zaksmith

Contents:
1-Paintings
(AdriaTemperSawaCharlieRavenVoltaireSean)
2-FRENCH PIPI LONGSTOCKING AND EXPERIMENTAL ART
3-Frequently Asked Questions

1-- My Paintings



(print available in the SG
store)

(print available in the SG
store)




2-FRENCH PIPI LONGSTOCKING AND EXPERIMENTAL ART



We all know that super-strong, monkey-owning, girl-pirate Pipi Longstocking is a feminist anarchist icon (and if you don't know that, what the fuck are you doing on SuicideGirls?) but did you know she is also a proponent of experimental painting and photography?

Anyway, according to one on-line encyclopedia:

In French "Fifi Brindacier" (one of the few versions that does not translate the last name literally as "long stocking"; the French version is literally translated as "brin d'acier", i.e., "strand of steel", and figuratively as "tiny bit of steel".

Which got me thinking. So I made a painting of Fifi Brindacier--



And then here is where things get complicated...

So, first of all, I make these paintings and draw them freehand using only acrylic paint and water.

I paint on the BACK of RC photo paper, just because I like the surface. Sometimes the other side is an old work print or some random thing i took a picture of, sometimes it's unexposed paper.

So, ANYWAY, when I do this, this is what NORMALLY happens...

here is the beginning of a painting--in black acrylic--it is on the back of a piece of unexposed paper...


then, because the painting sits out in the light, here is what happens normally on the other side---

this is to be expected--the black paint blocks certain areas from getting devloped and so they turn white--i get a negative of my painting. This is normal in old-school. pre-digital photography.

HOWEVER, this is what just happened recently with my Fifi Strand-Of-Steel:

So, I painted this painting on the back of the unexposed piece of rc black and white kodak paper:


but when i turned it over I got this:


which is weird because the photosensitive side SHOULD be a negative (OPPOSITE) of the painting, but notice how lines that are black on the painted side should be white on the photosensitive sid, but many are black.

what appears to have happened is the pic got solarized somehow--but as far as i know solarization only occurs when you put a photo in developer and it gets exposed to light again after its been partially developed--but as far as i know, this pic has been face down on a wall for months.

so i don't know whats going on--and i'd like to because it looks cool and i'd like to figure out how to reproduce it later.




so if you know about old photo techniques and can offer any help, please do,

meanwhile i'm gonna wash this thing in fixer and stop bath so it doesn't change any more.

So, anyway. Thanks Fifi, and thanks to anybody who can help.

3--Frequently Asked Questions
spoilerized to save space