non-objective others

VIDEO INSTALLATION, PHOTOGRAPHS, GRIDS and ARCHITECTURAL PRINTS

A large-scale, split-screen video installation of men’s shaved heads, tightly cropped, rotating 360 degrees. An architectural printer, which never stops producing over-sized prints, continues to fill the gallery with countless images of men's heads photographed from every imaginable angle. An audible low hum fills the space, as the imagery on-screen orbits the human landscapes like a lunar module circling the circumference of the moon. Eyes open, eyes closed, camera, computer, spin machine, measuring devices, lights, increments of time, variations of angles, the absolute physical structure of men’s heads, which vary in size, shape, tonality and age.

Referencing analytical photogrammetry, Blaise applies these same basic methods to the human form. Photogrammetry (phot = light: gramma = writing and metron = to measure) is defined by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) as “The art, science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment by recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images”.

For ‘NON-OBJECTIVE OTHERS’, Blaise built a spin-machine with variable speed control, which allowed him to rotate each subject, capturing a myriad of moving and photographic records from every possible angle. Antique calipers and a laser measure were employed to obtain the control measurement. The surface of the human form was mapped and measured while the subjects remained in constant rotation.

At first glance, this study seems impersonal, as the visual treatment of the subjects seem to lack identity. Products with a limited shelf life. The result of millions of years of evolution. However, on closer examination, individual facial characteristics and details are exemplified with acute clarity. The viewer is confronted by raw physical form and their own mortality. Blood vessels at work beneath the skin. Digitized renditions of hues; purples, grey's, reds, yellows, blending and fading. Hyper realized pores, hairs, chasms, the color of age and the effects of the sun. Somehow, this digital work has a connection to the school of Romanticism and the Flemish masters who saw beauty in the rendition of skin, light and shadow.

Ultimately, what emerges is the universal commonality of the human condition. When viewing this work, we begin to see ourselves and not ‘others’. Images that seem to transcend specific identity become more than the sum of their parts. Each face, a separate universe wherein countless possibilities exist.

By recording and mapping the surface of absolute forms, Blaise explores our physical existence and the seemingly finite nature of things, with the continuation of the theme that boundaries are permeable in the physical world. Ultimately, this piece embraces contradiction and plays with irony. These measurements which seem to specifically quantify a total or sum are in fact the result of the complete opposite intention set forth by the artist, who’s intention is to comprehensively show physicality as an illusion of limitation.