Susan Burnstine's "Circuitous"
Although it may seem like my photographic aesthetic is firmly and narrowly grounded in Pictorialism, it seemed apropos to blog about Ms. Burnstine’s work because it’s awesome, and she’s one of three artists in a show opening August 28th at Verve in Santa Fe. I had seen her “Bridge to Nowhere” when it was featured on the Spider Awards a few years back, and so was aware of her work. She builds her own cameras, and I’m always happy to see images that fight the f64 aesthetic. But what got me really excited about her photography was Review Santa Fe 2009. I attended the Portfolio Sharing event with my (very patient) wife, and saw Ms. Burnstine’s prints in person.
I should state at this point that I’m a print snob. One of the (many) reasons that I still use a darkroom is that I maintain that a well-crafted gelatin silver print categorically outshines any archival ink jet print. Ms. Burnstine’s prints proved me wrong. I thought they must be printed on some sort of ultra-fancy silver paper, something Bergger makes that I can’t afford. Turns out that they are archival pigment prints on a very heavy stock, treated with what she calls “giclee varnish.” While obtuse media descriptions frustrate the techie in me, the end result is a fantastically beautiful photographic image and photographic object.
So check out her web site and check out the Verve show. She’s also doing a gallery talk, but her web site and Verve’s web site have contradictory dates and times, and I don’t know which is correct.