A Beach Read from Big Red & Shiny: Painter Wilhelm Neusser Speaks with Jim Kiely

Earlier this week, New England art magazine Big Red & Shiny published Intentional Landscape: An Interview with Painter Wilhelm Neusser. Written by gallery co-owner Jim Kiely, Intentional Landscape is an insightful look into Neusser's most recent self-reflective and historically sensitive body of work.

Here's an excerpt from the interview:

"I think some of what I grew up with is coming back more and more now that I’ve relocated to the U.S., and I wonder if it’s part of an adjustment process. What I paint now is a very specific type of landscape – a not necessarily super-attractive land that has been industrialized mostly by coal mining.... [T]his is my family’s history.... [A]nd then there’s the historical German landscape, which is not personal but more a play on stereotypes and clichés. The third element I focus on is creating topographies on the canvas – crusts of paint – so that my material itself becomes a landscape. These days I’m aiming for moments when the three ingredients come together and become as tasty as possible." - Wilhelm Neusser

Read the full interview here.
See Neusser's work at the gallery here.

Wilhelm Neusser, Bright Horizon, oil on canvas, 20" x 24"

Summer Exposure with Silke Hase

Thanks to all who joined us Thursday evening (July 21) for a fascinating talk led by Silke Hase, as she walked us through the photographic process known as wet plate collodion.

As one of photography's earliest practical techniques, wet plate collodion is a largely manual process that demands both time and attention from the photographer. Said Hase of her work, "it's not the camera that makes a photograph good, it's the connection between the photographer and her process that does."  

If you're interested in learning more about the historic process of wet plate collodion, check out this informational reading put together by Hase, as well as some of her recommended articles.  

 

Further Reading...

Books

  • Jill Einfeld, Jill Enfield's Guide to Photographic Alternative Processes: Popular Historical and Contemporary Techniques, Focal Press, 2013.
     
  • Christopher James, The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, 3rd edition, Cengage Learning, 2015.

Articles