Joshua Dean Lammers

My paintings exist in an over-lap of nostalgia and social media and explore how the photograph functions as cultural memory. My process reappropriates traditional painting techniques; I interpret underpainting as if I were a commercial printer. A limited palette of cyan, magenta, yellow and black defines the output. The four transparent colors, layered one on top of the other, mimic the oscillated output of an ink jet printer. The finished product hangs like a tapestry, floating away from the wall, slightly moving when a viewer walks by, disrupting the ether.

Through a re-realization of technical narrative, I deconstruct familiarity and meaning to better understand their consequences. The dimensions are based on one of two standard media measurements: 4:3 and 16:9. The 4:3 is the oldest ratio, used for screen size in silent films. Today most smartphones and HD televisions are delineated with a 16:9 ratio. And while it is a newer look, it’s already well ingrained within our routine. The difference between these two acknowledges ideas of melodrama on one hand and innovation on the other.

New York Academy of Art '08
Painting