ANDY  MATTERN

"Hiding on the backs of some long-forgotten photographs are “ghost” images, accidental traces of other pictures left pressed up against the surface. Often barely visible but on occasion startlingly clear, these apparitions are the result of a chemical reaction caused by platinum photographs. Under certain conditions — the right platinum print stacked with the right paper for decades — a mirror image will appear. With each imprint, I like to imagine that the medium itself issues a reminder that photography has power beyond our control.

I was amazed to stumble upon this new type of picture, and have now spent several years ghost hunting. As a conceptual gesture, I rephotograph and reanimate them as hand-coated platinum prints. This process returns the portraits to their original material and offers them yet another chance to reproduce. I am drawn to their mysterious qualities — where the ghosts happen to land on the page, how they merge with graphics and text, the layering of multiple “exposures” — and I am captivated by the idea that, while no one is looking, the photographs are reproducing themselves."

Andy Mattern is a visual artist working in the expanded field of photography. His photographs and installations dissect the medium itself, reconfiguring expectations of photography's basic ingredients and conventions. His work is held in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the New Mexico Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. He holds an MFA in Photography from the University of Minnesota and a BFA in Studio Art from the University of New Mexico.

 

Image List for Sale-

Ghost No 99
Platinum Print, 2023
12 ⅞  x 10 ⅝ inches
Edition 1 of 2
$1,800 framed
Signed on back


Ghost No 82
Platinum Print, 2026 
15 ⅜ x 19 ½ inches
Edition 1 of 2
$2,400 framed
Signed on back


Ghost No. 112
Platinum Print 
17 ⅝  x 13 ¼ inches
Edition 1 of 2
$2,400 framed



Contact-
Andy Mattern 
www.andymattern.com
https://www.instagram.com/andymattern/

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