digital reflections: the dialogue of art and technology || brad freeman

Brad FreemanAuthor(s): Brad FreemanSource: Art Journal, Vol. 56, No. 3, Digital Reflections: The Dialogue of Art and Technology(Autumn, 1997), pp. 3-13Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/777825 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 19:55

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

College Art Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.109 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 19:55:40 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=caa

http://www.jstor.org/stable/777825?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


6.

Brad Freeman

B rad Freeman has been making artist's books using offset

printing as a creative printmaking medium since the late

1970s. In this piece, adapted from his work in progress, MzLK, he combines traditional and digital darkroom techniques to

explore the time-based aspects of a sequence of printed pages,

investigating temporality through a variety of features. First, one

sees the creative processes of production displayed from sketch-

book to layout and mock-up in the dummy stage, to the final product made in the digital darkroom from scanned and manipulated

images. The time spent making, thinking, and working out the

book's pages becomes manifest as a material fact. Second, one

experiences the time of the images themselves-historical time

within the photographs and a record of passing time in certain of

the sequences. With one exception, all the images in this work

move forward, following the Western convention of reading from

left to right. But the echoing process of transformation-from

notes to sketch to image-invites the viewer/reader to look back-

ward, replaying the temporal sequence of the forward-moving action of the work. The single counterpoint is the image of a nine-

teenth-century chromolithograph advertising a form of poisoned-

plate fly bait. The only found or appropriated image in the work, it

contains a grotesquely caricatured, racially stereotyped image of an

African American, typical of certain social perceptions of the time.

This image, significantly, turns its back on the images of contempo-

rary racism manifest in Freeman's documentary photographs of a

Klan march in north Florida in the mid-1970s. The sense of time

conveyed by these pages, the sequence and ordering of the

images, the temporal references and specificity of the images themselves-all this amounts to a complex ordering of printed

pages. Freeman takes advantage of the digital darkroom-with its

combination of photographic, graphic, and painting tools all in a

single, clean, and readily accessible environment. Once the

province of an entire team of craftspersons, each with his or her

own skill-typography, layout, design, paste-up, stripping, and

camera work-the digital studio permits a wide range of technical

possibilities within a single space. It is still the responsibility of the

artist to understand from the beginning what the requirements of

the final output will be. In this case, in spite of all the digital manip- ulations, the end product is ink on paper, a print, offset printed and

mass produced.

BRAD FREEMAN teaches in the School of Art and Design at

SUNY Purchase as well as at Cooper Union and is the editor and

publisher of the Journal of Artists' Books.

ART JOURNAL

3



??:-;e::;:s

- -?;

I::: : ; ;: ---:: ; : ;

i :I t

: :i : :-.:::: : : ;.- .i :--::-!?sa

: :-: ::: -

:: -::::

ji:i?5sis-??;I: : 1;'= - :::.: ::-._?-:-?-: ;,i:: ::::: :-:?.?(:

::

;-:::-- - -:;: ;I-;- :_:::: :-

aa:,is;:

: -;::5:ihl :



I I



A



V~~~~~~~~

I

.---~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-

I~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~I

: I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A 1

Ea - ~ ~ ~

i~~~~~ i

777 l77 7 I7"I

slif.



4< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~? ~~ ~ , , , I ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~y'~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~;t~":"*::-:~-':: ~ :-' ::;;-::;;:-:?

~~~~~I~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ::---~~~.-, ~s~ .~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~6~~s,-~~~ #g: _i-:-:~:~~~~_~~~:~~: :1::~!:\:

1~~e~~?~~~~~~-a~~~~~~':.:-;:::::ri;:~~~~~d = i a-i::-4-::j::::: ;-!::~~~~~~~~:s~~~

-: ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~1PRaiS:s"l" ~ :

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,-, ~,:,:=,: _ jk,,:~ ~ : :7~ p :J

tB; i--~~~irN



4Lii

~vJl~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A

:K:L- r ';i '"Lj4 ,

~ :L; :' I4

sormovArAmomms 77

... ;-, , -, !am= FMWAIM Wil'"i i

M 7 I 11

I :1: - I II - - -

777PIr I-- - m

- ; '4MMMPPI-'



\ ,:

o -L - - ~ - v X " - A

i~~

/ ?~" .

i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lr 2 .MA rPMS'v _- b -

tvg i>

I ?



rZ Y CBN r?? I n.;

r

?a

ii,. F '' ;f?:I ii a?

W "' I

?r

i



digital reflections: the dialogue of art and technology || brad freeman

Documents