The VanGoghlaroid Collection

Monday, July 9, 2007

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Vermont Bridges, Covered and Not

Three-Ton Bridge

Upper Falls Road

Quechee Gorge Bridge (Route 4)

Houses around Woodstock, Vermont

Pink House, Perkinsville

River Road

Yellow House

Houses on the Woodstock Green

Gallery on the Green

Brick House

11 The Green

T'Other House on the Green

Porch Flag

Tulips and Dahlias

Tulips

Tulips in Dreamland

Clyde's Choice

Orange Julius

VanGoghlaroids in the Garden

Hello, Dahlia

Bloody-Eyed Susans

Backyard Bouquet

Mistral

About The Images:

While they may look like impressionist paintings, each of these images is actually a Polaroid photograph. At least, that's what each image began its existence as: a three-inch square Polaroid print, shot with a 1970's vintage SX-70 folding SLR.

In addition to being a revolutionary camera design (though far from an ergonomic one), Polaroid designed an entirely new film for the SX-70, creating, for the first time, a one-piece instant print. This meant no peeling, less waste, and, in a nod to the marketing department, the novelty of being able to watch the image appear in full color.

The SX-70 print also had a very soft emulsion under its clear mylar surface, one that would remain pliable, depending upon ambient temperatures, for quite some time after the picture had fully developed. With careful prodding, one could move details of a picture around, creating brushstrokes as well as mixing and altering the colors. These characteristics have been favored and exploited by many artists, and I fell under its spell more than ten years ago.

I made hundreds of SX-70 manipulations from 1996 through about 2001, mostly during the summers, since the camera and film packs tended to get cranky in cooler weather. I would often work on several prints at once, and soon had a small toolkit of burnishers, toothpicks, and dead ball-point pens to push and prod my images around.

During the early years I exhibited and sold framed and unframed originals at art fairs, with very positive responses. They were a nice contrast to my larger black and white photographs, as well as good sellers.

As the years went on, the film packs were getting harder to find each summer, so I made fewer VanGoghlaroids, as I had been calling them. But in 2004 I'd acquired both a high resolution scanner and six-color printer. I began scanning, enlarging, and cleaning up some of the older images, and printing them as large as 12 inches square, something I could only dream about ten years earlier.

I got the news late that Polaroid had finally pulled the plug and discontinued the entire line in the fall of 2005. I found out in the spring of 2006; but I was able to get a ten-pack of cartridges on Ebay. These may be the last of the VanGoghlaroids, but in this digital age, they're sure to last for the ages, or at least the next major server crash.

--Neil J Murphy
July, 2007

The VanGoghlaroid Collection

Monday, July 9, 2007

Stained Glass

Flag Day, 2001

On the Beach

VanGoghlaroids in the Kitchen

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Vermont Bridges, Covered and Not

Houses around Woodstock, Vermont

Houses on the Woodstock Green

Tulips and Dahlias

VanGoghlaroids in the Garden

About The Images:

Archives

The Paintographer:

Other Sites, Other Styles, Completely Different Stuff:

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