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umbilical

22" x 15", watercolour, 1998, private collection

This is my first painting in which the Kodak Duaflex appears, and the only one in which it's being "used" rather than simply being held or appearing on its own. Using colour to highlight the area where the camera appears and making the rest black & white was an experiment; it's kind of interesting and technically pretty good, but I'm not sure if it was altogether necessary. However, I do think the camera itself looks great and is clearly the star of the piece, so maybe the experiment worked after all. You decide.

The title refers to my own use of a camera as the umbilical connection between me and the subject which then filters back through me (via the resulting photograph) to the final painting. The word is written using charcoal and done during a brief period when I was writing on my paintings (I haven't done so in years). Previous posts with charcoal writing on the paintings: mad., wall, 007.

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