My 2008 artist book The Poetry of Non-Objects represents a fusion of philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s idea of a “poetic lens” with photographer Uta Barth’s idea of “non spaces,” this work, furthermore, honestly acknowledges my own perceptual blind spots.
Both Bachelard and Barth believe that we are far too passive in the visual navigation of our everyday surroundings. Both utilize the tools of their media as catalyst for a shift of perspective on the part of the viewer. Bachelard provides a perspective shift by the use of a poetic rather than a rational lens. Barth creates an inversion of perspective by showing “non spaces.”
The Poetry of Non-Objects is the result of an examination of my own blind spots. I document my shifting of perspective achieved through the use an alternate visual language.
I am a collector of treasure and like to think that I take no thing for granted as trash. I hunt flea markets for unloved objects; I scavenge the Salvation Army for discarded possessions; I receive countless packages of seemingly useless technology from Ebay. I greedily rip open each package containing my new acquisitions and relish my latest finds, yet, that is not all that the boxes contain. What I do not focus my attention on is the “stuff” surrounding the object: cardboard, cheesecloth, burlap, bubble wrap and paper have carefully swaddled my new purchases. I realize these materials have become “non objects".
I pressed the physical forms of these non objects into the soft ground of copper plates, etched the resulting shapes into metal and then re-presented them embossed on paper. The non objects manifest themselves in a new light to reveal a different way of looking at their visual qualities. Isolated as form, line, texture and rhythm, The Poetry of Non-Objects thus frees my non-objects from their former non-existence to reveal their integrity.
I then compiled the prints into an artist book where the reader carefully peels away layers of wrapping to uncover what’s packed within. With my “non objects” now fully realized as objects, their transformation is complete.
