Steven Elbert

My interest in painting has been manifested in the past mostly by transparent watercolor, and more recently by opaque media such as gouache, acrylic and oils. Painting in watercolor allows both a fast, spontaneous style or a more deliberate, detailed manner of painting. Since the highlights are usually something close to paper white, each painting must be planned from the lightest tones to the darkest without the possibility of overpainting light on dark unless one switches to opaque media.

Aqueous media conveniently permit intermittent work on a painting without the need to re-mix a complex palette of colors each time because of the quick solubility of the paint in water. The disadvantage of watercolor is that it is not suitable on all paper types, only those sized to withstand soaking with water.

In more recent work I have painted in transparent watercolor using only Mars Black and India ink wash, which results in a monochromatic painting with a photographic appearance, tying to my lifelong interest in photography. I have also been working recently in oil on canvas and board. The ability to paint over and modify previous attempts appeals to me greatly.

Drawing for me is the most direct visual expression of thoughts and observations on a wide range of materials, including high grade archival quality paper, normal bond paper or even a cocktail napkin. I use a variety of tools to draw, such as pencils, colored pencils, charcoal, pastels, ink and colored ink. Because it is so easy to start a drawing, it lends itself to great spontaneity without much preparation, especially when traveling. 

I drew from a very early age, and have practiced it more or less consistently over time. My ideals have always included Leonardo, Galileo, Raphael and other Renaissance artists who used drawing as an end unto itself, as a basis for painting or the development of ideas and designs.

I have had a passionate interest in photography since an early age, when my parents gave me a 6x9 cm roll film camera to use on a regular basis to experiment with. The idea of producing photographs was like magic for me, especially when I began to develop the pictures in a darkroom, and watched the images slowly appear in a tray of developer solution. At first I was an ardent documenter and experimenter with ordinary subject matter, then later became the high school newspaper and yearbook photographer. This led to an involvement in photojournalism with various publications and the United Press International (UPI) during my college years.  

At the same time I was beginning to acquaint myself with large format film cameras using sheet film to produce artistic images for exhibitions. When I lived and worked in Germany for an extended time, I developed an interest in alternative techniques and photography of buildings. This ultimately led to my studying Architecture as a career, which I do today.

Naturally, photography is still a consuming interest, especially in the production of images for non-utilitarian purposes. The images shown here represent an observation of life which incorporates intentions of Art.

Printmaking has been a constant activity for me, beginning with my interest in alternative photographic processes, and later with serigraphy and intaglio to make editions of images. Gum Bichromate Pigment Printing is a direct extension of photography based upon the original color photography process from the 19th Century, in which photographers coated sized paper with pigments and a sensitizer and exposed them to light. Photoserigraphs or Silkscreen prints can be derivatives of photography as well, allowing editions of any number to be produced. In all cases, the process of printing allows complete control over color and content, encouraging experimentation.

Sketching when traveling provides one with the ability to examine and contemplate carefully, since some time is required to draw. Unlike taking a photograph, which occurs very rapidly and is likewise easily forgotten, the act of drawing sharpens observation, and invites the opportunity to look at the surroundings and experience the climate, ambient sounds and smells. It frequently creates a social occasion as well, inviting passersby to engage in conversation.

The dispersion of light through a small aperture to produce an image is a phenomenon which has been observed for a very long time, probably before the dawn of history. It manifests itself in nature during a solar eclipse, when the reduced light levels permit the image of the eclipsed sun to be visibly projected through the tiny spaces between the leaves of a tree as multiple pictures of the solar corona on the ground.

A small aperture such as a pinhole will project an image onto a surface by the diffraction of light without a lens. This image usually goes unnoticed because the image is very faint and is overwhelmed by the ambient light levels. However, if one were to enclose oneself in a dark room (a camera obscura), the image would become very visible as the eyes grow accustomed to the low light levels. This phenomenon was discovered and used in the Renaissance as an aid to accurate perspective drawing. The addition of a lens further enhanced the sharpness and brightness of the image. The invention of photographic coatings in the 19th Century allowed the image to be captured permanently, and photography was born.

A photograph produced by a pinhole camera is equally sharp, whether the image is near or far from the camera. Generally speaking, the smaller the pinhole, the sharper the image is. Since the pinhole produces a very wide-angle image (about 140 degrees), the closer the film is to the pinhole, the wider the image appears, because the entire image circle is being captured. Increasing the distance between the film and pinhole results in a smaller part of the image being captured, and hence appears like a “telephoto” image.

Because the image is so faint, long exposure times are required, from several seconds to many hours and longer, even days or weeks in extreme circumstances. The interior of a building may require a half-hour to expose, which means that people moving through the view do not register on the film unless they hold perfectly still during the exposure. For this reason, a pinhole picture taken of a crowded space will appear to be empty if people are moving through it.

It is very interesting to devise different designs for pinhole cameras, and many intriguing variations have been done, such as multiple-pinhole, panoramic and countless surprising apparati of great ingenuity. The cameras may be as simple as an oatmeal container, may be elaborately crafted from durable materials such as metal and wood, or may even make use of an entire room or vehicle. Images produced by these cameras do not look like modern photographs. They have a softer, still quality like the photographs from the past. 

For images of pinhole cameras and and their design sketches, see images at the end of the gallery photos.