About the Exhibition

Exhibition essay by Joanne Fung

lan Brown’s work, Air, Fire, Water, interrogates both the transient nature of the photographed subject and the mutability of the photo- graph through the work’s multiplicities. The repetitive depiction of the three elementals heightens their unstable presence in the natural world, and emphasizes the constant inconsistency of the climatic phenomena. When one photograph portrays the forcefulness of water leaping across rocks, so does another find the water stable and certain in its moment of capture. In the multiple representations of the natural events, Brown highlights their significance as being ultimately mutable and impermanent. However, the multiplicities in Brown’s work do not only explore the transient nature of the photographed climactic phenomena, but also work in tandem with the photographed subject to call the audience’s attention to the mutability of the photograph itself.

Revolving around Brown’s work is an exploration of how different photomechanical processes influence an audience’s interpretation of the images. The mutable nature of texts is evidenced through Brown’s disassembling of the original image into expositions of the various processes and layers, with each multiple producing a unique image that is as transient and changeable as the subject matter it portrays. Depicted are the three elementals in their momentary, but significant forms. With each image uncovering yet another layer of photo processing, and contextualized with the subject matter of the images, Brown hints towards each process shown as momentary, but significant. Viewing the images that are a display of the processes that the original went through, we are asked to reexamine the way we view texts that have projected the world we live in. There is the question of whether the original image is an accurate representation of the climatic phenomena depicted. How often do we glance over the processes used to create different texts, and in what way does the text become an entirely different text based on the stage of process it is in? Brown’s exposition of the various geometric shapes, harsh lines, shades, hues, etc. that are a part of the photomechanical processes are a stark reminder of this oversight. Too often do we forget that within each image, video, or film, there are various mechanisms that have produced the final text. However, through the enlargement of these mechanisms in his work’s images, Brown demonstrates that texts are often as mutable and transient as the subject they portray.

Brown purposefully disassembles the original texts, dissecting and uncovering each surprising layer. His work questions the lenses that have fallen between the world and a reader’s eyes. However, it is ultimately the experience of the audience that determines the significance of the photomechanical processes that have mediated the relationship between the natural world and the reader. In the moment of viewing the multiple images and acknowledging the often forgotten processes, the reader is asked to reexamine their own interpretations. Thus, Brown’s exploration of the photograph becomes one that is rooted in an audience’s interpretation of the varying images produced through photomechanical processes.

Artist Bio: I​​an Brown is an artist from England. His current interest is in natural climatic phenomena, and specifically the transient nature of these incidents. He uses material from a variety of sources, his own photographs, the internet, video, as well as images that have already passed through the print process. As a print maker, he is interested in process, the range of photomechanical deliveries that lie behind the way an image is presented on paper. The repeated testing of the visual protocols that freeze or fix a moment in time, and the consequent impact on the reading of the image, underpins all his work.