Daguerrean Dream, Visual Symphony - Part II

Daguerrean Dream
Visual Symphony – Part II

Interplanetary Adagio

  Change is the only observable constant.  Where there’s matter, there’s flux.  Material substance goes though various metamorphosis, and cultures, ideas, and emotions are no different.  Coming to is followed by prominence, forced out by decline and obscurity; the great wheel keeps mercilessly grinding its gears.  Gaining a clear awareness of this at an early age, prompted my mind to actively seek shelter from relentless onslaught of attachment and subsequent loss.  By directing more and more attention to dreams and fantasy, a workaround seemed to present itself, where scenarios were suspended in timeless ether of my imagination.  Objects gained well-defined personalities, while time became a coloring tool, filling in the gaps between the lines. 

  Long before I learned of idioms about a tree falling in the woods, or single clapping hand, I often directed my attention to very similar themes.  Attempting to grasp it through as many senses as I could, I would try to imagine the feeling of my room.  I knew that room like the back of my hand, but yet I knew that I have always experienced that room with me in it.  How was it though when I was not there?  How did it feel in there?  Can I pick out one sunlit dust particle floating through the air? Can I pick out a million of them all at once?  I attempted to grasp it all at once, a full virtual reality with only my own neural connection and brain chemistry to aid me.  I’ve also always loved science fiction writing, so space and time travel were often on the forefront of my thinking.  Looking up at the night sky, I earnestly tried to picture and feel what was that thing they call Infinity?   Is infinity of time the same as one for space since what is one without the other?

  As I learned of progress and evolution, I started to notice that those concepts, noble and natural as they are, imply more and more so rapid renewal of technology.  I recall taking apart a gramophone, barometer, fountain pens, etc.   Those technologies were at their time top of their game.  Yet, where does that perfection go when something new comes around?  For the answer to this recurring question, I once again turned to the familiar fertile grounds of my imagination.  There, these antiquated objects found refuge within infinity of space, upon colorful new planets, where they would still be valid, needed, admired.   In my mind, I relinquished to such fate the catapult, spindle, steam engine and so many more.  With ever-accelerating pace of innovation, more and more such instances occur on almost daily basis.  

 This second part of my visual symphony shows 7 fantastical perspectives, which can be seen as movie stills.  Objects presented there used to fill our daily life with joy, or beauty, or be helpful to us.  Replaced by smart phone apps, and no longer appreciated en mass on Earth, they were spotted deep within my dream-space, as they set off on interplanetary expeditions, probing deep space for suitable habitats.  A flood of ambient organic sounds, accompanies their flight.  Like whispering howl of wind as it makes its way across rolling prairie hills, or the echoes of whale song reverberating from coral reefs, these sounds filled in the ever widening distances between these imaginary space explorers, tying them together choreographically in an interplanetary adagio.  

  Try to extend your senses in their direction.  Let the cold emptiness of vacuum, or the enveloping clouds of unknown chemical composition fill your mind and senses.  Can you feel our long forgotten friends as they venture through infinity of time and space in search of happiness?

Space Explorer #1

Space Explorer #2

Space Explorer #3

Space Explorer #4

Space Explorer #5

Space Explorer #6

Space Explorer #7

On Technique:
  In order to faithfully translate my vision upon daguerreotype plates a new approach seemed necessary.   My explorers would encounter various atmospheres of heavenly bodies, some of which would likely have elements and turbulences unlike anything seen on earth, or even within our Solar System. Thus, those colors and effects had to be teased out of my imagination.  Dreams, as well as wakeful imagination, often take familiar objects and sights, and place them in entirely conjured situations, as if filling in the background and environments for those objects upon a blank canvas, using free-association of memory to draw upon for pertinent information.

  In light of that, all images in this series were made with objects positioned on pure white background, usually a plain foam board.  When desired, light was controlled to delineate planetary horizons.  Tones and colors seen in various atmospheres and those of exhaust from my space travelers’ engines were created via careful chemical manipulation, via a method that came to me in a dream.  

  Once again, images here are shown at a slight angle.  I will once again call attention to the fact that daguerreotype produces its tone and colors via refraction of white light, so they change in appearance depending on viewing conditions, and are best experienced live.  In order to best reproduce the color though, they have to be at slight angle, and be lit from particular angle, so for the purposes of this post they were copied while being held in hand.

Anton