Paul Romaniuk 

"Since an early age, I have always viewed the world both as an artist and as a curious scientist. Growing up, I spent many summer days on my own exploring the nearby woods, fields, ponds and streams completely at ease with my solitude. I had an unquenchable curiosity about the natural world and conducted ad hoc science experiments in a free, unschooled way. At some point I began to keep journals and make photographs to document my daily adventures.

Today, as a trained scientist, I investigate molecules and the way they interact to define the functions of a cell. I approach my scientific investigations with an artistic appreciation of the beauty and elegance of these ‘molecular dances’. 

As an artist, I am driven by my scientific need to experiment, pushing materials and processes to make new expressive photographic images that blend the characteristics of painting, drawing and printmaking."

Paul lives and works in beautiful Victoria, BC.

12_06_25_004 4x5 Tintype

Classification explores groupings of seemingly disparate everyday objects on the basis of shape, tone and line. Images are made using the 19th century photographic process of wet plate collodion, which transforms our view of these objects without masking their identity. By removing them from their more common context, the resulting tintypes emphasize a novel classification of vegetables, flowers, and rocks based on principles of common shapes and tones and reveals previously unknown relationships.
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Kallitypes for a Rainy Day #10, Romaniuk

Ten Kallitypes for a Rainy Day |  My work with botanical subjects is compelled by the wonderful tensions that exist between the conventional beauty and uniformity of flowers, and the subtle unique characteristics of the individual blooms.

Within this tension, I find a richer beauty, beyond the brilliance of the colours we are so quickly drawn to, and instead I choose to explore the more formal compositional relationships between positive and negative space within the individual characteristics -- curving lines, delicate tones, developing patterns -- of the flora and fauna.

Sheltering from the rain on my studio porch one morning I went to work to make a series of ten kallitype prints as a memento mori of these reflections. The nature of a handcoated kallitype print reflects the same variation and individual character of a floral bloom; each print is unique is some subtle way.

Each one of Romaniuk’s prints is printed by hand, leaving each print unique in some subtle way, with touches left by the artist. The prints are signed and numbered verso by the artist, in an edition of 5. 
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Gold Rush, Romaniuk

Taxonomy | is a series of unique images made to reveal the beauty that lies beneath the surface of plants. This hidden beauty is composed of translucent shapes, remnants of the plant material embedded in the photographic paper, and the combination of muted and intense colours. Each print is like a fossil in rock that can only hint at the nature of the original object. The unpredictable outcome of the process makes it difficult to classify these artifacts, thus the taxonomy is incomplete and remains open for further investigation. 
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Print sales & artist inquiries can be directed to Diana Millar diana@luzgallery.com