Thank you Dawn Rosendahl and Dale Rosendahl for your continued love and guidance.

Thanks to Shelley Fuller for provocative discussions as well as enduring belief. JPK, please be well. Jared Gutschke, thanks for always checking in. Thanks to Ben McQuillan

and Dylan Thaemert for all of the stimulating conversations and creative reciprocation. Thanks to the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts for all of the relationships foraged in

that amazing space, those were very formative years. Alex and Amelia, I love you.

Thank you AnnieLaurie Erickson for bringing my conversations into the curriculum of Tulane university. Bill Depauw, and Rick Lineberger, I thank you for your time and

suggestions. Nathan Halverson and Jaclyn Rawls, Ben Fox-McCord and Natalie McLaurin, I thank you for friendship, this has been a lonely journey. Thanks to Devon

Murphy for a consistent hand in moving and lifting, inside the gallery and out. Dan Alley, I thank you for craftsmanship and insight.

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ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………………… ii

SUBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE……………………………………………………………………………. 1

PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION………………………………………………………………. 9

WORKS CITED…………………………………………………………………………………………. 17

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………………… 18

BIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 19

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�1

“The idea that close-up magic has bearing on the critical mass of contemporary photographic art centers on their shared capacity to recalibrate established creative forms in ways that relate to our collective present: to conjure imaginative and open-ended experiences and trains of thought in the viewer. Magic in both realms is a multisensory experience that calls upon our capacity to script our own sense of visual reality.” (Cotton, 1)

Projects of the last two years respond to the prevailing conditions of dated reference

material. The impetus to my creative action was an encounter with a photographic information

system emptied of its vitality. A yearbook from Tulane University, dating to 1994, and a volume of

the Encyclopedia Britanica 9th edition, produced from 1870 to 1890, function here as material

and conceptual threshold. In both cases, the source materials that caught my attention were

systems of pictorial data and text. In their original state, these objects were provided as objective

data; reference material valued for its certainty and historical accuracy. I encountered the

yearbook disregarded, abandoned, left in my Tulane studio by a former tenant. The

encyclopedias were in disrepair, replaced by a century of history, hidden in a dirty garage.

The title to this exhibition, Subjective Objective, speaks to my intuitive reaction or

reactivation. Material concerns and composition necessitate a rare opportunity to interpret printed

matter as a malleable independent language, a subjective form. Such actions open concrete

definitions to secondary unfixed interpretations, all the while offering the viewer an optically

specific resource. My decisions both highlight and activate a data set depleted of historical

priority, limited by its general condition. Contextual displacement, disparate grouping, and literal

restructuring are the methods I employ to achieve such activation.

Project 1. Paper In Resin As Sculpture.

I’ve been organizing small bits of translucent media and glass occasionally since 2006. I

recall seeing a piece titled Shades from 1964 created by Robert Rauschenberg. I saw it at the

San Antonio Museum of Art one afternoon, I essentially went home and threw away the structure I

�2

was working on. I’d been using bits of magazines and had converted some data to overhead

transparency film. I was attempting to use the shell of a television as the apparatus to house this

layered data. I was organizing unrelated imagery to craft a critical message. My piece was clunky.

The apparatus of the TV, as well as my chosen imagery, suggested a heavy handed commercial

criticism. Additionally, it was ugly. Rauschenberg's panes were densely covered with semi

transparent screen print. The glass panes were rotatable and spatially relocatable within a

minimal armature. I felt that Rauschenberg’s build to chaotic density was superb, more poignant

than my attempts at ironic messaging through organization.

My recent work in resin thus builds on a decade of contemplation, experimentation, and

research. No heavy handed criticism is needed; the simple act of working with commercial

objects as an arts medium is itself a loaded gesture.

The Encyclopedia Brittanica’s 9th edition is a 25 volume reference set that intersperses

thousands of highly detailed mass produced engravings as a visual companion to its textual

analysis. These “photos” were of vital interest. The age of these “pictures,” their ornate detail, as

well as the potential contained in the sheer volume of homogenous illustrations captivated me.

This imagery represents an antiquated technology for descriptive explanation. The mass

produced engravings predate photography as the prevalent manner of graphic depiction.

My current arts practice regularly makes use of pictures I encounter, as opposed to

pictures I author. Conversations of ownership, value, and theft often arise in doing so. In 2016,

questions of authorship in art are typically par for the course, but contentious circumstances still

arise. It was important to recognize that this is the first appropriation based project I’ve developed

where my chosen source material, by default of its age, falls into the category of public domain.

�3

That is to say, the source material is more than 100 years old and technically no one owns it. Not

only do these dated illustrations influence a discussion on content, they also dictate a discussion

of aesthetics in a very restricting way. Although I feel that I’ve resolved the restriction in an

aesthetically pleasing manner, I think it pressing to consider the limitations of copyright when

applied to photographic documentation or image based creativity in our present era defined by

the “cut, copy, paste” mentality. This then is the first sample-based project I’ve assembled, where

from its inception, the work has escaped the all too often restrictive nature of regulative copyright.

When these forms began taking shape, my studio was across from the Henry Doorly Zoo

in Omaha, Nebraska. The parking lot would surge with visitors on a daily basis. I remember

thinking of the spectacle created by the zoo’s conditions. Flora and fauna from every corner of the

earth gathered, categorized, and displayed for a visitor’s delight.

I’d been contemplating a satisfaction in my spirit, a contentedness that came about

through the ritual like activity of art making. Around step 100 of another process heavy project, I’d

recognized a meditative calm, the regular making was soothing. Here again, I planned to pursue

serenity. The spiritual nature of my intention has directly influenced the aesthetic goals of these

pieces, specifically the formal arrangement of information (the vertical totem like grid), and the

topical selections/associations. After liberating hundreds of images from the pages of the

encyclopedias, the data has been reconfigured in resin to suggest a sacred geometry.

Compositions swirl towards a centralized intersection. My allegorical configurations incorporate

design, scale, and balance to suggest a present or inherent narrative. I court both order and

disorder at times as I search for the most effective aesthetic/conceptual combinations. I find the

open-endedness of my encyclopedic convergence to be the most successful aspect of the

project. Put simply, this imagery is beautiful. The zoo-like configuration of references establishes

�4

spectacle. The search for concrete intention by way of visual investigation is itself an enjoyable

enterprise. The golden tones of combining glossy resin with the yellowed by age encyclopedia

page furthers a suggestion of sacredness.

In my mind, these objects are multi-tiered. Presented more as sculpture than as a typical

two dimensional wall piece, the presentation serves as the first tier. It offers a physical presence

and the seductive stylings that adequately appeal to the desires of the gallery viewer. The slick

physique literally draws the viewer towards the objects surface for a detailed investigation of its

symbolic exposition. The ideas suggested in a reading of pictorial associations is tier two.

Ultimately, the data set has been opened, its unavailable condition has been remedied. The

closed off circumstance specific to this source material has been negated; this is tier three. In this

re-calibrated state, content announces itself continuously.

These seven pieces in resin speak to a celebration of both knowledge and history, but

they also serve as an interrogation of expiring objects. My foraging is in no way neutral. In this

creative effort revitalization is at odds with iconoclasm. A discrimination by omission is

considerably evident, but preservation is a notable outcome. I read the work as personally

philosophical, though at times unspecific to one doctrine. I’m not looking to establish hard fact nor

total fiction in re-presenting the encyclopedic data. Specific associations are being made, but fact

and fiction are both at play as the contrasting referents inform one another.

These personally spiritual objects suggest conversations of ritual and meditative process,

totemic organization, sacred geometry, personal mythology, magic, alchemy, and the expansion

of consciousness. Additionally, ideas of fair use, public domain, and remix, are ascertainable. My

mixed media investigation in paper and resin thoroughly explores a combination of process and

�5

material that amplifies the aesthetic capabilities inherent in each. The result is content of 120 year

old information that is, best although not exclusively, discussed through the vocabulary of our

digital present. I find this position extremely compelling.

In his essay Parallel Universes, Jean Baudrillard suggests that: “Words freed from their

meanings, move on another orbit, that of language in the pure state.” It is a similar condition that

allows such a wide host of topics to commingle within my dense layering.

Project 2. Yearbook To Video Installation.

Upon arriving in New Orleans for graduate study, I began searching thrift stores and

second hand markets for a cache of pictures, magazines, or other illustrative representations to

no avail. It’s been suggested that after hurricane Katrina of 2005, the second hand

establishments of New Orleans lost much of their potency as many water logged items were

damaged and cast away.

My Tulane studio contained a chance solution. When I’d moved into this space, a copy of

the universities yearbook, Jambalaya, was awaiting me. An abundance of uniform black and

white portraits caught my attention. Something clicked. I removed the flesh tones from the black

and white documents with an X-acto blade, supplanting a secondary unrelated magazine page

behind the gridded registration of the original. Photographic data of heavy texture and pattern

replaces the identifying features in five hundred collegiate figures. A digital scanner, photo, and

video editing software were employed to record, manipulate, and amplify my flagrant

substitutions. My end product is a slow transitioning succession of luminous beings. Unique loops

containing one hundred figures circulate on five vertically mounted 48” wall monitors.

This looped video installation began as another paper based collage project. Although

this project is tied to a significantly different era than the works in resin, both of these efforts

�6

respond to the prevailing conditions of outdated media. Here again, deep process and heavy

layering are at the heart of my effort. The result being that pattern, morphs into pattern,

transforming firm identification into abstraction, and perhaps assigns a new identity. The soft

meaning of this work is the primary art of this installation. The installation’s scale has significant

presence and becomes a contemporary take on the delineated grid. The formal repetitive

structure of the television monitors is a physical reference to the well known yearbook line, it

offers a prosaic snippet that grounds a viewers mental investigation. This organizational strategy

is a potential point of entry; it’s look minimal, modernist, and formalist. There is a subdued but

noticeable buzz in the gallery, accentuating the end result of this digital transformation.

My video’s painterly vibe is nothing short of vivid, with colors vibrant and alluring. Glitch

like textures emerge atop each portraits surface. I’ve manipulated each image using Adobe

Photoshop before incorporating it into the video process. Increased exposure, saturation, and

adjusted hue result a unique portrait charged with the look and texture of digital taxation.

I see a number of conversations emerge from the slow shifting figures. The

aforementioned stripping of identity is a weighted expression and lands foremost. The abstracted

figures are broadly familiar in that they’ve escaped the context and specificity of their origin. They

allude to concepts of yearbook and identity, but confirm nothing or no one. My mind searches for

ways to make sense of their liberation or affirm their ideology, but free association yields no

certainty. Observations of gender relationships and suggestions of power surface; a result of

masculine figures being successively replaced by feminine figures and vice versa. The

supplanted textures and patterns suggest something dramatic; sometimes light hearted,

sometimes dark and secretive. Something akin to nostalgia then takes root. The dated hairstyles

and fashions of these figures present the only concrete suggestion of age, but the glitch aesthetic

argues of a digital present.

�7

Conclusion

In recent projects, I’ve been responding to dated print based media of all kind. It’s

incredibly rich therefore I’m fascinated by its potential. A book, a magazine, an annual all host

discussions of the source objects history. Pictures removed from these objects resonate in a

peculiar way. The intent of the source is no longer fitting. Materials reworked in this manner host

topically specific conversations, honed to showcase the curiosities of an alternate author. There is

much to be learned by opening a closed system back up to interpretation.

More specifically, my work has been taking shape as a response to the specifics of a

particular material, the conditions of that material provoke me to take action. I allow intuition and

logic to lead me towards forms and concepts I’d not otherwise choose to approach. In a reaction

to the latent conditions of a dormant material, my hybrid forms return vitality to structures long

depleted of purpose.

The titles I’ve chosen for these works are references to alchemical themes: Solve and

Coagula, Travelers Allegory, Metaphysical Problems, Division, Continuum, Permutation, and Flux.

These themes are fitting in that a common substance of little value (depleted paper magazines

and books) has been transformed into one of great value, “Gold” in a literal and figurative sense.

This experience of making has led to spiritual depth, growth through personal and professional

venture. Spirit, soul, and body are at the center of centuries old alchemical investigations, in this

way also, my titles are fitting to themes contained within my products.

Deep layering and heavy process are present throughout the works in this exhibition. All

of the work shares a state of transparency and reveals a remarkable level of detail created by

these labor intensive processes. Additionally, both projects have a slow resonance that requires

adequate time and a detailed investigation of the specifics contained within their respective

�8

architecture. These efforts straddle analogue and digital divisions, both offering a glimpse into our

past, and the posturing of the present.

�9

Gallery View Subjective Objective.

Carroll Gallery at Tulane University.

New Orleans, LA. April 06 - 15, 2016.

�10

�11

Division (Detail). Remixed media. (Encyclopedia Britannica 9th Edition. Resin.

Commercial Window.) 2016. 30” x 32” x 1.5”

Metaphysical Problems (Detail). Remixed media. (Encyclopedia Britannica 9th Edition.

Resin. Commercial Window.) 2016. 30” x 32” x 1.5"

�12

Gallery View Subjective Objective.

Carroll Gallery at Tulane University. New Orleans, LA.

April 06 - 15, 2016.

Travelers Allegory.

Remixed media. (Encyclopedia Britannica 9th Edition. Resin.

Commercial Window.) 2016. 28” x 76” x 1.5”

�13

Solve and Coagula.

Remixed media. (Encyclopedia Britannica 9th Edition. Resin. Commercial Window.) 2016. 34” x 84” x 4"

�14

Solve and Coagula. Process shot and detail.

�15

Flux. Remixed media. Looped video installation on 5 wall mounted monitors. (Jambalaya Yearbook 1994. Various printed photographic sources. Televisions.) 2016. 176” x 43”.

Dimensions potentially variable.

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�17

WORKS CITED

Charolette Cotton, Introduction to Photography Is Magic. Aperture, New York. 2015.

Jean Baudrillard, Parallel Universes. http://insomnia.ac/essays/parallel_universes/

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Charolette Cotton. Photography Is Magic. Aperture, New York. 2015.

Encyclopedia Britannica Ninth Edition. “The landmark ninth edition, often called 'the Scholar's Edition',[2] was published from January 1875 to 1889 in 25 volumes, with volume 25 the index volume.” (Wikipedia)

Jean Baudrillard, Parallel Universes. http://insomnia.ac/essays/parallel_universes/

Kenneth Goldsmith. Paragraphs on Conceptual Writing. From Open Letter. A Canadian Journal of Writing and Theory. Twelfth Series, No. 7: Fall 2005.

Lawrence Lessig. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. Penguin Press. 2008.

Margaret Iverson. Chance. Documents of Contemporary Art.Whitechapel Gallery. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 2010.

Vanessa Place/Robert Fitterman. Notes On Conceptualisms. Ugly Duckling Presse, Brooklyn, NY. 2009.

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BIOGRAPHY

Brittan Rosendahl is a Nebraska native and graduate of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln attending graduate school at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He often investigates found and appropriated imagery, as well as remix, and media circulation. His art develops as a response to a set of circumstances, this is often a pensive reaction to untraditional materials in a state of disuse. Rosendahl considers himself a conceptual artist stirred to action by photographic imagery or condition.

Rosendahl’s work has been included in multiple solo and group exhibitions both nationally and locally. His products have most recently been shown at Staple Goods in New Orleans, and at The Bemis Center For Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE. Two pieces were also included in DAM Projects: Sunday School #1. Letter From New Orleans at A_SPACE in London, England.

His work can be found in the Franklin Furnace Archive, as well in the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Public Health School Collection. He has an image displayed in the Nebraska State Capitol building in the office of State Senator Tanya Cook.