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"44 Years of Capturing Beauty"
Exhibition at Space 15 Twenty in Los Angeles, 2018
"44 Years of Capturing Beauty"
Exhibition at Space 15 Twenty in Los Angeles, 2018
Robert Farber American, b. 1944
Deterioration 147, 1982
Series: Deterioration
Dye sublimation on Chroma Luxe aluminum
182.9 x 121.9 cm
72 x 48 in
72 x 48 in
Edition of 10
Further images
When exploring my archive of images that go back to 1969, I not only rediscovered images that would now be considered classic or vintage, but also a new life in the works themselves, created only by my collaboration with time.
- Robert Farber
The deterioration of the transparencies is the result of the film's chemical reaction from decades of sitting in non-archival plastic sleeves. Other than the natural process of deterioration, no retouching or manipulation was done to the images.
Timeline of Deterioration Series:- 1977-1984 Photos were captured
- Early 90s First noticed the film’s Deterioration
- Early 90s – 2013 Revisit archives to monitor the Deterioration
- 2013 Determination point to stop the transformation and archivally preserve
Dye-sublimation onto metal is the process of ink dyes going from a solid to a gas and back to a solid infused onto a metal surface. First, the image is printed on a transfer paper and then adhered to a pre-treated aluminum. The aluminum and transfer paper are placed together and undergo a custom heating press to temperatures up to 380 degrees Fahrenheit. The extreme heat and pressure applied to the transfer paper turn the dyes into a gas which are infused into the aluminum. As the dyes cool, they are permanently solidified beneath the surface of the metal substrate.