Odalisque (2004)

This is an image made in 2004, one of the last in an older style.  As usual with my photographs at that time, I distressed the negative in a number of ways.  If you look at one of the prints closely, you can see that the grain has been reticulated in a faint cross-hatching pattern.

To be honest, I’m not sure what I was thinking in making this photograph.  I don’t know what made me incorporate the dog collar.  I’m sure that there was some train of thought, but 8 years later I don’t know what it was.  People seemed to love this photograph at the time – I sold plenty of prints.

When I moved from Washington State to Chicago in 2006, I gave away tons of my old belongings.  I had a large studio full of things that I was not able to bring with me.  At one point I drove to Seattle with a trunk full of odds and ends to give to friends.  At the time, photographer Erin Frost and I were both represented by the gallery Art@Large in New York.  She took a few of my things, including the aforementioned dog collar and some glass eyes.

After a while, I saw a few images she made with the collar herself.

Erin Frost – 2009

Erin Frost – 2006

Art@Large closed down, and both of us have changed our artistic practice considerably.  Every once in a while an idea of a two person exhibition is mentioned, but it has yet to happen.  I think it makes more sense now than ever, as we are both using a lot of photo-based mixed media to explore love and interpersonal relationships.  Maybe one day.

View more of Erin Frost’s photography on her website:  http://erin-frost.com/