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Matthew Brandt — Chrome Palm 4
Matthew Brandt

Chrome Palm 4

2015

Chrome Palm 4 presents a single palm tree rendered through Brandt's signature material alchemy, where the photographic process itself becomes a sculptural act. Produced in 2015, this chrome gelatin silver print belongs to a body of work in which Brandt introduces chromogenic chemicals directly into traditional darkroom procedures, allowing the medium to assert itself visibly within the final image. The result is a surface of extraordinary tension, where organic subject matter and industrial process seem to negotiate for dominance, producing tonal shifts and surface behaviors that no purely optical photograph could replicate. Brandt has built a significant critical reputation through this sustained interrogation of photographic materiality, and Chrome Palm 4 exemplifies the conceptual rigor and formal beauty that define his practice. The palm, an emblem of California light and leisure, becomes something stranger and more elemental here, its familiar silhouette suspended within a luminous field that carries the traces of chemical intervention. At 20.3 by 25.4 centimeters, the work operates at an intimate scale that rewards close inspection, drawing the viewer into a surface alive with incident and nuance. This signed work is offered through the Children's Museum of the Arts Benefit Auction, providing collectors a meaningful opportunity to acquire a piece from one of the more genuinely inventive practitioners working at the intersection of photography and process art today. The unframed format allows for flexible presentation, and the small scale makes it a refined addition to a focused collection of contemporary photography.

Medium
Chrome gelatin silver print
Overall
Signed
Yes

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About this work

Matthew Brandt, Chrome Palm 4, 2015

Chrome Palm 4 presents a single palm tree rendered through Brandt's signature material alchemy, where the photographic process itself becomes a sculptural act. Produced in 2015, this chrome gelatin silver print belongs to a body of work in which Brandt introduces chromogenic chemicals directly into traditional darkroom procedures, allowing the medium to assert itself visibly within the final image. The result is a surface of extraordinary tension, where organic subject matter and industrial process seem to negotiate for dominance, producing tonal shifts and surface behaviors that no purely optical photograph could replicate. Brandt has built a significant critical reputation through this sustained interrogation of photographic materiality, and Chrome Palm 4 exemplifies the conceptual rigor and formal beauty that define his practice. The palm, an emblem of California light and leisure, becomes something stranger and more elemental here, its familiar silhouette suspended within a luminous field that carries the traces of chemical intervention. At 20.3 by 25.4 centimeters, the work operates at an intimate scale that rewards close inspection, drawing the viewer into a surface alive with incident and nuance. This signed work is offered through the Children's Museum of the Arts Benefit Auction, providing collectors a meaningful opportunity to acquire a piece from one of the more genuinely inventive practitioners working at the intersection of photography and process art today. The unframed format allows for flexible presentation, and the small scale makes it a refined addition to a focused collection of contemporary photography.

Medium
Chrome gelatin silver print
Dimensions
overall: 20.3 x 25.4 cm
Year
2015
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Children's Museum of the Arts Benefit Auction

Related themes

Mohn Art Collective

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