Pierre Cordier- 'Into the Labyrinth'- Camera-less Photography

“Form, in the chemigram, is the outcome of a process: it does not exist in itself, or in me, it does not wait to be laid out on the surface; it is born of the experiment itself” Pierre Cordier


Hackelbury gallery in Launceston Place is showcasing an exhibition of original chemigrams by Belgium artist Pierre Cordier. The intriguing photographic process which creates these enigmatic works was discovered by the artist himself, by replacing the canvas of an artist with photographic paper. The key feature of his work is his artistic process and technique, by which he uses varnish, oil, glue, wax and photographic chemicals to create a patina of patterns, colours and shapes. 


'The pictures, here, attempt to deal with the universal through abstraction rather than through symbol; the chemigrams themselves are conceived as unique objects, rather than as the copy for mass media reproduction; they are not to be regarded as windows on the world, but rather as synthesized bits of the world itself, with their own color and texture and shape and provenance.' John Szarkowski Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1967

Check out this video: http://vimeo.com/13149446
The Hackelbury Gallery website: http://www.hackelbury.co.uk/artists/cordier/cordier.html