Marco Breuer
Breuer poses the question if he could technically be considered a photographer despite his work being grounded in and having studied photography (Breuer 2018, 00:09).
“The series Notes, Queries is part of an ongoing investigation of the conditions of the photographic medium. The early photographic processes of gum bichromate and cyanotype are utilized here to point towards a moment in photography's history when the medium was exploratory and fluid — a site for inquiry not yet dictated by conventions or expectations. These works constitute recordings of phenomena: on a ground of white paper, layers of emulsion are built up in between physical acts—impacting the surface through abrasion, folding, puncturing, and piercing — to create images of their own construction and destruction. Often resembling aerial views of terrain scarred and shaped over time, these works stand as evidence of a process which folds multiple views into a single image. Instead of pictures that illustrate something outside of themselves, these surfaces speak of their own coming into being. Emulsion and support are not mere vehicles for the image; they, in fact, are the image. The related series. Obstructions, is a group of images that have been e extracted from the daily flood of newspaper photographs. Altered via Xerox, silkscreen, and physical abrasion, they functioned as source material for many of the gum prints and cyanotypes in Notes, Queries” (Breuer, Siber, and Goldberg 2006).
Marco Breuer, “Untitled (C-1189)”, 2012
Bibliography
Breuer, Marco, Matt Siber, and Jim Goldberg. 2006. “Artist Statements.” English Language Notes 44 (2): 133–34. https://doi.org/10.1215/00138282-44.2.133.
Breuer, Marco. 2012. “Untitled (C-1189)”. Image. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/what-is-a-photograph.
———. 2016a. "Marco Breuer: Pushing the boundaries of photography". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. September 25, 2018. YouTube video, 03:16. https://youtu.be/3hQ_3yuk_Cc.
———. 2016b. "Lecture with Marco Breuer". Pier 24. April 21, 2016. Vimeo video, 38:03. https://vimeo.com/193584102.