deankessmann

Charting Color on Neutral Ground (work-in-progress)

unique archival pigment prints, 87.5 x 62 inches, 2016–ongoing
edition 1/1

unique archival pigment prints
87.5 x 62 inches, 2016—ongoing
edition 1/1

Read a short description of this project

Charting Color on Neutral Ground

Charting Color on Neutral Ground is a continuation of past projects that address the materiality of mass-produced paper products that exist in consumer culture. However, unlike past projects, this work looks at the basic materials used by commercial studio photographers: a neutral gray background that specifically represents the Kodak Gray Card, gradient background paper of various colors, and a selection of color calibration charts. In this work, my focus turns to the paraphernalia within photography studios that generally serves as the backdrops to commercial still-life imagery rather than what normally constitutes subject matter. Additionally, the color calibration charts—charts temporarily placed on set to ensure proper color balance and then removed from or cropped out of the final photographs—remain front and center. By re-presenting the utilitarian color charts, gradient backgrounds, and a neutral gray field as both backgrounds and subjects—simultaneously the figure and ground/positive and negative space—this work reflects upon a rich history of artists who have embraced the standardization of color as the content of their work. This new work opens up the possibility for viewers to make newly discovered associations between high art and consumerism through contemporary notions of abstraction. Charting Color on Neutral Ground is an homage to past works of art, an examination of commercial photography within popular culture, and a reflection upon the material and virtual nature of color in a digital age.