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Assortment of 43 Images 2016 (Not For Sale)
“The intent of “.jpg is a Lossy File Type” was to archive a selection of digital images (specifically JPEGs, which are by nature “lossy,” or degradative) using analog methods of photo printing to assure their longevity, thus underlining how digital information can feel brittle or fragile. There are countless external and internal factors that can corrupt a digital file and render it broken. We are encouraged to save our personal images to the cloud or back them up on a hard drive for safekeeping. Even then, external hard drives have a lifespan of only a few years.
Originally shown in 2016, “.jpg is a Lossy File Type” consists of 43 JPEG images exposed onto RC, light-sensitive photographic paper using a modified digital projector. Each image is manually exposed with a handmade shutter, then chemically printed in a darkroom. Included in the final piece is a felt-lined archival photo box, white cotton gloves, and the handmade shutter. It is worth noting that the original iteration also included an external hard drive with a nail driven through it, meant to represent the device that originally held the digital files. However, that artifact is lost to time.
A decade on, the piece has altered in meaning slightly, in that it is no longer only art signifying an archive but is now a literal archive. The digital files are long gone, yet the images remain. The images reflect a specific moment in the artist’s past: youthful housemates in a home that was torn down shortly after the images were taken, to make way for a constantly developing world.”
~Louis Trautman
Assortment of 43 Images 2016 (Not For Sale)
“The intent of “.jpg is a Lossy File Type” was to archive a selection of digital images (specifically JPEGs, which are by nature “lossy,” or degradative) using analog methods of photo printing to assure their longevity, thus underlining how digital information can feel brittle or fragile. There are countless external and internal factors that can corrupt a digital file and render it broken. We are encouraged to save our personal images to the cloud or back them up on a hard drive for safekeeping. Even then, external hard drives have a lifespan of only a few years.
Originally shown in 2016, “.jpg is a Lossy File Type” consists of 43 JPEG images exposed onto RC, light-sensitive photographic paper using a modified digital projector. Each image is manually exposed with a handmade shutter, then chemically printed in a darkroom. Included in the final piece is a felt-lined archival photo box, white cotton gloves, and the handmade shutter. It is worth noting that the original iteration also included an external hard drive with a nail driven through it, meant to represent the device that originally held the digital files. However, that artifact is lost to time.
A decade on, the piece has altered in meaning slightly, in that it is no longer only art signifying an archive but is now a literal archive. The digital files are long gone, yet the images remain. The images reflect a specific moment in the artist’s past: youthful housemates in a home that was torn down shortly after the images were taken, to make way for a constantly developing world.”
~Louis Trautman