Being under “shelter at home” orders gives one time to look through old files, clean out email, back up hard drives and re-discover work that I’ve seen as captured and archived the last 5 years on my iphone. I discovered artist Matthew Swarts’ project “The Alternatives” and “Beth” on a visit to Paul Kopeikin gallery in Los Angeles, CA back in 2015 and was intrigued by both the concept and process. In his series “Beth” 2014 he manipulates old photos of his ex-girlfriend so she slowly fades from view. ““There are issues like, ‘Is this person feeling the same kind of longing and love that I’m projecting onto them or is this some kind of optical illusion?’” he says. (Wired Magazine Article)
“Following a break-up, American photographer Matthew Swarts (1970, USA) began to process his feelings of loss by processing photographs of his former partner, resulting in the series Beth. Later, after he entered a new relationship, the work evolved into a second series, The Alternatives, in which Swarts processed images of his new partner, layering the images with optical illusion patterns for an increasingly distorted view of the original image.”
See more images on Matthew Swart’s website.
ERIKA GENTRY: Art & Education 