Tom Blachford

Space Architecture Mid Century Modern Futuro Palm Springs

2017

Landscape, Vintage Car, Palm Tree, Classic Porsche, Mid Century Modern, Limited Series. Archival Inkjet Print on Semi Gloss 100% Cotton Paper. Mid Century Design. Tom Blachford. Moonlight Classic Porsche in Palm Springs California. This is a limited edition print in a series of 10. Each pieces comes with a hand-signed certificate of authenticity. The latest and final release in Australian photographer Tom Blachford’s long-running project, Midnight Modern, will be exhibited for the first time at TOTH Gallery in New York. Loosening the shackles of Palm Springs and Mid Century, Blachford’s large scale works explores some of the outer reaches of the Modernist movement in Architecture, and captured using only the light of the full moon. Blachford's series is a surreal ode to the landscapes of California and its cache of pristine Modernist buildings. Shot entirely at night, bathed in moonlight, the homes, vintage cars, and foliage appear as they have been captured in another space and time. Recognizing the locations may be easy, but it is more difficult to identity when the image was actually taken, be this day or night, in the past, present, or future. The images act as portals in time where it seems these moments exist in all places at once. For Blachford these unique residences act as the sets for infinite narratives, both real and imagined, which the viewer is invited to script for themselves. Each image acts as a still frame for a story about to start and end simultaneously. California has a unique geography and climate, and this gives rise to a distinct deep blue sky: a hue of moonlight ideal for this approach to architectural photography. The long exposure allows the camera to capture a world just beyond our perception and distil it into a single moment. Midnight Modern has already included Palm Springs' most iconic properties; the Kaufman Desert House...

The latest and final release in Australian photographer Tom Blachford’s long-running project, Midnight Modern, will be exhibited for the first time at TOTH Gallery in New York. Loos...

The latest and final release in Australian photographer Tom Blachford’s long-running project, Midnight Modern, will be exhibited for the first time at TOTH Gallery in New York. Loos...

The latest and final release in Australian photographer Tom Blachford’s long-running project, Midnight Modern, will be exhibited for the first time at TOTH Gallery in New York. Loos...

A large scale photograph of lush emerald green nature biotope, a highly detailed observation of the natural beauty of Northern California's coastal redwood...

large scale original photograph of vintage television set with iconic western movie in American Wild West landscape Cowboy TV by Frank Schott 30 x 40 inches (76 x 102cm) signed edi...

A skeletal oak, starved of light by the surrounding fir trees still holds its twisted limbs up towards the light as if frozen in its death throes. "I want to bring a sense of unfamiliarity into the images; to present commonplace nature in a peculiar way. This is, in part, a reaction against our over sanitised and conditioned lives. The night forest is devoid of people. It is an undomesticated wilderness right on our doorstep." - Jasper Goodall...

The midsummer full moon casts its pale light over the skeletal remains of a deceased oak. Twilight's Path ‘Now air is hushed, save where the weak-eyed bat With short shrill shriek flits by on leathern wing, Or where the beetle winds His small but sullen horn As oft he rises 'midst the twilight path Against the pilgrim, borne in heedless hum’ – William Collins (1721–1759), Ode to Evening. "Once in a while (helped by a bit of planning) everything comes together and you take a photograph that feels really satisfying. However much one reads about artists/photographers trying and failing, taking many shots to end up with that one that works, it’s hard to remember. Just keep showing up, keep doing what you do, it won’t always work out, but sometimes things flow and something special can come through." - Jasper Goodall...