And the recipient of the Winter 2017 TIS books Essential Non-essentials Grant is . . .
Scott Alario, who teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Here’s what guest juror Sean Corcoran had to say:
Truth be told, I am usually more of a “straight photography” kind of guy, but while looking through the submissions for this semester’s applications, I was struck by Scott Alario’s intriguing combination of process and image content. There has been a historic process boom in photography over the last decade or so, but the choice of drawing inspiration from Frederic Ives’s early color process is pretty novel. But let’s face it, historic processes can be pretty boring if the content is not compelling. Alario’s photographs have focused on the quotidian, which when combined with the Ives process become something fantastical.
Sean also asked Scott a few questions
How did you get into teaching? Are there any particular educators who inspired you?
Early on, in art school, I realized for me it was so much about a relationship between mentor and mentee. Life as a practicing artist was modeled alongside being an educator, and it looked like a nice healthy balance. Getting to watch my teachers make their own work, prepare for exhbitions, travel the world; that lit the fire. While simultaneously, they showed a sincere interest in me as a young artist and person. This is, and remains to be so meaningful. To name a few of my undergraduate teachers/artists/mentors: Abe Morel, Barbara Bosworth, Laura McPhee, Nick Nixon, Matthew Connors (many of whom at one point made photographic work related to their own particular families) .. and in grad school: Steve Smith and Anne West. There's also a slew of surrogate mentors, radical thinkers/writers/teachers/artists that make up a community I'm so grateful for!
Could you tell us a little about this project? I notice that family is a recurring theme in your work. Could you mention how this came to be and how you continue to draw inspiration from them?
From my artist statement about this project:
My art practice consists of staged photographic depictions of my immediate family. I use multiple exposure to lend a charged energy to everyday domestic scenes. I explore narrative portraiture and the subject of the family, engaging a collaborative process with my partner Marguerite, and our children Elska and Marco Moon.
I’ve been experimenting with a process borrowed from photography’s past. Prior to the invention of color film, some late 19th century practitioners, such as Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (Russian 1863 - 1944) developed a method using black and white photography to simulate a full color image. Here, a color photograph is made through the layering of three separate black and white exposures, made with a respective red, green, and blue filter placed over the camera lens. In print form, the three black and white photographs are assigned their corresponding pigment, and layered in perfect alignment, to create a full color scene.
In my adaptation of this process, my camera is static though my subject matter is not. The time between each exposure invites discrepancy. Outside of the reasons this process was originally developed, I’m looking for: unseeable squirming, shifting, and growth, arms flailing in ecstasy, or light slowly moving across our walls.
Family is recurrent in the work, perhaps for the simple reason that my early school mentors were using the personal as content for works of art, and suggested we do the same (or in the least, make work about what we love). The near and dear to me are subjects I'm comfortable with as an introvert, as well as characters I adore seeing in print form. Being a parent and having my art practice draw from that felt like this radical act, in some way. Having children is such a societally normative thing, however, for me it felt like this crazy chaotic thing I didn't understand. Decency and sincerity, among so many other things, are under attack by the recently elected officials of our country. I think future projects will take on new meaning for me, with this in mind.
Any thoughts on how you might use the grant funds?
Ideally, when dollars are earned from art making I hope to be able to put them back into my practice. Whether it's in the production of work, or in making little books or zines, I will have no trouble finding something to trade this money for! I also promised my 8 year old daughter a trip to see dolphins this winter, oops!
Thank you Sean and TIS! Keep up the beautiful work everyone.
We congratulate Scott, and thank Sean Corcoran, Fujifilm for their generous donation of film, and all of the adjunct professors who submitted for the Grant. Images courtesy of Kristen Lorello.
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