For the series Lakes and Reservoirs (spotted on Today and Tomorrow), photographer Matthew Brandt made C-prints of small bodies of water and soaked them in said water, stripping, distressing, smearing and creating leaky, bright color splotches. Now that’s context! Each C-print reacts a little differently. Hollywood Lake is covered in fiery-white specks, while Skinner Reservoir half-dissolved in a swirl.
Brandt’s newest series is a continuation of conceptual photography that works with his subject’s chemistry, literally. One of his series uses the participant’s bodily fluids to produce their own portraits. Another uses dust collected from the Los Angeles Superior Court as pigment of the building’s photographic prints. Brandt has printed with coffee grinds, condiments and even… wait for it… used condoms, but this watered series, is perhaps his “cleanest” and definitely his most colorful. Tour the lakes and lagoons in our gallery.
Lake Casitas, CA. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Lake Hollywood, CA. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Hills Creek Lake, OR. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Stone Lagoon, CA. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Indian Tom Lake, CA. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Dead Lake, OR. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Skinner Reservoir, CA. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Loveland Reservoir, CA. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Wilma Lake, CA. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Alcova Reservoir, WY. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Big Lagoon, CA. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Fall Creek Lake, OR. Courtesy Matthew Brandt
Shasta Lake, CA. Courtesy Matthew Brandt