Taxonomies
Paul Romaniuk
November-1st to December-1st, 2012
Lúz Gallery is proud to present Taxonomies by Paul Romaniuk. Taxonomies is an exploration of creating a personal shorthand to understand the world around us, through two distinct bodies of work – Taxonomy and Classification.
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.
Classification Images
Introduced in the 1850s, the collodion process is an early photographic process, invented by Frederic Scott Archer. Wet Plate Collodion requires a photographic material, in this case, tin (ferrotype) to be coated, sensitized, exposed and developed within the span of about ten minutes, as the plate can not be allowed to dry. The end result is a one-of-a-kind positive image. This process was commonly used during the America Civil War.
"in a sense, the wet-plate photographer makes his own film and processes it on the spot." John Coffer
Additional images from the Classification series [here]
Additional images from the Taxonomy series [here]
Taxonomy is an ongoing 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. A lumen print is formed from the direct interaction of plant with photographic paper during a prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. Through this process, each image is created as one-of-a-kind print with ambiguities that evoke a sense of beauty, mystery and loss. 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.
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.
More work from Romaniuk: Ten Kallitypes for a Rainy Day
Taxonomies opens November-1st and continues until December-1st, 2012
Artist Talk, Wednesday Nov-14th at 7pm.
*please note there is not an opening reception on Nov-1st, so please join us for the Artist Talk.
Please contact the gallery for additional information on the prints & artist
+ 250 590-7557
diana@luzgallery.com