Chris McCaw is a San Francisco based photographer who examines the movement of the sun across the sky. Another California photographer, Richard Misrach made large scale color photographs using long exposures to capture the night sky while exploring the desert landscape. Rather than celebrate color and the arc of the stars, McCaw's photographs trace the movement of the sun. They are for the most part, black and white and intimate in scale compared to Misrach's project. McCaw's unique process results in solarized images as vintage photographic paper is exposed inside his cameras.
To create his images, McCaw attaches high intensity lenses to home-made cameras large enough to accommodate pieces of photographic paper. The suns trajectory over many hours is captured by the lens and even burns a hole (like a magnifying glass) in the paper. Solarization also often takes place: this is the reversal of tones on the negative acting paper. The exposures range from a few hours to a whole day and result in unique images that juxtapose the movement of the sun in relation to the motionless horizon and surrounding landscape which is usually dark and mysterious.
At Marshall Gallery, a selection of both black and white as well as color photographs are on view that have been created over the last ten years. Sunburned GSP #1103 (Salton Sea) (2024) is a three panel work. Each vertical section is dominated by a large portion of gray-toned, empty sky above the hazy sea. Moving from left to right across the three panels is an aggressive burn that starts high in the left panel and ends just above the shimmering horizon. This burn line (an actual hole in the paper) represents the movement of the sun across the landscape, a trajectory recorded over a number of hours.
For his Heliograph series (2016) McCaw created multiple exposures, tracking the sun at different times of the day, or in different locations, resulting in intersecting burn lines in the sky. These photographs are abstractions like Heliograph #101 (Mojave / Strait of Juan de Fuca) (2016) where two bright lines form a large "x" over the dark print that depicts the horizon and distant hills in shadow.
Poly-optic 042, (2015) is a unique paper negative filled with a grid of thirty-five circles. In actuality, the photograph documents sunrise to sunset, tracking the sun as it moves across the sky — a dark dot surrounded by white as the image is a negative. McCaw also experiments with color and in Instant #46 and Instant #40 (both 2023), the sky is a surreal deep red and the arc of the sun transitions from white to blue to yellow in each of eight different images. In Instant #46, it appears as if it were a UFO, or other some other celestial anomaly.
Inverse (2024) is a series where McCaw presents negative and positive exposures within the same image. For example, in Inverse #98 (Nevada) he captures the interior of a barn. The image is divided in half. On the left is a positive depiction of the dark-toned interior walls of the barn. Seen through an open doorway, the landscape is a gradient that goes from light to dark. The right side of the image is a continuation of the shot in negative where the walls of the barn are a ghostly white and the landscape through the door is an eery dark. Seen together the differences are exaggerated and what lies in shadow in the positive is highlighted in the negative, making for a breath-taking and intriguing picture.
McCaw's work is simultaneously scientific, technical and aesthetically complex. Once the process is understood, the works are not diminished. Rather, they become more intriguing. They resonate technically and conceptually, especially through references beyond the photographic. Seen in relation to minimalism or even abstract expressionism, they take the photographic into new dimensions.
To create his images, McCaw attaches high intensity lenses to home-made cameras large enough to accommodate pieces of photographic paper. The suns trajectory over many hours is captured by the lens and even burns a hole (like a magnifying glass) in the paper. Solarization also often takes place: this is the reversal of tones on the negative acting paper. The exposures range from a few hours to a whole day and result in unique images that juxtapose the movement of the sun in relation to the motionless horizon and surrounding landscape which is usually dark and mysterious.
At Marshall Gallery, a selection of both black and white as well as color photographs are on view that have been created over the last ten years. Sunburned GSP #1103 (Salton Sea) (2024) is a three panel work. Each vertical section is dominated by a large portion of gray-toned, empty sky above the hazy sea. Moving from left to right across the three panels is an aggressive burn that starts high in the left panel and ends just above the shimmering horizon. This burn line (an actual hole in the paper) represents the movement of the sun across the landscape, a trajectory recorded over a number of hours.
For his Heliograph series (2016) McCaw created multiple exposures, tracking the sun at different times of the day, or in different locations, resulting in intersecting burn lines in the sky. These photographs are abstractions like Heliograph #101 (Mojave / Strait of Juan de Fuca) (2016) where two bright lines form a large "x" over the dark print that depicts the horizon and distant hills in shadow.
Poly-optic 042, (2015) is a unique paper negative filled with a grid of thirty-five circles. In actuality, the photograph documents sunrise to sunset, tracking the sun as it moves across the sky — a dark dot surrounded by white as the image is a negative. McCaw also experiments with color and in Instant #46 and Instant #40 (both 2023), the sky is a surreal deep red and the arc of the sun transitions from white to blue to yellow in each of eight different images. In Instant #46, it appears as if it were a UFO, or other some other celestial anomaly.
Inverse (2024) is a series where McCaw presents negative and positive exposures within the same image. For example, in Inverse #98 (Nevada) he captures the interior of a barn. The image is divided in half. On the left is a positive depiction of the dark-toned interior walls of the barn. Seen through an open doorway, the landscape is a gradient that goes from light to dark. The right side of the image is a continuation of the shot in negative where the walls of the barn are a ghostly white and the landscape through the door is an eery dark. Seen together the differences are exaggerated and what lies in shadow in the positive is highlighted in the negative, making for a breath-taking and intriguing picture.
McCaw's work is simultaneously scientific, technical and aesthetically complex. Once the process is understood, the works are not diminished. Rather, they become more intriguing. They resonate technically and conceptually, especially through references beyond the photographic. Seen in relation to minimalism or even abstract expressionism, they take the photographic into new dimensions.
