- Artist or Maker
- Matthew Brandt
United States, active California, Los Angeles, born 1982 - Title
- Lake Hollywood CA 3
- Date Made
- 2008
- Medium
- Dye coupler print
- Dimensions
- Image (Image): 30 x 39 3/4 in.
Frame (Framed): 33 × 42 3/4 × 2 in.
- Accession Number
- M.2010.99
- Collecting Area
- Photography
- Curatorial Notes
In making his photographs of western bodies of water, Matthew Brandt soaks each print in the water of the depicted subject for varying times—from days to weeks to months. He monitors the prints until the breakdown of color elements achieves the desired, unique look, often one that disrupts traditional photographic qualities but is innately true to its subject. Underscoring the transformative properties of the photographic registration itself, Brandt writes, “When a photograph becomes more blurred or scratched, an invisible veil or screen emerges between viewer and subject. This veil, which is always present but conventionally repressed, is allowed to breathe in my work.” By emphasizing the materiality of the print—not as a finely finished, indexical record, but rather as one that is as much at the mercy of physical forces as any other object in the world—Brandt embraces the anticipation of decay. And by such inherent deterioration, he reclaims the uniqueness of the photographic print. In addition, by uniting image subject with image matter, Brandt relocates the importance of the role of water in the development of California. Here, Lake Hollywood—a man-made reservoir given a stage name in true show-biz fashion—is spectacularly flawed and completely true to itself.
Eve Schillo
2021
- Copyright
- © Matthew Brandt
