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146

LUCAS SAMARAS (American, b. 1936) PHOTO-TRANSFORMATION dated

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LUCAS SAMARAS (American, b. 1936) PHOTO-TRANSFORMATION dated
LUCAS SAMARAS (American, b. 1936) PHOTO-TRANSFORMATION dated "7/21/76" in blue pen on verso numbered "28249" in pencil on verso unique Polaroid SX-70 print with hand-manipulated emulsion image: 3 1/8 x 3 1/8 in. (7.9 x 7.9 cm) overall: 4 1/4 x 3 1/2 in (10.8 x 8.9 cm) July 21, 1976 from the series PHOTO-TRANSFORMATIONS (1973-1976) PROVENANCE PaceWildenstein, NEW YORK Private Collection, NEW YORK Each photograph from Samaras' Photo-Transformation series (1973-1976) contributes to the artist's psychological and spiritual autobiography. This image was taken in the cramped quarters of the artist's kitchen. The claustrophobic nature of the photograph increases the sense of anxiety it was meant to convey. Objects are oddly and surrealistically arranged, as the cluttered environment seems to be swallowing up Samaras. A kitchen chair sits atop the table as Samaras seems to be floating in a seated position. The only inscription on the object is the date, July 21, 1976, and the naked artist looks as though he is melting in the New York City heat of mid-July. Before 1973, Samaras had become fascinated with the magical qualities of the Polaroid 360. In 1973, however, John Holmes, an employee of the Polaroid Corporation, gave Samaras and a few fellow artists the newly invented Polaroid SX-70, the machine that is so commonly used today. Samaras was asked to experiment with the camera for a show at the Light Gallery in New York. Samaras considered this new camera "one of the greatest gifts anyone could give an artist" (SAMARAS, New York, Aperture, 1987, p. 43). He became obsessed with the deep saturation of the colors it captured and the soft quality of the emulsion during the development process. By pressing and pushing the soft emulsion with a wooden stylus or rounded end of a metal ruler, Samaras was able to manipulate the image, as he did here, in an almost painterly fashion. Samaras was thrilled by the possibilities this process allowed him, especially since his work was becoming more and more self-reflective. With the SX-70, he was able to mutate and mutilate his body to convey his inner fears and fantasies. In Ben Lifson's essay accompanying the 1987 Aperture monograph, he says: "The SX-70s do not parody appearances. They disclose instead the broken, twisted, unlovable shapes the self discovers when it looks within, and records them with the adult's dual understanding, which knows the fears to be at once histrionic, ridiculous in men's eyes, yet insurmountable, all-consuming. The theatrically colored kitchen has the look that places have when the soul is moved" (p. 44).
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