Leigh Blanchard continues her exploration of digital imagery and photography with her latest series And Now I See.  Using an artificial intelligence system online that has been fed thousands of images, Blanchard pushes the technology’s abilities in image-to-image translation.  Playing with the flaws in technology is a source of inspiration for Blanchard and a way for her to further push the boundaries of photography.

Upcoming Exhibition:

A selection of photographs from And Now I See will be exhibited in the Project Space at 440 Gallery from September 7 - October 8, 2017.  

This series of photographs, titled Clarity, is a continuation of my ongoing exploration of human versus digitally rendered perception.  The process of creating these images involved using old photographs from my personal photographic archive to create new images.  An additive and subtractive process is employed; digitally painting, selecting, and removing elements of the original image.  By digitally stripping away information present in these old photographs, I allow fragments of images to appear, hinting at what used to be, while revealing a new perspective. This rebirth of the image grants it fluidity and a paint-like organicism that isn’t typically seen in traditional photography.  I believe in challenging the viewers to abandon their preconceived notions of photography and to recognize the growth this medium holds.

The works that make up my series Bit were created from a combination of artistic restlessness and a desire to push the definition of photography.  What started out as a mundane task, scanning text and images from a book into the computer, turned into playful experimentation.  I discovered the artistic possibilities of the scanner that day and began manipulating the results.  By controlling the bit depth, I had the power to reveal or conceal as much information as I wanted and this process created brand new images.

I’m drawn to creating work like this, as I’m interested in how technology makes uncontrollable errors.  I have little idea what the image will look like and what I get is always a surprise.  Technology, as flawless as it’s supposed to be, can still make mistakes and I’m drawn to finding those mistakes.  Someday this technology will be obsolete and I won’t be able to create these pieces.  There will be new technology.  In this period of time I can utilize this one purpose tool to create.