Susan Berkowitz
			artist statement

Dry Polaroid Transfers, Polaroid Emulsion Lift Offs, Gel Transfers and Abstracts

Statement

I didn’t choose to become an artist - it chose me. I often ask myself, ”Who in their right mind would choose this life?” I have accepted that making art is my being. I love it as much as I feel tormented by it. I am constantly pulled to create and attempt to blend the ordinary with the unordinary. I speak through my artwork. I am on a journey while creating and often times I don’t know why I am making something until it is finished. I’ve discovered through the years that I am not attached to my work. When it is complete, I’ve said what I had to say, expressed what I felt and have gotten it out of my system. I don’t know why I work or feel this way. It is what it is; art is my soul.

It doesn’t feel true to myself writing ‘proper’ artist statements, using words like juxtapose and tangible. I don’t feel real following the rules. Isn’t that what art is about though - learning the rules so that you can later break them? I do know that if I can’t speak about and understand my work, I can’t expect that of others.

With that:

I believe we all need to stop, observe and appreciate all things great and small, attractive and unattractive around us.

I am influenced and inspired by the artists Horst P. Horst and Joseph Cornell.

I hand build my assemblages and then photograph them with slide film. From the slide I create Fuji, Polaroid or Gel Transfers onto Artist Paper. The category I am in is Photography, though I prefer to be referred to as an Alternative Processes Artist.

Process

The Polaroid Dry Transfer process consists of allowing the Polaroid film to process for approximately 10 seconds, otherwise known as a partial process. I then pull apart the film and transfer the negative to artist paper, where, in about 2 minutes, the image finishes it’s processing time onto the paper. The size of the image is only 3” x 4”, and I don’t feel the impact of the image was properly presented. In order to have the larger image, the original 3” x 4” Dry Polaroid is scanned into the computer and a single 36” x 24” archival print is printed onto Somerset Velvet paper.

In the Polaroid Emulsion Lift Off process, I allow the Polaroid 669 film to process its full 2 minutes. The emulsion is then boiled off the paper back of the Polaroid film. What is left is a membrane, as thin as tissue paper. Once the emulsion is boiled off, it is moved into a cold water pan. I then transfer the emulsion directly onto Archival Stone Hendge Artist Paper and use a brush with cold water to manipulate and move the image until I am satisfied with where it is placed. Each final creation has between 3 and 5 images within it, with the final size being approximately 10” (H) x 20” (W).

For the Gel Transfers, I create a color copy from the slide, and by using Gel Medium, the image is transferred to artist paper.  The Gel Transfer process also allows me to create layers through the scratches that occur naturally as I transfer the ink to the paper. Each final image is placed upon Stone Hendge Artist paper and are approximately 16” (W) x 20” (H).

All processes are one of kind creations. The scratches, folds, creases, rips, tears and so on occur as I create each piece. This natural process does not allow for an identical recreation. The edges of the paper on all three processes are deckled (torn), and the edges are displayed by floating the entire work in a window matte.

The “Abstract Series” begins with simply photographing painted concrete walls. With that, I create a multiple image Polaroid Emulsion Lift off Transfer.  The multiple emulsion lift off’s are one of a kind. Meaning, they cannot and will not be reproduced. With that, I choose to scan into the computer one particular shape of an original emulsion lift off. I use the computer to change the color and increase the size. Thus, the final image is a 20” x 20” IRIS print. Framed to 30” x 30”. The   images are generally displayed in a quad fashion or traditional fashion. Reason being, each color of each image compliments one another. I feel that the colors and shapes I choose all lend themselves to enhance each other.  The images can be sold as a group(s) or individually.

When Polaroid announced  a few years ago they were going to cease making 669 film, through generous donations, I was able to purchase several thousand sheets of 669 film so that I would be able to continue working in my medium. When I run out of film, if Polaroid has chosen not to manufacture 669 film again, both The Impossible Project and Fuji have developed an instant  film that I will be able to work with.