Camera Obscura

Dorothy Simpson Krause is an American artist who works mainly with collage, combining traditional materials with digital techniques.

She is not a photographer, but she makes intensive use of photography in her collage. Typically her work would be considered non-photographic, and classified under some form of visual art but not “Photography”. For a long time I have been tried to convince photographers that the border between photographic image and other visual arts is not as sharp and it is not easy to determine what photography is and what is not. Indeed, the question itself has no real sense, because photography is an ambiguous media, photography is actually a term commonly used to group practices also substantially different between them. For this reason I’m happy to have on Camera Obscura such an artist, that move the border of photo art.

Furthermore Dorothy Simpson Krause was one of the first artist to use computers and digital printing systems, and I was interested in discussing the use of informatics in the world of art. Always photographers, with a few well known exceptions like Giacomelli, went hand in hand not only with technic, as in any form of art, but also with technology. Despite this, computers and digital technology, until a very short time ago, where seen in general with some diffidence, qualitative doubts but especially testarde crusades against an unknown instrument.

Finally, some recent works of Dorothy Simpson Krause remember very much the appearance of some images obtained using historical process. The first time that I came across iher work, I thought ithey where gum bichromate prints. As gum is one of my favorite techniques I have a special attraction for images of this type.

Although the work of this American artist is much more complex, only a few of these works halfway between painting and photography will accompany the interview.

 

Fabiano Busdraghi: You are considered one of the pioneers in the use of computers in art. Usually it is a tool employed in science and technology, while people who have an artistic or literary formation prefer less technological instruments (but in the younger generation, this distinction is less marked). Do you believe it is still the case? Do you think that the spread of computer is essential for art in the future?

Dorothy Simpson Krause: The computer, like the wheel, is a universal tool. It can replicate other media and materials and also be used in unique ways. In the photography world digital seems to be replacing film, but there will always be artists who choose to work with processes that produce work they find rewarding - from platinum prints to Holga prints.

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