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About Cay Lang's Flower Series:
In the beginning stages of the project, I would visit the San Francisco Flower Mart to retrieve the flowers the merchants threw away. What interested me was that these flowers, whose worth in our culture is based upon their youth and beauty, were no longer considered to be of value. My process was to collect the flowers and then bring them back to the studio to photograph them as they died. As the body of work developed, I began to work more like a painter or a sculptor, using the flowers as raw material, sometimes retrieving them from the trash, sometimes buying them, but always maintaining a respect for the integrity of the life force. I often paint or reconstruct the flowers themselves. I am particularly interested in the range and particularities of responses the flowers exhibit when faced with death. I have found their responses to be as broad and varied as any human response to trauma.
When they are young all tulips, for example, look essentially the same. But as they grow older, they begin to develop individual personalities. They may respond by immediately dropping over and acquiescing to death, or actively resist by pushing outward, or by wrapping their petals around each other in what appears to be an embrace. It is this last action which most intrigues me. Flowers seem particularly sensitive to each other's presence and appear to create a community when cut and placed in a bowl. They seem to be drawn to some flowers and repelled by others, and will rearrange themselves according to these affinities and resistences. As the work has evolved, it has begun to touch on this pronounced sensitivity to community.
The work has also extended into the area of portraiture. With each batch from the Flower Mart, one or two flowers stands out for its individuality. I try to remain attuned to their changes and to make images that allow them the clearest possible voice. The photographs, then, can be seen in one sense as metaphors for the human condition, and in another, as portraits of another species. All photographs are shot with a Hassleblad camera and are printed full-frame, the black edge of the negative being an integral part of the image. The intention is for the photograph to stand as a document, as a moment in space and time. The photographs are printed 20" x 24", in editions of 25, on Ektacolor-Plus paper.
Copyright © 2006, Cay Lang: Taking the Leap • Contact • Revised by JCampStudio • Hosted by PowWeb |
