Chemical Paintings: Chuck Kelton's chemical painting works resemble that of classic landscape paintings. Of course, chemical paintings are a lot harder to control than that of an actual painting. His work is abstract, each piece a one of one masterpiece. What I wonder is are these images and results calculated to a degree, or does Kelton just try stuff and hope it works?
This first image resembles that of a cloudy sunrise over the mountains, with a lake underneath. The use of fix, stop, and developer all forming different layers in the sky, mountains, and landscape. The fact that Kelton is able to create such vibrant and controlled colors with such an unpredictable process is absolutely astounding. Something tells me he knows what each chemical does to the paper. I wonder if these images combine chemogram and photogram techniques to get his results.
This piece comes across as being on the more experimental side compared to the previous piece. Kelton makes a very foreign and more abstract looking landscape, featuring a sky full of stars, what seems to be a new moon, and a misty mountainous landscape with an odd pink haze in it's valleys. This piece is truly remarkable, and probably one of my favorites. It gives off a strong space age feel to it. The different tonalities and coloration in this picture may not be as intense, which I'd assume would be the result different chemical types or possibly different papers.
This final piece feels very simplistic, and clean. The edges look almost untouched, and all of the lines are very well done, as if made in a software or drawn purely by hand. The modernist design Kelton used seems extremely ahead of it's time, as this kind of abstract and simplistic art style is very common/popular today.
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