{"id":58771,"date":"2021-07-05T09:27:44","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T15:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=58771"},"modified":"2021-07-06T12:21:55","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T18:21:55","slug":"edward-batemans-sublime-mountains-of-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/edward-batemans-sublime-mountains-of-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Edward Bateman’s Sublime Mountains of Plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Timpanogos Back No. 4,” photograph, 6 x 12 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

Edward Bateman\u2019s latest work makes manifest the adage that one\u00a0can<\/em> create mountains out of molehills \u2014 molehills made from little bits of plastic and representing real-life Utah mountains.<\/h4>\n

The artist provides small models of his molehills\u00a0cum<\/em> mountains (or is it the reverse?) at Phillips Gallery, where a fine show of exquisite photographs of the little creations (looking magnificently like the real deal) hangs alongside crisp new paintings by Hadley Rampton, up through July 9.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve brought something new to landscape photography!\u201d exclaims Edward Bateman, sporting a new-to-this-writer professorial beard vaguely reminiscent of Freud\u2019s. The innovative artist is an associate professor in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of Utah, where he is head of the Photography and Digital Imaging area.<\/h4>\n
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“Zion No. 6,” photograph, 10 x 10 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

That something new came along during the Pandemic: with classes moved online and restricted travel, Bateman found himself sitting at his kitchen table, pondering. “Mountains have long been places of refuge,” Bateman muses. So he recreated them, on his kitchen table, using geographical data from the internet, a 3D printer and a small fog machine, “to try to capture something of the sublime in bits of plastic.\u201d And while it appears to be classic photographic image-making, that\u2019s not to say there isn\u2019t a bit of legerdemain involved. Magic always seems to figure prominently in Bateman\u2019s process as well as in the resulting artwork: here, the captivating photographs that are the point of all this.<\/h4>\n

Bateman insists that the images of Utah mountains at Phillips are pretty much what the camera saw. \u201cI really didn\u2019t do much that I wouldn\u2019t do with a \u2018normal\u2019 landscape photograph. A little adjustment of contrast and color \u2014 so not much Photoshop magic needed,\u201d says the artist. \u201cAnd the cameras weren\u2019t anything special either \u2026 just an extra attachment so I could get closer to the models. In many ways, I treated my models as though I was photographing the actual landscapes. Sometimes I would even have to wait for specific times of day when the light coming through the window onto the kitchen table was right.\u201d<\/h4>\n
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“Mt. Olympus No. 240,” photograph, 7 x 7 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

The first step for the photographer was to think of places that meant something to him \u2013 that had long been part of his environment. The first two models he printed were Mount Olympus and Antelope Island. \u201cI knew where on the web that I could find the geographical landscape data I needed.\u00a0 (Most of the original source of that topographical data is from the U.S. Geological Survey.) Some places were fairly easy to track down \u2014 others could take some time. It\u2019s pretty easy to forget how vast the west is and how relatively small the landmarks are,\u201d says the artist.<\/h4>\n

Using the topographic information found online, he created 3d computer models, turning them into instructions for his 3d printer. The plastic landmarks were created “one layer at a time \u2014 building up the terrain like the sandstone laid down over eons,” says the artist. “I printed my models at a slightly coarser resolution to make the elevation\/contour lines more noticeable [like in maps] \u2014 I wasn’t trying to fool anyone that these were the real places,\u201d he says with a smile. “They were printed out of PLA plastic \u2014 which is a bio-plastic \u2026 and can safely break down over time.\u00a0 I sandblasted my models, mimicking (to a small degree) the natural process of erosion.\u201d<\/h4>\n
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“Capitol Reef\/Factory Butte No. 67,” photograph, 7 1\/2 x 15 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bateman acquired a fog machine a few months before the Pandemic but didn\u2019t get an opportunity to take it out of the box until school ended. He used it to provide atmosphere to his mountains. \u201cThe clouds it would make would change so quickly \u2014 that I would have to shoot hundreds of exposures. It was like time on that small scale was speeded up. Sometimes the clouds would be very surprising \u2014 when the air was calm, they would follow the contours of the mountains. And sometimes, as with real clouds, you could see shapes and figures in them. Because of the relative sizes, sometimes I couldn\u2019t get my camera into a place that I wanted \u2014 but that could give me a different perspective. It is kind of interesting how we all have specific views that we expect for mountains \u2014 Mount Olympus is a good example of this. And of course, I could use artificial light \u2014 both flash and fiberoptic lights used for microscopy. In many ways, I had more control than traditional landscape photographers \u2014 and limitations too,\u201d says the multi-talented photographer.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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One of the subjects raised by this series is the place of the concept of The Sublime that became an important concept in landscape painting and photography in the 19\u00a0th<\/sup> century. \u201cIt can be a fairly nuanced concept – and is different from beauty,\u201d says Bateman. \u201cA quick, short description might be: That overwhelming feeling of grandeur and vastness when confronted with something greater than ourselves \u2014 such as can be experienced in nature. (There is often a sense of fearfulness attached to it.) So, I had to think about how that concept influenced this work and one of my first questions was, could the sublime be evoked from bits of plastic?\u201d His answer? Yes, through the function of memory.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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“Grandeur to Olympus No. 868,” photograph, 5 x 15 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIn many ways,\u201d Bateman observes, \u201cI am most interested in the contradictions and questions this series brings up \u2026 I think that the more one thinks about this series, the stranger it becomes. While I (somewhat) don\u2019t like to dictate a person\u2019s experience with art, some questions include: Are my models any less real than a photograph? They are both made ‘from’ accurate data. Does that make my images more ‘real’ than any painting? What do we value in a landscape \u2014 accuracy? Real experience? Evoking our own memories \u2014 or even a sense of the sublime? \u00a0And scale? Are these works more like still lifes or landscapes? Landscapes are big and seen from a distance \u2026 mine are small and magnified up close. Do these models escape the ownership of the land? The mode of depiction is from the past \u2014 but the techniques (and actual subjects) are from the present \u2026 how do we reconcile this? The list of questions might possibly go on and on,\u201d the artist says. \u201cBut hopefully, that too would be enjoyable and valuable \u2026 more than just a depiction of something (or somewhere) that we might recognize. The images I made felt somewhat like dreams to me. Which makes sense \u2013 they are certainly as much from my imagination as a real place on earth. I found that to be calming. In a time that has been so chaotic, it is nice to know that there are still a few things under my control that can give me joy, hope, and wonder.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Edward Bateman was just included, for the third time, in the International Print Triennial in Krak\u00f3w, one of the most important and longest-running events in printmaking. On June 26, he was honored as a laureate and was the recipient of a special prize. His work made specifically for this exhibition was similar with the work now showing at Phillips.<\/h4>\n
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“Bryce No. 26.” photograph, 7 1\/2 x 15 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

Edward Bateman, Phillips Gallery<\/a>, Salt Lake City, through July 9.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edward Bateman\u2019s latest work makes manifest the adage that one\u00a0can create mountains out of molehills \u2014 molehills made from little bits of plastic and representing real-life Utah mountains. The artist provides small models of his molehills\u00a0cum mountains (or is it the reverse?) at Phillips Gallery, where a fine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":844,"featured_media":58797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[208,157],"class_list":["post-58771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts","tag-edward-bateman","tag-phillips-gallery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/EDBA188_TimpanogosBackNo4.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 07:49:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58771"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58802,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58771\/revisions\/58802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}