Fred Camper art     Complete Fred Camper art

Figments, by Fred Camper


          


Each "Figments" group is created from a single image, transformed into 47 lower resolution images or "elements," which are made by using software to reduce it in size, and then re-enlarge it, by varying processes. These 47 images plus the original constitute the 48 "elements" from which each "Figments" group is constructed. My hope is to create a sense of these varying versions of the image plumbing and probing and clashing with and intensifying each other, and to argue that all versions are of equal interest, meaning, and beauty.

A "Figments" group consists of five sub-groups. The "Elements" sub-group presents each element on a separate sheet, and could also be bound as a book. The "Alls" sheet arranges all 48 versions of the image in a seven-by-seven grid, the original in the center and the lowest res version (a solid color) repeated at the beginning and end. The "Alls" sheets are editions of 12. There will be up to 36 "Figments" sheets for each group, combining between two to thirteen of the 48 elements in different ways. These are all editions of one. In the "Supers," each rectangular "cell" consists of superimpositions of between two and five elements, with the layers usually slightly different sizes and slightly displaced from center. Occasionally, a Supers "cell" will consist of an element without superimpositions. There will be up to 32 "Supers" for each group, all editions of one. Each "Clouds" is also an edition of one, and each consists of a small portion of one of the five-layer "Supers" cells, enlarged by a factor of five. One idea behind editions of one is to argue that no single arrangement is any more "true" than any other, in the same way that none of the 47 low-resolution elements is any more "true" than any other, or than the original. I have an artist's statement on "Figments," which includes some repetition of the text above.

Figments 1: Fondi 1 (2009-)
Figments 1: Fondi 2 (2009-)
Figments 3: Via Appia (2009-)
Figments 5: Terracina 1 (2009-)
Figments 6: La Bruschetta (2009-)
Figments 7: Near Naples 1 (2009-)
Figments 10: Simmons Hall 9 (2009-)
Figments 11: Mess 1 (2009-)
Figments 12: Catedral 4 (2009-)
Figments: Alls (2009), scroll through (This selection includes many "Alls" sheets for which Figments groups have not yet been constructed, offering a kind of preview of work to come. The "missing numbers," "Figments 2," etc., reflect still additional groups possibly to come.)

          


Figments numbering: These groups of "Figments" groups, such as "Figments 1: Fondi," "Figments 3: Via Appia," et cetera, are numbered in the order in which the images were photographed. (Photos I took in Italy in 2002 are the first I have used in art works.) "Figments 3: Via Appia" was the first group of "Figments" made, and "Figments 1: Fondi " and "Figments 6: La Bruschetta" are the most recent. Within each group, more works ("Figments" sheets, "Supers," and "Clouds") are to come.


Fred Camper art     Complete Fred Camper art