Film Camera
Abstraction and photographic imagery overlap to create this striking homage to the film camera
Film Camera
48″ x 48″
Mixed Media on Aluminium
As a keen photographer, this painting is very special to me. During the late 80s and early 90s, I was lucky enough to have an Olympus OM10. With no money and only 12 shots, photography was a real luxury. I would spend ages looking through the pentaprism to compose that one moment in time, hoping for a good shot. The tactile control of the buttons and lens, gave me a feeling of connection to my photographs that I do not experience with modern automated cameras. What is wonderful is that I now have boxes of photographs from this time which I love to look back on. You can appreciate each shot so much more when you can hold them in your hand, rather than viewing them on a screen.
To emulate the tactile nature of the film camera, I built up a dynamic surface texture with layers of paint and exposed areas of aluminium to depict the boxy structure of the camera.
The tactile control of the buttons and lens, gave me a feeling of connection to my photographs that I do not experience with modern automated cameras.
On using film cameras in the 1980s
Retro Collection 2019
Retro Collection
Sparked by a recent rediscovery of my old ghettoblaster, tv, camera, typewriter and cassette tapes, my new Retro Collection revisits my memories of these classic 1980s relics. Each piece in the collection takes one of these 80s symbols as their focal point, layering them with bold painted abstraction. Vibrant neon paint is dripped, poured and scraped over the metal reflecting a sense of the restlessness of the 1980s with its non-stop development of exciting new technologies
Paul Kenton, May 2019. Thoughts on Retro Collection
Inspiration
Where did the idea for a Retro Collection originate?
