Michael Bryant

Gicless

43" x 35"

Except for a period in England, I grew up in Albany, a small town in southwest Georgia. At the age of 20, I moved to Atlanta in order to attend the Art Institute of Atlanta. Since graduation I have come to consider myself a native of a city with the best of everything I love, a major metropolitan city with all of the charm of the south.

I shoot botanicals in the studio with a 4 x 5 view camera on Polaroid 55 Film. This film produces a Polaroid print in addition to a black and white 4" x 5" negative. The distinctive edges, including the round holes at the top of the image, are exclusive to this type of film. The negative is then scanned and manipulated in Photoshop (including adding the color) and is printed with an Epson 7800 utilizing state of the art inks. I print on cotton rag fine art paper, with a luster suface. The resulting Giclees are archival, acid free and rated to last at least 100 years. As the inks have gotten better, Giclees are now accepted as the future of photographic printing and are collected by museums, galleries, and corporate exhibitions the world over.

My goal is to create work that affects me. When I look at a finished piece and for a split second, time stops, I can hear my heart beating in my chest, I forget to breathe, and I am aware only of this piece and how it makes me feel, then I know that I succeeded. Of course, I hope that other people get it, but that's not really the point. It's like an addiction, and I am always seeking that high.