becoming neutral, No.1, no.3, No.2
2019
Full bleed Archival Inkjet Prints on Hahnemüle Photo Rag Bright White (ink extends to the edge of the paper)
Each print is 32” x 48”
Printed in editions of 3 +2AP
Becoming Neutral, No. 1 - 3 in Undisclosed Image, Nona Jean Hulsey Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK.
Installation photographs courtesy of Andy Mattern.
Middle grey is a tone halfway between black and white that reflects 18% of the light hitting it. It is painted on mat board and used by photographers to calibrate exposure and color balance in photographs. The recipe for middle grey is a trade secret to photographic equipment suppliers like X-Rite, Kodak, and Delta 1. In Becoming Neutral I consecutively print cyan, magenta, and yellow ink atop one another in an effort to make my own middle grey. With the help of a commercial grey card, I test various color layering to determine which are closest to the original. Dubious of the reliability of my own perception, I have little confidence in my results. I then photograph the test strips and use my imperfect greys to calibrate their own images, ‘correcting’ and altering the tone of the paper accordingly. In doing so, I replace the mechanized and privatized standard of 18% grey with my own subjective standard for color calibration.
Detail: Becoming Neutral, No. 2
