Tom North

b/w platinum prints & steel sculpture

My work is about black and white photography and how to depict natural forms and light into abstract compositions. I’m drawn to how to capture the decisive moment and how to see the split-second that encapsulates an entire scene’s meaning.

These photographs are part of a series called, “Windows, Inside/Outside”. The metaphor of a window and window light symbolize revelation, insight, and are openings that allow light to enter. They are a threshold between interior and exterior worlds and represent perspective and portals for observation or escape. They allow one to observe the world’s harmony without leaving, emphasizing insight over action.

Technical Details

• These photographs are handmade platinum prints and will last for hundreds of years. The first person to have recorded observing the action of light rays on platinum was Ferdinand Gehlen of Germany in 1830, however William Willis was the first to patent the platinotype process in 1873.
• Cameras – Linhof 5 x 7 view camera, 1960 vintage

        Deardorff 8 x 10 view camera, 1942 vintage

• Film- 8 x 10, 5 x 7 & 4 x 5 Kodak Tri-X
• Paper – Revere Platinum and Strathmore 500, 100% cotton rag paper
• Coating – Platinum & Palladium, hand coated platinotype
• Non-acidic archival matt w/museum glass

Sculpture

I learned to weld and work with metal in high school. After art school, I went on to become an Engineer and designed dams, bridges and buildings using a variety of welded steels and alloys. I eventually ended working with the Welding Center of Expertise for the Army Corps of Engineers. It was there that I realized the idea of exploiting welding methods, the tensile strength of metals opened many possibilities to me. I studied the works of Alexander Calder, Antoine Pevsner, David Smith, Rube Goldberg, James Rosati, John Raymond Henry and Richard Hunt, and explored how to create work that was gestural, humorous, evocative, and introspective. My work is heavily inspired by the natural world, human form and modernist architecture. I draw inspiration from the Constructivist movement, which emphasized the use of industrial materials and abstract forms. In this series, steel is utilized to create geometric, engineered pieces based on minimalism and modern design. The sculptures you see are created from welded steel and bridge industrial manufacturing with abstract expressionism.