“In the “Burnout” series, photographs showing the stylishly clothed torsos of Brandt’s friends and studio assistants are printed on lush, white silk velvet using a burnout process—a technique popular in fashion design in which acid is applied to fabric to “burn out” fibers and produce areas of semitransparency. Thus, in printing photographs of clothing using a technique commonly found on garments, Brandt has unified subject and medium (if less literally so than in his earlier works). The monochromatic sepia washes, bleached-out fields of white and areas of burnt brown, however, belie the au courant medium and contemporary imagery, evoking albumen prints by Carleton Watkins and Eadweard Muybridge. The title of the series not only refers to the process used, but also slyly connotes celebrities whose stars have faded and who have become racked with addiction.”
Art in America, MATTHEW BRANDT by Jennifer S. Li, 2014
Auction Results Matthew Brandt
