Marco Breuer & Anna Atkins

         Cyanotype, 1843. Anna Atkins.

Untitled, 1997. Marco Breuer.

  Silver gelatin paper burned.

I've never been attracted to abstract photography, but when I saw these works by Marco Breuer in person, I was an instant convert. In these works, Breuer references the indexical nature of the photographic medium first realized by early photographic explorations by Anna Atkins in the 1800s. Atkins's cyanotypes engage in post-enlightenment scientific inquiry at a time when the photographic medium was in its infancy. Over 100 years later, Breuer works in what I would call a post-photographic digital age in which technological advances have long since entombed the physicality of the medium. Although I am not usually a proponent of Greenbergian notions of pure artistic formality, Breuer's work presents a convincing argument that on occasion, pure explorations of medium and form can yield sublime results. 

You can see more of Breuer's work on the Von Lintel Gallery website.