History's Shadows

I was mesmerized by these images by photographer David Maisel (NY Times, October 1, 2011).

In his words: "During a residency at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles several years ago, I began to think about images that were created in the course of art preservation, where the realms of visual art and scientific research overlap. While taking photographs at the conservation department of the J. Paul Getty Museum, I became captivated by X-rays of art objects from the museum’s permanent collections. These ghostly images seemed to surpass the potency of the original objects of art. They were like transmissions from the distant past, conveying messages across time, and connecting the contemporary viewer to the art impulse at the core of these ancient works."

The title of his project "History's Shadows"shows art objects from the Getty Musuem and the Asian Art Musuem in San Francisco.


" Each was laid on a light box in a darkened room; the emanations of light were transmitted by long exposures onto color film, which was subsequently scanned to digital files that I work on using software to adjust the tonal range and to make certain that as much detail as possible is legible. I then adjust the scans to bring out colors latent in the original film and scans. Those colors intentionally reference cyanotypes,

albumen prints and other 19th-century

processes."

The images are hauntingly beautiful and has a "sketched" feel to it. It reminds me of when one does figure drawing, how the warm up 60 second poses are the free-est, more vibrant of the poses and these remind me of that.

They also remind me of what happened to me last Tuesday while sewing...the sewing machine needle went all the way through my left index finger, breaking off, leaving me with a broken needle. I tried to remove it myself but couldn't get a good grip of the little bit of needle sticking out.

The ER physician struggled to get the needle out but in the end, everything returned to normal and 2 hours later, i went back to my sewing machine. Very little blood and the pain i experienced (and still experiencing) came from the tetanus shot in my upper arm.