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Notes from the artist:

This "photo essay" consists of two separate works. The first two images are a neon installation in Nicholson Hall at the University of Minnesota campus, Minneapolis. This "EXHIBITION" piece was created for the 2000 College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture's student exhibition titled, "DIASPORA". It was hung in the interior front vestibule; a unique glass and stainless steel box attached to a massive sandstone ashlar arch entrance dating from the 1940s. The sign was only illuminated for one evening, that being the opening of the show. The work is currently in storage.

The second set of six images is titled, "Motion Picture Memories" and is the result of a joint project for a Studio Arts Advanced Photo and Neon class at the University of Minnesota that I was enrolled in, winter quarter 1998. The project was created in the following manner: First, photographs of old movie theaters; their marquees, flags, lobbies and interior spaces were photographed using black and white film. This film was then hand developed and the negatives were placed in slide
holders. The "slides" were then put into a projector and projected onto the male model's arms, chest, back, etcetera. These "scenes" were then re-photographed in situ and the film developed. These negatives were then electronically scanned, manipulated and plotted in large-format on mylar film. The mylar film measures approximately 3' by 4' and the five "frames" were hung in a horizontal row in the Studio Art Building's Neon
Shop. There, I proceeded to bend glass tubes which conformed to body parts and building parts. Both neon and argon-mercury tubes were used for this installation. The work is currently in storage.

Please contact the artist for further information:

Daniel J. Whittaker: whit0347@umn.edu