PRERIVATIVE #2

Photo Resists, circa 1983 and 1993?

These are from an on again/off again series of experiments using photo resists. A resist can be almost any substance you can apply to photographic paper that prevents the chemical from making contact with the paper, resisting development. It can be anything like toothpaste, vaseline, lipstick and each will react in different ways. Some stick like glue and others are easily eroded by liquid. I also combined this with photograms, contact prints, printing through screens, and other techniques. Once the initial exposure is made and the paper is put through initial development and then fixed, the original development is essentially locked in. Then by repeating the development and either shaking the print to erode some resists, or wiping away stubborn ones, and occasionally also turning lights on and off to expose the paper again I found that I got very interesting patterns and tones and selective solarization and all kinds of fun stuff. I think maybe a couple of these were published in a University Arts Magazine, but I don’t think I ever showed them anywhere.