A Search for Confined Fireballs in the Atmosphere #11 Photograph - Limited Edition of 5

While doing research for a series of traditional photos of nuclear weapons, I reviewed thousands of pages of formerly classified documents. Buried among them I would occasionally encounter stories so strange or alarming that I might not believe them had they come from any other source. Stories like: - The physicists working on the first atomic bomb debated if it might set off a chain reaction, ignite earth’s atmosphere, and kill every living thing. - Stanislav Petrov and Vasili Arkhipov, on separate occasions, disobeyed orders and single-handedly prevented a nuclear war. - The top scientists who worked on the early atomic bombs all opposed the development of the thermonuclear weapons which are in use today. These incidents appear in interdepartmental memos, instruction manuals, meeting notes, and incident reports. As fascinating as the content of these documents were, I was also seduced by their appearance: how an image or text changed by being reproduced repeatedly. Each version imperceptibly mutated from the one before until the contents were barely legible. Fittingly, they decayed in much the same way that radioactive elements decay and transform into new ones, or in the way radioactive particles mutate DNA. What were once photographs, text, stamps, redactions, or artifacts from a photocopier became my medium. I created new compositions with the elements I found in these documents, framing them in the same way I had previously arranged aircraft or landscapes in my photos. At times they felt like abstract paintings, with nods to the work of painters as different as Franz Klein, Mark Rothko, and Piet Mondrian. Other pieces had the bold textual and graphic play of graffiti and stencil artists. These creations were not just interesting abstract images. To me, they express the madness of the systems they describe. While the pieces stand as aesthetic objects, they inevitably invite discussion and curiosity about their origin.

Photography:Black & White on Canvas

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:5

Size:64 W x 36 H x 2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.