"Tempus Incognitus"
Artist Statement: "Tempus Incognitus" (Time Unknown) is my series of large-scale color photographs of hotel rooms that invite the viewer to imagine the multitude of human emotions played out within their confines. Despite the fact that globalization has homogenized our interior environments, the stories that have taken place within these rooms are unique. By utilizing a labor-intensive technique to capture the evolution of light, I emphasize the change of time in vivid, even lurid, colors. Think of Edward Hopper interiors awash in James Turrell colors with David Lynch directing.
"Tempus Incognitus" records the day's transitional times and shows them existing concurrently. The Cubists painted individual scenes from several different perspectives at once. In this series, I photograph individual rooms at several different times of day from a single perspective.
This series has conceptual underpinnings. I have rules that combine the element of chance in these environments with predetermined rules that provide underlying parameters for this process. Multiple exposures are shot over 2 or more days and images are created in camera and on film with no digital manipulation. Each image is composed of 3-9 exposures. Only the light in the room is used to create the images – no colored bulbs or gels are used. I shoot only at pre-determined times in the day and don't allow myself to wait for perfect light, I must adjust to the particular light given the confines of this schedule.























