Camera Obscura
Richard Learoyd's pinhole photography at the Fraenkel Gallery
Richard Learoyd’s images create a fascinating balance between the minute detail of large-scale photography and the ephemeral qualities that create a mood of intimacy and introspection. Learoyd has said of his work, “The pictures are about extending the duration of looking… My hope is that they inspire a truly reflective view: a view of intimacy and understanding, and insight into another that will increase our humanity.”
Richard Learoyd’s images are made with the most ancient of photographic processes: the camera obscura, the same device used to create many Dutch Master paintings. Learoyd has created a room-sized camera obscura in which he exposes the photographic paper. The subject—most often a person, sometimes a still life—is in an adjacent room, separated by a lens. Light falling on the subject is directly focused onto the photographic paper without an interposing film negative. The resulting image is entirely grainless, with a nearly hyperreal level of detail.
“The way I do things is like taking one photograph and the exposure is eight hours, the whole day is the exposure,” says the artist. Learoyd’s subjects arrive at his studio prepared for a full day, maybe two, of sitting still under hot lights. The resulting images are contemplative studies in human intimacy, with a heightened quality of presence and a shimmery magical light that does bring to mind Dutch Master paintings.
Richard Learoyd’s current exhibition at Fraenkel Gallery debuts a gorgeous collection of his unique color studio portraits, still lifes, and black-and-white landscapes. The show is on view through March 4. You can preview some of the images here, above and below.
