Items Similar to Black Root
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5
Christopher ColvilleBlack Root2015
2015
About the Item
Edition of 15
Christopher Colville is an American artist working to push the boundaries of the photographic medium in both experimental and traditional forms. His images are created outdoors by igniting a small portion of gunpowder on the surface of silver gelatin paper. In the resulting explosion, light and energy abrade and burn the surface while simultaneously exposing the light-sensitive silver emulsion. I loosely control the explosion by placing objects I have gathered in the field on the paper’s surface, but the results are often surprising and unpredictable as the explosive energy of gunpowder is the true generative force creating the image. I believe that by working in these ways, the images push the material and symbolic limitations of the medium. They turn the photograph inside out while creating something that is both serendipitous and elemental. The images are the residue of both creation and obliteration, generated from a single spark.
Beyond Reckoning Artist Statement:
Throughout my career, I have harnessed energy, fluid, motion, light and the chaos of volatile reactions. This attempt to reconfigure the photographic medium, has aligned with my interest in the dual nature of creation and destruction. Recently however, my attention has been redirected as I try to comprehend our increasingly divided and violent American culture. Suspended in a state of wonder and dread, my time in the landscape has shifted from a search for transformative experiences to a reckoning with the residue of American volatility.
Beyond Reckoning is the antiphon to a continuous cycle of violence imbedded in American culture, reflecting our polarized population. The images are made with targets I have collected from desert hillsides, abandoned by recreational shooters. The targets include commercially produced bulls-eyes, life size human forms, predators, mannequin heads, and wedding photographs as well as more divisive, crudely drawn political caricatures. These objects are cultural relics of a violent era, reduced to delicate lace by the onslaught of gunfire, revealing complex motives of hero fantasies, fear, frustration and hatred.
In the darkness of night I place the targets on gelatin silver paper and ignite measured portions of gunpowder on their surface. The explosive energy imprints the negative form of the target on the light sensitive paper while fire burns through the voids of bullet holes, scaring and pitting the surface of the print, creating luminous shadows whose clarity refute their violent creation. Forms rise from the flames as mythological apparitions haunting a landscape that holds a compressed history of violence. The targets are consumed in the process of creation but the images generated reveal triumphant revenant forms bearing the wounds of their creation.
This ongoing body of work has grown to include multi panel assailants, whose filmic repetition reference comic book cells, clustered installations of bulls-eye targets along with the human scale silhouettes titled “Citizens.” I have spent the last year and a half scouring the land surrounding my home, gathering objects and orchestrating nighttime interventions. Engulfed in billowing smoke, I sift through debris, repeating and refining small explosions, layering violence upon violence with the hope of finding clarity. The further I dive in to this work the more emotionally fraught it becomes and more determined I am to follow this path into uncharted territories.
- Creator:Christopher Colville (1974, American)
- Creation Year:2015
- Dimensions:Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Sante Fe, NM
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU13425264822
Christopher Colville
Christopher Colville is an artist working to push the boundaries of the photographic medium in both experimental and traditional forms. Born in 1974 in Tucson, Arizona, he received his BFA in Anthropology and Photography from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and his MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico. After leaving New Mexico, he returned home to the Sonoran Desert and is currently living in Phoenix. Colville has spent his time in Phoenix exploring the desert where he has taught at multiple institutions including as a visiting Assistant Professor at Arizona State University. Colville’s work has been included in both national and international publications and exhibitions including SCOPE Basel 2015. Recent awards include the Ernst Cabat Award through the Tucson Museum of Art, Critical Mass top 50, the Humble Art Foundations New Photography Grant, an Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist Project Grant, a Public Art Commission from the Phoenix Commission on the Arts and an artist fellowship through the American Scandinavian Foundation. Colville’s work has been reviewed in national and international publications including the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe and GUP Magazine.
About the Seller
5.0
Vetted Professional Seller
Every seller passes strict standards for authenticity and reliability
Established in 1993
1stDibs seller since 2015
229 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 12 hours
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Shipping from: Sante Fe, NM
- Return Policy
Authenticity Guarantee
In the unlikely event there’s an issue with an item’s authenticity, contact us within 1 year for a full refund. DetailsMoney-Back Guarantee
If your item is not as described, is damaged in transit, or does not arrive, contact us within 7 days for a full refund. Details24-Hour Cancellation
You have a 24-hour grace period in which to reconsider your purchase, with no questions asked.Vetted Professional Sellers
Our world-class sellers must adhere to strict standards for service and quality, maintaining the integrity of our listings.Price-Match Guarantee
If you find that a seller listed the same item for a lower price elsewhere, we’ll match it.Trusted Global Delivery
Our best-in-class carrier network provides specialized shipping options worldwide, including custom delivery.More From This Seller
View AllUntitled (Dove Dish)
By Christopher Colville
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Edition of 15
Christopher Colville is an American artist working to push the boundaries of the photographic medium in both experimental and traditional forms. His images are created...
Category
2010s Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Target D
By Christopher Colville
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Christopher Colville is an American artist working to push the boundaries of the photographic medium in both experimental and traditional forms. His images are created outdoors by ig...
Category
2010s Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Molecule
By Anne Arden McDonald
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Cameraless – A cameraless image is produced on photographic material without the aid of a camera or lenses.
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Shattered
By Anne Arden McDonald
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Chemigram – A Chemigram, from "chemistry" and gramma – Greek for "things written," is a photographic practice where an image is made by painting with chemicals directly on light-sen...
Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
No. 723 – MAGNOLIA GRANDIFLORA, Magnolia Tree
By Svjetlana Tepavcevic
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Means of Reproduction
Means of Reproduction is a photography project that explores the transformative power of seeds. I portray these microcosms as large and mysterious presences,...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
Price Upon Request
Means of Reproduction no. 806 – PLANTANUS OCCIDENTALIS
By Svjetlana Tepavcevic
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Means of Reproduction
Means of Reproduction is a photography project that explores the transformative power of seeds. I portray these microcosms as large and mysterious presences,...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
You May Also Like
Craig y Don Pool, Llandudno Beach, Wales - Blue British Swimming Pool Sea Photo
By Richard Heeps
Located in Cambridge, GB
Craig y Don Pool, looking across the bay of Llandudno, Wales in the United Kingdom. Shades of blue symmetry guides your eyes out to sea in this photograph by Richard Heeps.
This art...
Category
2010s Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
Motel Entrance II, Salton Sea, California - Mid-Century Architecture Color Photo
By Richard Heeps
Located in Cambridge, GB
Motel Entrance II, photograph from Richard Heeps Salton Sea series.
Classic mid-century architecture in this artwork from the Salton Sea California. Rich blues, palm trees with pops ...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
Bitter Campari Sign, Milan - Italian Architecture Typography Photography
By Richard Heeps
Located in Cambridge, GB
Bitter Campari Sign, Italian architecture street photography from Richard Heeps series, A Short History of Milan.
'A Short History of Milan' began in Nov...
Category
2010s Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
Brigitte Bardot on the set of ‘Les Petroleuses’, 1971
By Terry O'Neill
Located in Chicago, IL
French actress Brigitte Bardot on the set of 'Les Petroleuses' a.k.a. 'The Legend of Frenchie King', directed by Christian-Jaque in Spain, 1971.
Paper size: 24 H x 20 W inches
Edit...
Category
1960s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
Joan Didion in front of her Stingray Corvette, 1968 by Julian Wasser
By Julian Wasser
Located in Chicago, IL
Joan Didion in front of her Daytona Yellow Stingray Corvette, 1968, Time magazine
TIME commissioned this portrait of author Joan Didion photographed...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Compote with Teeth (Still Life Photograph of White Teeth in a Glass Cup)
By David Halliday
Located in Hudson, NY
Vertical color still life photograph of human and animal teeth in a glass compote cup on a wood tabletop against a grey background
"Compote with Teeth", photographed by David Halliday in 2012
archival pigment print, ed. 6/12
15 x 10.75 inch image size, 21.5 x 16.5 inches in a white painted wood frame
Excellent condition, ready to hang
"Compote with Teeth" is an archival pigment print by photographer, David Halliday. A surrealist spin is given to a classic still life composition by pairing ivory...
Category
2010s Contemporary Still-life Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
