wasn’t until 2008 that he returned to exhibiting his photographs. Initially these were very large prints from medium format film negatives. In 2013 he migrated to primarily using digital media. Brown subsequently won the Bronze Award from Art Forward in 2015 and 2016 and the Cash Jury Prize from Art Fomenar in 2017. He has won many competitions resulting in numerous exhibitions. Recently he exhibited outside the USA for the first time, first in Belgrade, Serbia and then in Rome, Italy. This September he has ten works in a four-man photography exhibit.
The hallmark of Brown’s work across multiple media has been improvisation and play. He uses this to access alchemical processes to reveal the hidden, the unconscious, magick and, perhaps, dimensions beyond the familiar four. Until he began working with models in 2014 his photography had been a solitary endeavor. While music and video creation have been collaborative affairs, his solo photography has been his one continuous artform from 1978 to the present. He has created thousands of images over a span of nearly forty years.
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entry description
The series Aluminum in the Light is a subset of the Radical Play series. The radical in radical play references both a return to roots and a departure from the norm. Radical play is a simple and direct approach to creating alchemy/art. It bypasses the ego and mind and directly addresses the emotions, the senses and the soul.I met the model Katrin Dohse, the model in this series, in late spring of 2015 and liked her freshness, poise and strength. She also had, I soon learned, superb concentration. Whether spilling beans from a cup or twirling with fabric, paper or aluminum foil she was adept, elegant and playful in her execution of each motion. We shot this series at an abandoned warehouse. The space had dirt floors and skylights in some areas. The skylights we used were all just the right kind of dirty.
My approach with art is to simultaneously embrace intent and openness, two poles of a polarity that allows the flow of alchemy to occur. My intent is strong, but never specific. I expect surprise and serendipity. This can only occur outside of my control. My openness is what allows the alchemical flow of energies beyond my ken. In a sense, it feels like I am discovering a pre-existing object rather than creating something new. During the process I am like a wire conducting electricity or a lens conducting light.
String Theory scientists now describe our world as having eleven dimensions. I feel that I explore a portion of these unnamed dimensions with my art.
about the photographer
Christopher Paul Brown has been an active artist for more than four decades. In 1978, he purchased a Contax RTS 35mm camera with a Zeiss lens. Between 1979 and 1986 his work was published in several Chicago magazines, displayed in numerous exhibitions and purchased for the collection of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana. His first solo show debuted during this time at Northern Illinois University’s Swen Parson Gallery.Brown received a BA in Film from Columbia College in 1980. He subsequently co-founded the experimental music groups Random Touch and Bosch. His video You Define Single File was nominated for the Golden Gate Award at the 47th San Francisco International Film Festival.
Although he had been shooting continuously, it wasn’t until 2008 that he returned to exhibiting his photographs. Initially these were very large prints from medium format film negatives. In 2013 he migrated to primarily using digital media. Brown subsequently won the Bronze Award from Art Forward in 2015 and 2016 and the Cash Jury Prize from Art Fomenar in 2017. He has won many competitions resulting in numerous exhibitions. Recently he exhibited outside the USA for the first time, first in Belgrade, Serbia and then in Rome, Italy. This September he has ten works in a four-man photography exhibit.
The hallmark of Brown’s work across multiple media has been improvisation and play. He uses this to access alchemical processes to reveal the hidden, the unconscious, magick and, perhaps, dimensions beyond the familiar four. Until he began working with models in 2014 his photography had been a solitary endeavor. While music and video creation have been collaborative affairs, his solo photography has been his one continuous artform from 1978 to the present. He has created thousands of images over a span of nearly forty years.
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