Thursday 24 September 2015

"chemical bath" artists: Ladislav Viszoczky

Ladislav Viszoczky is an artist from the Czech Republic specialising in oil printing, a contact print process - predating bromoil - which requires the negative to be the same size as the final print. It was patented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855, who discovered the light sensitivity of gelatin mixed with dichromate; the method became popular with Pictorialists. Oil prints are usually made on watercolour paper and, depending on the surface of the paper chosen by the artists, different effects can be achieved. (You can find some interesting facts about history of oil printing on this page, which is where the above info comes from)



In his work, Ladislav focuses mostly on landscapes, waterscapes and rural scenes; the printing technique he uses give them the texture and hue of old illustrations that some of us may remember from their childhood books. The graininess, and sometimes coarse, and sometimes smooth blending of colours - greys and sepias, give Ladislav's photos a unique feel. Many of his photographs portray a tiny village, whose stillness, beauty and atmosphere are perfectly captured through the use of oil print. In other images, Ladislav uses the technique to render the dynamism of water and the slightly bleak atmosphere of the stormy sea, or the eeriness of abandoned buildings.

You can find more of Ladislav's images on flickr

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