Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2017.

Untitled

Artist Andreas Rentsch (Swiss, born 1963)

CultureSwiss

Date2008

MediumUnique Type 55 Polaroid negative

Dimensions4 × 5 in. (10.2 × 12.7 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)

SignedBoard signed by the artist and inscribed in pencil: from the series / “Entangled with Justice,” 2008 / Unique Polaroid Negative / 1/1. Board mounted to larger backing, also inscribed in pencil (in another hand): Andreas Rentsch / “Entangled with Justice” / 2008 / Image #8.

Portfolio"Entangled with Justice" series

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2016.5.3

Not on view

DescriptionUnique sepia toned Polaroid Type 55 negative measuring 4 x 5 inches mounted to mat board. Board signed by the artist and inscribed in pencil: from the series / “Entangled with Justice,” 2008 / Unique Polaroid Negative / 1/1. Board mounted to larger backing, also inscribed in pencil (in another hand): Andreas Rentsch / “Entangled with Justice” / 2008 / Image #8. Untitled (2008) is from Rentsch’s most recent series, Entangled with Justice. In this series Rentsch draws from both his childhood experience and recent political events, merging personal memory with anxieties about contemporary international affairs. To create this work, Rentsch begins by “light writing” on Polaroid film. To do so he opens the shutter of his camera in a darkened room and then uses a small light to trace the contours of his own body in various poses—what he describes as a work of performance art. The film captured the drawn figures, which form narratives about the treatment of prisoners. Rentsch uses Polaroid Type 55 film, which contains its own processing chemicals and results in a positive and negative sheet. Rather than processing the film according to the manufacturer’s specifications, however, Rentsch physically manipulates the film and then sets it aside for weeks or months, allowing the processing chemicals to continue to work and decay, which results in unexpected and highly abstract imagery. He then tones and manipulates the positive and negative sheets, creating singular objects, using the medium to suggest themes of uncertainty and vulnerability, all of which emphasizes his ideas about incarceration and abuse.
Label TextAndreas Rentsch Swiss, born 1963 Untitled, 2008 Unique Type 55 Polaroid negative (photographic negative mounted to paper) To make this work, Andreas Rentsch opened the shutter of his camera in a darkened room and used a small light to trace the contours of his body in various poses. Rentsch then used chemical and physical manipulation to produce an image that suggests themes of uncertainty and vulnerability. The work was made in response to reports about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and the artist’s own memories of growing up in a prison complex as the son of the live-in warden. Museum purchase 2016.5.3ProvenanceFrom the artist to Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA. Purchased from Candela Gallery by Chrysler Museum of Art, March 2016.Exhibition History"Andreas Rentsch: Experiments in Time," Candella Books and Gallery, January 8 - February 20, 2016.