A Discussion of Two Holograms: "Pasqualina" and "Trace"

Abstract

The back plate contains an imfrom his current body of work, the author briefly discusses each holoage of a glass box with a photogram and the conceptual, esthetic graph of a tree on its back wall. and technical impetus behind it. The face appears to float 13 cm in front of the arch and its surrounding pattern, while the glass box floats 30 cm behind the back plate. Layering the individual plates allows the opportunity to articulate the space between them. This is a space of intense activity, a chasm where light is focused and concentrated. The woman's face is filigreed with the tree's branches, which are convoluted and brain-like as they tangle with her features. The arch encloses the face while the accompanying pattern overlaps the outer edge of the glass box and tree. I manipulated the photographic images of the face and tree prior to making the piece. Cropping, double exposing and making contrast changes helped to further distance the photographs from their concrete referents and analogical sources in nature, allowing the images to point instead to a mysterious quality that stands outside the objects themselves. The front plate was created using two types of holographic techniques-one for the face and another for the surrounding arch and pattern. I used the standard master/transfer rainbow technique for the face. The arch and pattern were created using the one-step rainbow technique, which requires three separate exposures to blend the colors together. Because of the slightly different table geometries used for each of the two techniques, the different images appear shifted in color (e. g. the face appears yellow while the surrounding images appear reddish orange). As the viewer moves, the colors change, relative to one another. The face fades to a deep blue and eventually disappears, Dean Randazzo (holography artist), 2022 West Crystal, Chicago, IL 60622, U.S.A. Received 4 February 1991. LEONARDO, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 493-495, 1992 493 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.181 on Thu, 29 Sep 2016 04:54:41 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Fig. 1. Trace, 5-x-7-in white-light transmission hologram designed for viewing from both sides, 1990. Side 1 (top) contains an animated dog and two walking figures that cross and overlap each other. Side 2 (bottom) contains images of a walking figure, a spinning metal object and a dog. leaving only an arched window through which one can see the glass box and tree visible in the background. The colors mix and blend where the images overlap. The face glows with a softer, less acidic hue than those produced using the rainbow technique alone. The ephemeral images of Pasqualina resonate with spiritual and religious overtones. The piece is a reliquary for light, a 'monstrance for memory', where the very process of photography is reversed. The photograph is freed from its material constraints as light is returned from whence it came, dispersing and fleeing into open space. I have imbued Pasqualina with a potential, a possibility for images to interact and change. None of this potential is realized (or even exists) until the viewer interacts with the work. In a sense, the actual piece comes partially from within the viewer and is drawn out by each one's physical and cognitive interactions with the space and light encoded in the work.