Thankful
Invited Artist |
Kris Stoll
Savior in Velvet, 1998
Devore velvet photograph
24" x 24"
My work is concerned with the body and its various processes of transformation, some inevitable, some voluntary. Traditional photography flattens texture, makes time static. I use innovative printmaking processes to overcome this shortcoming, to transform the photographic image into something textural, or to incorporate and reference the passage of time.
In my work in velvet I begin with the skin, the light it reflects, the shadows it casts, and the unique details etched either by age or tattoo needle, and I seek to make those elements palpable. Velvet is made of rayon pile on a silk mesh. With the screened application of a cellulose-specific caustic, the pile is dissolved, leaving the mesh behind. This process results in an image etched into the fabric, light areas made translucent, shadows made of lush texture. The portrait casts a shadow. What begins as an intimate image of a friend or family member ends as a mural-sized icon of bone and skin, all of the hollows and folds and designs brought into high relief. The works are an exploration of the human body and a metaphor for its continuing metamorphosis. This is work you are welcome to touch.
