Scans of Small Objects and Materials - Allen Schill

Images of various small objects and materials, tending towards still life, symbolism, or abstraction.

Untitled (Bike Bell), 2004

Scanned image, 10" x 12.8" ca. @300ppi. Artist's proof in A4 format. (id#1035)

A bicycle stamped in a bell, this calls to mind the antique bicycle from the credits to the old BBC TV series, "The Prisoner".

Untitled (PN55 Film Ends), 2005

Scanned image, 9.4" x 15.7" ca. @300ppi. Artist's proof in A4 format. (id#1032)

Polaroid PN55 film, which provides a negative, has detachable end pieces which are always stained variously by the developing chemicals. I assembled a number of them and scanned the result to make this image.

Untitled (Saw Blade B2), 2007

Scanned image, 6.5" x 9" ca. @300ppi. (id#1031)

Under Foot, 2008

Scanned image, 13" x 16.5" ca. @300ppi. Artist's proof in A4 format. (id#1033)

The title is a nod to the late Irving Penn, who did a wonderful series that goes by this name - close-up pictures of chewing gum stuck flat against the sidewalk. Here one could say I have the same point of view (literally) but am looking in the opposite direction. I was one of his assistants years ago, and he - not just his work - has always been a great example to me.

Untitled (Vulcanized), 2004

Scanned image, 23.2" x 27.3" ca. @300ppi. (id#1034)

Untitled (Bowling Medal I), 2004

Scanned image, 6" x 4.8" ca. @300ppi. (id#1036)

Incredible as it seems, bowling can be like ballet. "A good poet is no more useful than a good bowler." - François de Malherbe, poet (1555 – 1628)

Untitled (Math Award Pin), 2004

Scanned image, 4" x 3.3" ca. @300ppi. (id#1037)

Untitled (La Infinità), 2008

Scanned image, 14" x 25.2" ca. @300ppi. Artist's proof in A4 format. (id#1038)

Untitled (Baby Bracelet), 1998

Scanned image, 6.2" x 7.9" ca. @300ppi. (id#1039) My very first accessory.

Untitled (Falling Star), 2008

Scanned image, 4.8" x 4.8" ca. @300ppi. (id#1040)

Untitled (Mini Crayons), 2004

Scanned image, 2.6" x 6" ca. @300ppi. (id#1041)

Aeroplanino I, 2006

Scanned image, 4.7" x 5.2" ca. @300ppi. (id#1042)

Two Red Ducks, 2006

Scanned image, 2.6" x 6" ca. @300ppi. (id#1043)

A flat-bed scanner will provide a sharp image of anything on the surface of the glass or within a millimeter or two. Anything further away will be progressively out of focus. This is a certain limitation, but for some three-dimensional objects will still work well, creating an effect similar to the shallow depth of field of a lens at a wide aperture, as with these tiny plastic ducks.

Worms, 2006

Scanned image, 6.7" x 10.6" ca. @300ppi. Artist's proof in A4 format. (id#1044)

Untitled (Cuore IX), 2006

Scanned image, 2.2" x 1.9" ca. @300ppi. (id#1045)

This image also serves as one frame of a brief animation, composed of a series of scans made at different exposures from dark to light, which when shown in a loop simulates a beating heart.

Skull, 2008

Scanned image, 12.1" x 9.1" ca. @300ppi. Artist's proof in A4 format. (id#1046)

Unlike most of the other images in this series, which are essentially straight, unmanipulated scans, this was made by superimposing scans of both sides of a cereal-box-prize labyrinth game and blending them in a way that brought out these iridescent colors.

Beehive (Thimble II), 2007

Scanned image, 2.7" x 1.8" ca. @300ppi. (id#1047)

A very small item whose design is at once practical and a symbol of industry.

Untitled (Glass Dish V G1), 2005

Scanned image, 10.5" x 9.6" ca. @300ppi. (id#1048)

Untitled (Plastic Ice Balls), 2006

Scanned image, 9" x 20" ca. @300ppi. (id#1049)

Untitled (Air Lock), 2009

Scanned image, 6 5/16" x 9 1/2" ca. (17.9 x 31.4 cm). @300ppi (id#1050)

Untitled (Drill Bit Case), 2008

Scanned image, 4.5" x 10.7" ca. @300ppi. (id#1051)

Untitled (Plastic Tray), 2008

Scanned image, 5.3" x 9.4" ca. @300ppi. Artist's proof in A4 format. (id#1052)

I like the lozenge shape, like Mark Rothko's paintings.

Untitled (Smoking), 2008

Scanned image, 5" x 8" ca. (12.7 x 20.35 cm) @300ppi. Artist's proof in A4 format. (id#1053)

A "Smoking" brand cigarette paper scanned with transmitted light.

Untitled (Carabela), 2006

Scanned image, 6 5/8" x 12 1/4" ca. (17.9 x 31.4 cm) @300ppi. (id#1054)

A "Carabela" cigarette paper scanned with reflected light. The name refers to the kind of old ship that we know as a caravelle; you can just make out a square-rigger in the watermark.

Gettone (Token), 2001

Scanned image, 8 1/4" x 11 7/8" ca. (20.3 x 28.0 cm) @300ppi- (id#1055)

An old token with its incised design, artistically primitive but beautiful, minted for Italian public telephones of decades ago.

Mug Soap II, 2003

Scanned image, 8 1/3" x 8 1/3" ca. (20.3 x 20.3 cm) @300ppi. (id#1056)

The trademark in relief on a cake of shaving soap. Aside from the design, I like the subject because it stands for an older way of life.

Untitled (Five Left), 2008

Scanned image, 28.1" x 21.3" ca. @300ppi. (id#1057)

Disclaimer (World Trade Center Ticket), 2004

Scanned image, 6.1" x 6.7" ca. @300ppi. (id#1058)

I collect quite a few things for various reasons, usually because there is some object quality or something in the design that fascinates me, or just as a souvenir. I happened to keep a ticket for the WTC observation deck from a visit from back when the towers were brand new, and found it again about thirty years later in a drawer. About that time I also happened to see a praying mantis perched at the very base of one of the towers, facing upward, hands together as always.

Science Book Cover, 2001

Scanned image, 5.5" x 7.8" ca. @300ppi. (id#1059)

I was a teacher in New York City for a few years, and one day they were emptying a storeroom and throwing out hundreds of very old text-books. About time, really! What a surprise it was to see, in 1993, what I'm pretty sure was the same edition science book as I had in 1958, with a pre-feminist cover, with the clear message: boys do; girls watch.

Untitled (Ruined PN55 Film), 2005

Scanned image, 9 1/2" x 11 1/4" ca. (22.9 x 27.9 cm) @300ppi. (id#1060)

A combination of text, mostly illegible, and a pattern of defects in the emulsion of the film.

Scans of Small Objects and Materials

The objects seen here are generally much easier to identify than in the previous group. Recognizable or not, however, these images are not "about" guessing what we are looking at. They are rather "about" the sense of the images themselves and what feelings they might elicit in a viewer, and observing and considering how these things came to be as they are.

While some are of objects which have a strong visual appeal (I really object to "charming", since that's not how I feel about them), others are more conceptual, and less visually appealing. Good examples, respectively, would be "Two Red Ducks", "Aeroplanino", "Bike Bell", and "Baby Bracelet" of the first type, and "Science Book Cover" and "Disclaimer (World Trade Center Ticket)" of the second. The more "conceptual" are inexpressive or dead-pan in the way they reach out to the viewer - with these I don't expect to arouse much feeling, but rather a thought or two. The more emotionally appealing can offer a springboard to childhood recollections, and possibly even represent, depending on who's looking, well - something along the lines of the famous sled, Rosebud, from "Citizen Kane". ("I tell you about Rosebud.")

All images in this series were created with a flat-bed scanner, using either reflected or transmitted light. Generally there has been little or no retouching, and no photo elaboration other than minor tonal adjustments.

© 2014 Allen Schill. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or used without prior written permission from the author. Anyone is welcome to link to it, or to quote brief passages, but I would like to be notified.