Title: unfinished
I grew up in an era and circumstance where photographs were rare, only taken to mark special events. Family tradition taught me to cherish these revered icons of our life.
Early in college, I learned the history of photography and the importance of archival processing which reinforced my childhood belief in the sanctity of the photograph. Later, Robert Fichter introduced alternative photographic processes and planted the seed of sacrilege when he showed that a print could be a part of a photographer's artistic vision, not the final form.
After college, inexpensive consumer Polaroid was abundant and perceived by many as disposable and unimportant, the antithesis of the archival black-and-white print. I could produce images without any darkroom time, a break from my early training and thinking of what constituted a worthy photograph. This freedom in process and thought grew into a revolt against my reverence for the photograph.
In 1980, I purposely selected things slated for destruction to photograph. I placed a cast-off part of a wooden bench on a John Deere crate. I took a Polaroid then nailed it to the wood. Driving the nail through the Polaroid was liberating. I took two more shots and nailed them to the wood in sequence. The fourth Polaroid showed all three nailed to the wood. However, I was not completely satisfied with how that felt. I could keep taking and nailing Polaroid after Polaroid to the wood, but that was unfulfilling.
Years later, I realized that this very open-endedness was what still drew me to this piece. For this reason, I added pegboard, the hammer used in 1980 to nail the Polaroid to the wood, and a Pronto camera to the piece. Take a Polaroid or not, nail it, or not. It finally felt right - unfinished.
Ready to display. Free shipping to US and Canada.
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