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Christopher Colville
Citizen #1, 2016
Estimated Value: $7,800

Gunpowder generated, direct positive gelatin silver print
32 x 24.5 inches
Unframed
Unique
Signed, verso
Donated by the artist, courtesy of Rick Wester Fine Art, Inc.

Beyond Reckoning is the antiphon to a continuous cycle of violence imbedded in American culture, reflecting our polarized population. The images are made with targets I have collected from desert hillsides, abandoned by recreational shooters. The targets include commercially produced bulls-eyes, life size human forms, predators, mannequin heads, and wedding photographs as well as more divisive, crudely drawn political caricatures. These objects are cultural relics of a violent era, reduced to delicate lace by the onslaught of gunfire, revealing complex motives of hero fantasies, fear, frustration and hatred.

In the darkness of night, I place the targets on gelatin silver paper and ignite measured portions of gunpowder on their surface. The explosive energy imprints the negative form of the target on the light sensitive paper while fire burns through the voids of bullet holes, scarring and pitting the surface of the print, creating luminous shadows whose clarity refute their violent creation. The Citizens are made from life size targets whose fire born forms rise from the flames as mythological apparitions haunting a landscape that holds a compressed history of violence. The targets are consumed in the process of creation, but the images generated reveal triumphant revenant forms bearing the wounds of their creation.

 
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About the Artist:
Christopher Colville

Christopher Colville was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1974. He spent his formative years exploring the desert arroyos and abandoned lots developing a deep connection to the desert and desire for the unknown.

Christopher received his BFA in Anthropology and Photography from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri 1997 and his MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico in 2003.

After leaving New Mexico, he returned to the Sonoran Desert, building a home and studio in Phoenix, Arizona. Chris has spent his time in Phoenix exploring the desert with his wife and children, forming a life and art practice informed by and connected to the desert space. Interested in the dual nature of creation and destruction, Colville’s artwork explores the boundaries of the photographic medium in both traditional and experimental forms.

Christopher’s work has been included in multiple national and international exhibitions and publications. His work is held in the permanent collections of John Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Center for Creative Photography, Princeton Museum of Art, Maine Museum of Art, Wright State University, Museum of Photographic Arts, and the JP Morgan Chase Art Collection.

Website: christophercolville.com | rickwesterfineart.com
Facebook: /RWFANYC
Instagram: @christophercolville | @rwfa_nyc
Twitter: @RWFA_NYC
Venmo: @Christopher-Colville-1