For our latest puzzle, we asked artist Jessica Labatte for an image from her Spotting series. The Spotting series embraces dust, a natural enemy of the photographer. In the digital photographic studio, “spotting” work is often completed by artist assistants since Photoshop tools, such as the clone stamp and healing brush, have made this a quick and simple process. To honor the assistant’s labor in the retouching process, Labatte leaves the Photoshop “spotting” layer visible in the final print. Inverting the typically hidden gestures of retouching reveals an individual assistant’s style and decisions regarding brush size, gesture, and scrutiny of what imperfections should be removed. The resulting marks create a virtual cutting away of the image revealing a perfect simultaneous contrast of color and tone to the background layer. The abstracting nature of this process coupled with cutting away of puzzle pieces creates a challenging and unique art object in the form of a puzzle.
Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.75"
Materials: 500 Piece puzzle
SKYLARK EDITIONS
(Rogers Park)
SKYLARK EDITIONS is a non-profit publishing project based in Chicago that provides a platform for the creation and distribution of innovative photo books by emerging and established artists.