Ian Ruhter. Framed triptych. Three unique hand-stained gelatin silver test strips from camera obscura. Signed on prints verso.
$1,500.00
Three unique hand-stained gelatin silver test strips from camera obscura.
Framed size: 28.5 x 21″
Color Field takes the viewer on a visual and emotional excursion accessing their subconscious memories and thoughts. Ruhter’s unique technique combining the visualization of the negative state of the image with the subtractive color process alters the way the brain sees and interprets these images relying on the subconscious for clarification and edification.
Ruhter said, “Returning home to Lake Tahoe after years in Los Angeles immediately brought my childhood memories back and overtook me. I realized that once I was present in nature and completely disconnected from the outside world, I was able to reconnect with the origins of life through this analog experience — the Color Field project was born.”
Ruhter’s work isn’t about documenting the land. It is meant to explore the emotions that nature invokes within us. Using a camera obscura designed inside a box truck served an ideal means to further explore this concept. Images captured insitu are processed immediately onto silver gelatin paper. Custom CMYK, pigments are used to hand-color and stain the paper with the pigment only being is absorbed by the white and highlighted areas within the photograph. The end result is a hybrid between black and white and color photography.
Ruhter, who refers to himself as an alchemist, who is employing similar techniques and processes to create his Color Field series. These works are not photographs or paintings but unique, hand colored artworks.
Ruhter’s quest was to explore how much depth and emotion he could evoke from the images in the Color Field series. These images are familiar yet atypical to the viewer leading them on a self discovery journey. “This use of color emulates a pop art element drawing our awareness to the exploitation of nature in our times today” explains Ruhter.
To capture the timeless imagery of nature as it exists is beauty. To be so bold as to accentuate the splendor and emotional essence of nature as Ruhter has with color is sublime.
Ian Ruhter. Framed triptych. Three unique hand-stained gelatin silver test strips from camera obscura. Signed on prints verso.
Obscura Gallery
225 Delgado St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505-577-6708
info@obscuragallery.net
Member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers