Color Photograms by David Fried
Mapping the temporal balance between water and air in the form of unique bubbles - which emerge as a result of dynamic systems that do not follow linear and hierarchal patterns of organizational behavior - Fried charts the fundamental economy of networks in nature. In varying chromatic tones, Fried depicts strictly non-biological membranes that evoke a strong resemblance to primordial living cells or biotech test-tube creations, and reminds us of just how fragile, yet adoptive the architecture of life is.
Fried creates large gaseous vesicles in a totally darkened room using infrared goggles. At the decisive moment before they fall, he photograms them onto grainless color sheet-film by triggering a colored point-light source above. He captures the shadows of these fleeting objects to make an image on a photosensitive support using only light and the light sensitive material. No camera or lens is used. What we see in his enlarged C-prints are the latent shadows and spectral aberrations of these transparent forms caused by the membrane's curved surface. The object itself becomes the lens, subtly bending the light and altering its own image.
The title refers to Lucy (the early hominid "Mother"), to us (the "Myth"), and to Dolly-the-Sheep (what Fried ironically calls the "Missing Link") in a dialogue that seeks orientation in a world in which man has moved from adapting to and controlling their environment, to designing life itself to fit it's environment. With this work, Fried involves our sense of orientation in a world that has taken a biomorphic journey from the Cambrian Sea to the Sea of Science and it's playpens of genetic engineering.
Find more information about the artist at his website:
Davidfried.com
(Image: In bed with lucy and dolly No.32, No.36, 2003, color photograms, archival c-prints on diasec, alu. 130 x 200 cm)
David Fried