Altering The Surface
Robert Asman

Traditional gelatin silver photographs have been made by a sculptural process of chemically extricating the latent image from the silver gelatin imbedded in the photographic paper. These images made in the early 1990's are about adding another surface to the already processed print by using archival acrylic spray paint over masked out areas of the print. The idea of subtle layers of pointillist spray paint to create an armature or structure for the photograph mimics the giclee or ink printing processes used today without the technology or machinery. The photographs were made from enlarged and manipulated paper negatives that were archival toned and processed before applying the spray.