Signs of Life Robert Buelteman Introduction by Robert McDonald 1
Signs of Life REVISED 2017
selected works from FOUR portfolios of cameraless, lensless, computer-free ENERGEGTIC PHOTOGRAMS
by
Robert Buelteman
introduction by
Robert McDonald
Copyright © 2017 Robert Buelteman Photographs Copyright © 2017 Robert Buelteman Introduction Copyright © 2009 Robert McDonald Edited by Robert McDonald Original design by Diane Dias armadilloarts.com Revised edition by Jennifer Clark clarkbydesign.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of Robert Buelteman.
Published by Light Language Publications Post Office Box 371239, 848 Drake Street Montara, California, 94037-1239 United States of America lightlanguagepublications.com (650) 728-1010 info@lightlanguagepublications.com Library of Congress|ISBN 978-0-615-27928-2 Printed by A&I Books aandi.com Los Angeles, California United States of America
Cover: Trillium in Bloom (2015)
Dedicated to Dan and Sandra Bill and Sonja
Some Kind of Blue (2015)
A r t is t ’ s S t a t e m e n t
My odyssey from landscape photographer to whatever I might be now is a story that, while not exceptional, is instructive as to the creation of the works that are contained in this book. In March of 1999, after a month working in Italy supervising the printing of Eighteen Days in June, my monograph on the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, I returned to face my frustration in creating new distinctions in the well-worn tradition of Western Landscape Photography. After twenty-five years in landscape photography and three years working on the book, I elected to take another road trip to explore both inner and outer landscapes, this time to the Southwest. On a stunningly clear night in the Arizona desert just north of the Mexican border, my carefully designed life was undone by a simple realization: that my future would look exactly like my past if I continued to follow the path I was on. In that moment out of time, I chose to cease my use of black and white film, cameras and lenses, and, as a means to simplify my creative vision, computers as well. Given my investment exploring landscape art, it was a surprising choice yet I knew I was on the right path when I awoke the following day as excited about life as when I was a child. In my days wandering the desert that followed, I had dreams in which I saw extraordinary visions, images of life itself. Since that night in 1999 I have exposed some 6,000 sheets of film resulting in 4 portfolios that reach for that which lies beyond our day-to-day perceptions in pursuit of the only thing that matters in art: the part that cannot be explained. So here it begins again, another record of the road travelled towards sharing my art and the gift its inspiration might provide. — Robert Buelteman (2017)
Introduction
Robert Buelteman has plunged into a universe possessing an infinite variety of colors and shapes — from earthly to dazzling and minimal to complex. It is the natural, ubiquitous, lushly erotic zone of plants, all of whose characteristics, ranging from the subtle to the dramatic; from the modest to the flagrant, from the virginal to the sinister, are stratagems for the perpetuation of their species. Their distinctions include the reductive linearity of Pampas Grass, the balletic grace of the Calla Lily, the antique laciness of Poison Hemlock, the ingenuous vulgarity of the Garland Chrysanthemum, and on and on. The theatrical glory of these images dissolves inhibitions about any descriptive terms that they might evoke. They come as close as possible for visual representations to give, as music does, direct expression to lifes’ flux. They are songs of life — quartets of art, science, imagination and skill. The cumulative effect of the poetic litany of their Latin nomenclature reinforces this musicality; Conium maculatum, Cirsium vulgare, Delairea odorata, Helianthus annuus, Avena fatua, Cortaderia selloana, Vitus vinifera . . . Photographers, through their medium, by painting, drawing, and writing with light, arrest moments of time, of flux. Artists of Buelteman’s caliber may be as much mediums of whatever divine presence exists as were the makers of cathedral windows. Buelteman, through his unique, innovative use of technology, preserves, in these works, the ephemeral beauty of plants — visual metaphors for human life and accompaniments of its ceremonies. These images inspire, as have his black-and-white landscapes in the past, more than a little awe.
— Robert McDonald (1933 – 2013)
T h e P o r t f o li o s
Through the Green Fuse ( 1 9 9 9 - 20 0 3 )
This first portfolio, whose title was derived from the eponymous poem by Dylan Thomas, marks my initial foray into the world of cameraless imaging. Two years and three thousand sheets of film later, I had twenty-five images for exhibition, seven of which are included here.
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Alstroemeria, sp. (1999)
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Eucalyptus polyanthemos (2000)
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Iris douglasiana (2000)
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Cortaderia selloana (2001)
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Zantedeschia aethiopica (2000)
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Cyclamen persicum (2000)
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Lupinous arboreus (2001)
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Rubus ursinus (2001)
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Vitus vinifera 1 (2001)
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Sangre de Cristo ( 20 0 3 - 20 0 6)
In 2003, I was invited to be a guest at the Santa Fe Institute, a private, nonprofit, independent research center founded in 1984 to support multidisciplinary collaborations in the physical, biological, computational, and social sciences. With the Institute’s support, I enjoyed the most productive time in my life, creating a portfolio of thirty-seven artworks inspired by the flora and landscape of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
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Gaillardia (2004)
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Fallen Maple Leaves (2004)
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Eryngium (2005)
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Thimbleberry (2004)
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Golden Columbine (2004)
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Indian Paintbrush (2005)
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Hopi Dye Sunflower (2004)
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Salsify (2006)
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Aspen Turning (2006)
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Rancho Corral de Tierra ( 20 0 2- 20 0 7 )
Selected works from a evolving portfolio of plants from my garden in Montara and the lands of the historic Rancho Corral de Tierra south of the city of San Francisco, California.
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Russian River Oak (2007)
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Nasturtium Blossoms (2004)
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Cannabis sativa (2002)
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Mitchs’ Roses (2004)
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Red Poppy Petals (2004)
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Geranium robertianum (2007)
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Arroyo Willow (2003)
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Antherium (2004)
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White Clematis (2004)
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Phalaenopsis (2003)
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Buckeye Cluster (2010)
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Life and Shadow ( 20 0 9 - 20 1 7 )
The title of this collection reflects my search for life and light under the gloom of Neurological Lyme Disease from which I became disabled in 2007. While these last ten years have been marked by personal suffering they have brought me closer to the mystery that life is, and I am grateful that the call of beauty remains.
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Maidenhair Fern (2012)
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Green Mandala (2009)
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Bougainvillea (2014)
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Woodland Forest Floor (2013)
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Field Mustard (2011)
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Fallen Lichen (2009)
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Black Oak (2011)
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Thimbleberry (2012)
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We hunger for transcendence, for awareness of a truth beyond the isolation we experience day-to-day, and will do just about anything to gain it. This has been the driving force of my work for as long as I can remember, to express those singular moments out of time when the wall between us and the rest of the world dissolves. This ordinary thirst for a deeper connection to life drives extraordinary behaviors. Mystics fast, mind-altering drugs are consumed, property is willfully surrendered, rational thought is suspended, and even life itself is put at risk, all for the promise of a taste of the divine. Ironically, sometimes it is this same desire that keeps us separate from the transcendent experience that we seek. Through my art, I have gained a profound understanding of life being present to the world as it is, without thought, without interpretation. Indeed, it seems that presence, the mind silent, the heart open, is the sole requirement for the experience of beauty. You don’t need to believe in heaven if you have ever seen a hummingbird.
— Robert Buelteman
A c k n o w l e dgm e n t s
I offer my appreciation and thanks to all the people who have enjoyed and supported my work over the years. Of particular significance — — Dan Miller and Sandra Marsh for their unyielding love and support — Bill and Sonja Davidow, without whom this body of work and my life in Santa Fe might not have been realized — Robert McDonald, my friend and mentor, whose guidance and counsel prepared me for the success my work now enjoys — The Santa Fe Institute, former President Robert Eisenstein, President Geoffrey West, and Vice President Chris Wood, whose invitation to be a part of their extraordinary community opened up a world of inspiration and friendship, allowing for the creation of the portfolio Sangre de Cristo — The Djerassi Resident Artists Program, where this book was designed during my winter residency in February 2009, and where many of these images were made. Lastly, I want to thank my wife Julie, whose compassion and beauty have raised up my life and my art to where it is today.
c o ll e c t i o n s
Accel/Kohlberg, Kravis, and Roberts, Menlo Park, California Abingworth, London, England Adobe Systems, San Jose, California Advanced Micro Devices, Sunnyvale, California California Public Utilities Commission, San Francisco, California Fontainebleu Miami Beach, Florida Genentech, South San Francisco, California Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Palo Alto, California Nikon Incorporated, New York, New York David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Menlo Park, California Paradise Island Harbour Resort, Bahamas Regent Bal Harbor, Miami, Florida Rosewood Hotels, Menlo Park, California Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico Sempervirens Fund, Los Altos, California Stanford University University of California The Village Pub, Woodside, California Xerox Corporation, Palo Alto Research Center, California Yale University Art Museum, New Haven, Connecticut
Original limited edition chromogenic development prints of these works are available through galleries in the United States, Canada, and Europe, as listed on the artist’s website: buelteman.com. Inquiries can be emailed to: info@buelteman.com
Colophon
Signs of Life was printed by A&I Books in Los Angeles, California on a Heidelburg offset digital press. The original book was designed by Robert Buelteman with support from Diane Dias, and this new revision was updated by Jennifer Clark of Clark by Design with pages typeset in Copperplate Gothic Light and Centaur MT typefaces. All reproductions were made from unaltered digital scans of the original film.
Light Language Publications lightlanguagepublications.com Post Office Box 371239 848 Drake Street Montara, CA 94037-1239 United States of America (650) 728-1010
every thing shines
San Francisco artist Robert Buelteman [creates] a photogram in which these plants appear to be aflame, as if emitting an energy all their own. Hovering between life and death, this is a nature that seems to be on the cusp of its transmutation into something else entirely. — Geoffrey Batchen, Emanations, The Art of the Cameraless Photograph (2016) In her very short poem, Instructions for Living, Mary Oliver wrote: Pay attention Be amazed Tell about it Easy to say, hard to do. We are all made richer by Robert Buelteman, who has been doing these three hard things for over 40 years. He is a trained “seer,” a master photographer, and a bit of a magician. — Associate Provost Charles Junkerman, Stanford University (2015) Technically flawless and visually compelling, Buelteman’s work is at its strongest when aesthetic concerns are matched by an evocative, experimental edginess. — Barbara Morris, Artweek (2008) Buelteman’s images evoke a jazz-like exuberance and improvisatory nature. Perhaps, just like the abstract expressionists, Buelteman is making his contribution to American Sublime. — Allan Langdale, Eastern Mediterranean Modern Art Journal (2006) Buelteman’s works [possess] the intrigue of seeing otherwise hidden aspects of nature expressed in lyrical ways. Besides their obvious visual impacts, these works offer subliminal and gentle reminders of the fragility of nature and our responsibility to it. — Hollis Walker, Albuquerque Journal (2006) Buelteman has stretched the outside edge of the photographic envelope so far that his work no longer has much to do with the conventions of the field — shutter speed, film exposure, lens aperture — and everything to do with concepts like the relationship of spirit and consciousness. — Carol Greenhouse, New West (2005)
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