Paul Davies
Paul Davies
Australian, born 1979
View through a lens at Taliesin West, photogram #1, 7 mins exposure, 11 degrees, light sprinkle of rain, made in car park 2016
gum bichromate and vinyl acrylic copolymer on paper
Geelong Gallery
Gift of the artist, 2019
View through a lens at Taliesin West, photogram #7, 10.31am, 17 degrees, 7 mins exposure in pool outside Cornelia Brierly studio 2016
gum bichromate and vinyl acrylic copolymer on paper
Geelong Gallery
Gift of the artist, 2019
View through a lens at Taliesin West, photogram #13, 27 degrees, partly cloudy, exposure 12 mins, 1.17pm outside ceramics studio 2016
gum bichromate and vinyl acrylic copolymer on paper
Geelong Gallery
Gift of the artist, 2019
View through a lens at Taliesin West, photogram #17, 9.43am, 4 mins exposure onto solar panels, mostly sunny 2016
gum bichromate and vinyl acrylic copolymer on paper
Geelong Gallery
Gift of the artist, 2019
Paul Davies’ extensive series of photograms were developed during an artist residency at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2015 and 2016.
Responding to the notion of 'organic architecture', Davies created a series of 24 photograms, one per day at various locations around the property. Sunlight and moonlight are captured at different locations onto paper painted with gum bichromate, a photosensitive solution developed in the 1800s. Using a stencil cut from the photo of the exterior of the Frank Lloyd Wright building, the image was reduced to a silhouette, blending architecture and landscape.
The works recall the earliest mid-19th century images during the emergence of photography, and the enduring popularity of the photogram as a wonderfully experimental form of image-making from the late 19th century to the present day.