Wednesday, February 9, 2011

David Alvarez reviews Alan Jaras


Lately I've been interested in the phenomenon's of light and color; the reflections and refractions of light as it bounces from surface to surface. Last semester while working on my final photo project (which dealt with the basic forms of light and color)I happened upon a British photographer in my search for artist with similar interest.

Alan Jaras, a retired research scientist and microscopist, creates these stunning (in my opinion) images using a single light beam that passes through varieties of textured and transparent forms. The pattern is captured directly on to 35mm film by removing the camera lens and putting the transparent object(s) in its place.

It's great that the abstractions created in this process create "images of strange microscopic or deep sea creatures or even galaxies forming in deep space," because it evokes the viewers imagination. However, the reason I'm truly impressed/stunned/ and in awe of his work is the experimentation and science associated with the process. One can definitely see the way Jaras plays with the light, bending it and twisting it to his whim. In the two pictures above, you can see a evolution of his technique and a mastery of light. The bottom is an earlier work called Crumpled Rainbow: Twisting Light #25 which seems like another experimentation with his process. The top images title alone, Metropolis I: Taming Light #45, shows his mastery of his process(the "taming" of light).

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