PORTFOLIO / About the Images
What do these images look like in person?I love to print large, and most of my abstract photographs are presented in large sizes. However, with limited space on the gallery wall, I've recently been printing in more varied sizes. I am currently showing both prints on metal and on canvas. These can both be hung directly on the wall, unframed. It is also possible to have either type of print framed.
Both canvas and metal prints are wonderful, but each conveys a different feeling, and one or the other may work better depending on the subject. Prints on metal are usually displayed frameless, are lightweight and have an extremely vivid quality. These images are all printed on a specially prepared sheet of aluminum, and then a mounting block is attached to the reverse side of the print both to stiffen its structure and afford a means to hang it directly on the wall. The pictures are hung flat against the wall standing off it by just an inch. The look is modern and crisp. My favorite size for landscape or abstract images 24" x 36". This is large enough to hang a single image on a wall, and have that wall feel full. This size also lets you 'enter' the image from across the room. You do not have to stand right in front of these photographs to engage with them. However, that's not to say that multiple large prints can't co-exist harmoniously on the same wall. HangingEach metal print is provided with a 'mounting block' behind the aluminum. This is what allows the image to stand off of the wall. These pictures are designed to be hung on two parallel hooks, or drywall screws driven into the wall. When hung in this way the prints are perfectly flat against the wall, and and never need to be straightened. The smaller ones can be hung with a single name or hook.
As an alternative to the mounting block, though I don't recommend it, these pictures can be fitted with a picture hanging wire and hung conventionally as would any framed photograph. The reason I don't recommend that you hang this way is that the pictures tend to hang away from the wall at an angle which is both unaesthetic and may cause more reflection and make it harder to view and enjoy the print. However, if you need to hang this way please let me know and I can modify the mounting to suit this kind of hanging system. |
ChromaLuxe Dye-Sublimation Printing on AluminumThe ChromaLuxe Dye-Sublimation photographic printing process provides a true immediacy to the viewing experience. Using this archival quality process, the image is reproduced onto a sheet of aluminum. Because these works aren't printed on paper and placed behind glass so there is nothing to separate the viewer from the image, nothing to detract from their colorful intensity.
As to the longevity of the metal prints, recent Xenon Light Stability Testing results show that the image stability of ChromaLuxe MetalPrints is 2 to 4 times the image stability of traditional silver based photo papers. The printing process is Dye-Sublimation. This relies on creating an intermediate print called a 'transfer film.' This transfer film is printed with a special type of ink. Then the transfer film is laid carefully onto a piece of aluminum that has been coated with a layer of polyester. Together the transfer film and the aluminum sheet are fed into a hot roller press where the film and metal are quickly heated. This causes the pores of the polyester coating the almunim sheet to open and at the same time converts the ink on the transfer sheet into a gas. Then it's chemistry time. Sublimation is the chemical name for the transformation of a solid into a gas without its first passing through the intermediate state of being a liquid. For example, if you were to turn ice into steam, the ice would go from solid to liquid to gas. With dye-sublimation inks, the ink goes from solid to gas when heated. The gas flows from it's high concentration on the transfer sheet to the low concentration on the surface of the polyester pores covering the aluminum. Once the concentration of ink is equalized, the sheet is rolled out of the hot press and allowed to cool. The pores of the polyester close and the ink is now trapped inside them. The surface of the polyester coating cools and becomes a clear smooth surface protecting the ink and creating the colors of the picture. |