Solar Plasma
Artist
Mark Starn
(American, born 1961)
Artist
Doug Starn
(American, born 1961)
CultureAmerican
Date1992-1995
MediumToned gelatin silver print on polyester with plexiglas, paint, ink, and silicone in an illuminated vitrine
DimensionsOverall: 20 1/2 x 23 3/8 in. (52.1 x 59.4 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase, Horace W. Goldsmith and Art Purchase Funds
Object number95.15.2
Not on view
DescriptionThis is toned gelatin silver print on polyester with plexiglas paint, ink and silicone in an illuminated vitrine.Label TextMike Starn and Doug Starn Americans, b. 1961 Solar Plasma, 1992–95 Toned gelatin silver print (photograph) on polyester with Plexiglas, paint, ink, and silicone in an illuminated vitrine The deified sun, the personified sun…symbolizes people reaching higher, going beyond the mediocrity, the hatred, the poverty. –Doug Starn Using photography in innovative ways, twin brothers Mike and Doug Starn frequently employ multiple images that are taped, stapled, wired, or glued into collages. Solar Plasma is from a larger series titled Heliolibri, in which the artists overlaid photographs of pages from books that consider the sun as a physical and spiritual force. As the artists explain, “The idea is to make all the pages incorporeal, with all of the knowledge and thoughts shown at once—layered, as they’re stored in your mind.” Here, they combine a 16th-century model of the solar system from the Vatican with imagery from radio telescopes and NASA photography. The result is a singular vision of our accumulated knowledge and experience of solar plasma—the nearly invisible strings that emanate from the sun. Museum purchase, Horace W. Goldsmith and Art Purchase Funds 95.15.2 Exhibition History"Heliolibri," Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York City, Ny., March 30 - April 29, 1995. "Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 25, 1996 - February 16, 1997. "Remix: A Fresh Look At Our Modern And Contemporary Art Collections," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, November 2, 2011 - March 17, 2012.
