Alright...

...so we've seen some good examples of artists who are using antiquated technologies to create some really unique and wonderful work. But why are they using these technologies, and what does it mean?

It should be noted that all of these artists are clearly contemporary and they're creating work that is distinctly Postmodern. [While modern artists gave credence to their forebearers, they rarely re-appropriated images in their work. According to Robert Atkins, "appropriation artists challenge the cherished modern notion of avant-garde originality by borrowing images from the media or history of art and re-presenting them in new juxtapositions or arrangements that paradoxically function in the art world as celebrated examples of innovation or a new avant-garde" (Atkins 153).] By reappropriating these "outdated" technologies in their work, contemporary artists can re-align our ideas about said technologies, and hopefully use them to reach new conclusions with their art.

The impact of these artists' works are intensified by their place in the shifting landscape of technology as we now know it. For all the artists discussed, a digital version of their technology is making the medium faster, more streamlined and easier to standardize. What these artists are looking for, however, is something that is truly unique and less standardized. With advancements in technology, we might say, greater standardization has become a major goal. For artists, however, the opposite is often the case. Using "outdated" technologies, then, is a logical way for artists to create work that rebels against the growing standardization of contemporary society.

Most antiquated technologies are anything but standardized, and often lend themselves to greater idiosyncrasies and inimitability. In the letterpress video, for example, we’re told “it merely takes looking at it to see that there is a difference.” Indeed, each piece created on an antique letterpress is “one-of-a-kind” in a way that many contemporary, especially digital printing methods never can be. Digital printing methods, instead, focus on making each piece as perfectly consistent and standardized as possible. Sally Mann has said that she often prays for her plates to be “screwed up just a little bit,” thus lending a greater sense of individuality and serendipity to her art. It may be ventured, then, that a large part of what makes art Art is “one-of-a-kind-ness,” or a degree of serendipity and that using antique technologies helps artists reach a level of individuality in their work that new technologies cannot provide.

Ironically, the appreciation antique technologies have garnered in the art world would not be possible without technological growth and paradigm shifts. When these technologies were first introduced they were not valued for their art making capabilities. Instead, these technologies were the standards of their own time, and they were created as part of a quest for greater consistency in the organization, storage and sharing of knowledge.

As technology advances and evolves, however, new understandings of the tools of a past age can be created by manner of distance from the time period. This new understanding also seems to coincide with cessation of that technology’s role as a prevailing force of standardization. Because of this, it seems, there would not be the same appreciation for letterpress, wet photography, woodblock printing, silent film, or otherwise without a technological shift away from these processes toward a more digitized medium. It seems that in the end, it’s only by understanding the shift from analogue to digital that we can truly appreciate the capacities of analogue technology. Furthermore, if the purpose of art is to make us reconsider our current models of reality, then for artists, reappropriating “outdated” technologies to create contemporary objects seems completely appropriate and necessary.

To the Block

Woodblock is the earliest form of printing, originating in China before the year 200. Today, many artists are still creating woodblock prints on both fabric and paper.

Karen Kunc is a Nebraska artist whose contemporary woodblock prints have been highly acclaimed for their rich use of color and shape. Like photographers who are using antiquated processes on contemporary subjects, Kunc is using the ancient woodblock process to make prints that are clearly rooted in a Modern aesthetic.

http://davidsongalleries.com/artists/kunc/kunc-wanting_pool.jpg
The Wanting Pool, 2007

http://davidsongalleries.com/artists/kunc/kunc-venus.jpg
Venus, 2005

http://davidsongalleries.com/artists/kunc/kunc-of_earth.jpg
Of the Land, 2005

Karen Kunc at Davidson Galleries

Photographic Evidence

Although digital photography makes it easier and faster than ever to create clean, commercialized photographs, many fine art photographers continue to use non-digital photographic processes in their work. In fact, many are even uniting digital and non-digital processes to create more dynamic images than ever before thought possible.

Ironically, like many other “antique” art forms, non-digital photography seems to be valued by artists for the same reasons many commercial photographers are discarding it in favor of its digitized cousin—it’s often slow, difficult, and highly error-prone, as photographer Sally Mann illustrates to in this video of her using the wet-plate collodion process in an 8x10 camera (a-la US Civil War era photography):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o62-YMQHeoI

Tintypes made portraits relatively inexpensive in the 19th century, and today, many artists are using the process to create unique, eerie portraits once again, despite the apparent difficulty of the process. Here are some examples by contemporary artists who are going back to the tintype process:

http://www.andersonstaley.com/users/KeliyAndersonStaley4060/images/KeliyAndersonStaley4060415411.jpg
Keliy Anderson Staley

http://rainsong.weblog.com.pt/fotos/BlackWinged.jpg

Jayne Hinds Bidaut

Here is an example of some of my own work with "outdated" photographic processes:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCj28ErwuGK93bm5C-66Y3L0bnY7DUHX8KZ4jKFsvxIYufdJZ0dTBf2fbFyb16K8G-LJNqK4j2wQXHemRdphz-mDZdr4I1oUXmUms7eZFKuVWGAppvTqYxnvUgfB82ruNd0iYGWzMS3lc/s1600-h/facetint1.jpg

A self portrait taken with a 4x5 camera and hand tinted after being printed "the old fashioned way" in a wet darkroom.

So, why is it, then, that so many photographers continue to use these "outdated" processes in their work? Although these processes take longer and can be considerably more labor-intensive than creating digital photographs, it's obvious that their results are very different from digital photographic processes. The aesthetic of a tintype or hand-tinted silver gelatin print is vastly different from that of an inkjet print from a digital file. While some photographers may be trying to capture an image that looks like its from the past, others are photographing distinctly contemporary subjects with distinctly antique processes. Such a combination may be a way for photographers to set themselves apart and create unique work.

Check out these links for more interesting photographic processes:

Photogravure
Alternative Photography.com

Letterpress

While the digitization of print has intensified the speed and accuracy of printing, many printing companies have instead been using antique, analog letterpress technology to create stylized, unique objects.

"Letterpress Printing is a relief printing process in which a raised image is inked to produce an impression; the impression is then transferred by placing paper against image and applying pressure.

Since each piece is created individually, slight variations in color and registration are possible" (Moontree Letterpress).

Check out this video about letterpress:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv69kB_e9KY

Here are some other lovely letterpress examples:

http://www.moontreearts.com/callidus.jpg

http://www.moontreearts.com/bonnybilly.jpg

http://www.moontreearts.com/8.jpg

http://www.moontreearts.com/c7.jpg

Moontree Letterpress
Briar Press Community
Greenwich Letterpress

Silent Film

Silent film is making a comeback! Check out this trailer for Kiss of Life, a short film that uses the art of silent films for comedic effect:

Kiss of Life

What's really interesting about this movie, is that it's clearly a contemporary film, but it's implementing some very old-fashioned film techniques. While the film is obviously silent, it's also using some very silent-genre-specific slapstick-style moves and highly dramatized body language. This intensifies the effect of the silent genre, but because its shot in color and in modern settings, the film has a completely fresh, very creative feel.

Modern Art

Just to get the ball rolling, let's take a look at how one of the greatest "antique technologies" has been used for strictly artistic purposes:

Many modern/contemporary artists (especially after 1945) began "re appropriating" everyday objects and technologies like books to make statements about the role of knowledge and learning in society. Here are a few great examples:

http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/T/T02/T02072_9.jpg
John Latham
Five Sisters Bing 1976

http://www.ps1.org/images/exhibition/large/2006/Fall2006/John%20Latham/Philosophy%20and%20the%20Practic%20copy.jpg
John Latham
Philosophy and the Practice of 1960

http://media2.moma.org/collection_images/resized/455/w500h420/CRI_128455.jpg
Lucas Samaras
Book 1968

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2297/2390051547_1caeda40c2.jpg?v=0

Lucas Samaras
Book 4

Works Cited

Atkins, Robert. Art Speak: A Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1945 to the Present. New York: Abbeville Press, 1997.

"About letterpress". Moontree Letterpress. 26 July 2009 .