While spending a recent winter in South Florida, I became captivated by The Breakers, the beachside, landmark hotel (one of only 24 Mobil-Five-Star hotels in the U.S. that year) in Palm Beach. I decided that I wanted to depict it in a multiple-view collage. Giving an appreciative nod to David Hockney and his brilliant work, "Pearblosson Highway," I took several days to photograph the hotel. The job was made more difficult by the fact that I had just broken my right foot which was encased in a heavy plaster cast. My wife admirably assisted me as I hopped around looking for the best angles. (You can just make out my shadow at bottom center of the work.)
I had the 35mm film processed and digitally scanned to CD, then brought the images onto my computer desktop where I selected, composed, and manipulated the 133 separate images that make up the final piece. I also added several photographs of related items from the immediate vicinity, e.g., the Pompano fish, to add to the overall melange. My goal was to create a composite work that expresses my way of looking at the world from a combination of multiple, discrete vantage points. And, also to communicate the power and the beauty of The Breakers.
The image was selected by guest curator Jonathan Talbot for inclusion in the exhibition "Paste and Pixels: Exploring the Interface of Traditional and Digital Collage" at Core Gallery, New Paltz, New York. The show ran July 14 to August 12, 2001. For the exhibition, I had an original digital print (piezoelectric inkjet, print size: 13x23.5") made of the image on 100% cotton Concorde Rag art stock with a Roland Hi-Fi Jet using six-color pigmented inks.
-- Harald - 7/01