Like all artists I have drawers and drawers of artwork; we carry the past around like a snail; the images get re-shuffled and re-shelved. Yet there is an interesting history of artists who have destroyed their earlier work. Some did it out of frustration, some to reduce inventory and some to create new conceptual pieces or performances. As I developed this work, cutting and tearing up my large format Polaroid prints, I was often shocked with the chaotic piles of debris which took the place of the carefully archived prints I had carried around for years. After so many years of composing images through a viewfinder, the process of assembling and gluing a collage was terrifying. As I worked, the structure and visual language I was looking for began to emerge. The earlier photographs were transformed; a resurgence of ideas.
These works are photographs of montages made from Polaroid photographs. They are purposely presented on a scale usually considered by painting. As with much contemporary art, the series Resurgence cannot take the label of a singular art form. The original Polaroid photographs were made in New York City and Boston in the early 1980’s when I participated in the expansive artist program developed by the Polaroid Corporation. We were given two or three days ‘on camera’ with the 20 x 24 camera and technical assistance. There were no limits on production and the results were immediate. My spontaneous explorations with figures, fabric, long exposures and movement resulted in a lot of prints. I have chosen to reconsider the rich color of the materials and restate the images. The montages were re-photographed and are UV Pigmented prints on acrylic.
