Unexposed

GPNA #1 by Chuck Scalin
10″x10″; vintage glass plate negative assemblages; 2017
Courtesy of the artist.

COLLAGE ON VIEW

Unexposed

at The Highpoint in Richmond, Virginia, USA
6 December 2019-7 February 2020

When Chuck Scalin began to plan a new body of work for an upcoming exhibition, his mind turned to a box of glass plate negatives purchased at a flea market in Paris that dated from the turn-of-the-century. Intrigued by them, he eventually scoured the internet and purchased a collection of several hundred. Not necessarily interested in the photographic images represented on the plates, Scalin began to see the potential of ones that would not have been desirable to collectors and found beauty when the images on the plates were not in perfect condition. Ones where the emulsion surface coating that covered the glass had become damaged by age, leaving images with partially deteriorated surfaces. These would eventually be used to create a series of fragmented, mostly abstract assemblages. Scalin says “I worked for several months cutting these glass pieces in half, until I found the ideal union of the sections with the subtle connections I found between the two pieces.”

GPNA #2 by Chuck Scalin
10″x10″; vintage glass plate negative assemblages; 2017
Courtesy of the artist.

Chuck Scalin is an established collage and assemblage artist, who works with repurposed found paper and metal scraps gleaned from the streets and alleyways of various cities during his travels.

(text adapted from the curator’s press materials)


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