"Hat Trick" Silver Gelatin Print. 30 x 40" 2008 |
In Carol Golemboski’s latest body of work, “Wonders and Marvels,” her process is as significant as the product. In the darkroom she directly draws on or scratches the negatives and mixes photosensitive vegetable dyes to create images that are at once paintings and drawings expanding her photographic medium. The product of strictly “old fashioned” and organic techniques seldom employed even before the digital age such as anthotypes, her work awes its onlookers with images steeped in “top-hat n’ tails” mysticism and magic. Surrounded by a thick aura of late Victorian occultism, ether and absinthe, there is a strong presence of the historical in both her images and techniques. Figures like Harry Houdini and Uri Geller are evoked and long dead pseudo-sciences such as psychometry and phrenology are reawakened. Carol brings to photography a nearly alchemical mix of processes. Her images aren’t taken they are conjured and confront the eye with tricks and illusions, banishing the common assumption of the kinship between an instant in time, truth, and photography.
Carol Golemboski is an Assistant Professor of Photography at the University of Colorado at Denver and is represented nationally by several galleries across the country from Los Angeles to Boston. Already the recipient of numerous grants and awards, Carol was recently given first place in The Santa Fe Center for Photography’s thirteenth annual Project Competition.
Artist Statement
Artist Bio |
