RORSCHACH ROCKS! #20
Part of a series of works I prepared for a show in early 2005 called Rorschach Rocks! (held at The Gallery @ Chelsea City). I was working on a series of photographs of rock formations along the coast of Rockport, near Pigeon Cove, studying pattern, form, shape, texture, and color in the rocks purely as “photographic paintings” when I discovered that hidden within the rocks were other images. Using a technique of bilateral symmetry and additive or subtractive transparency, the rocks revealed new pictures — enigmatic, startling, frightening, maybe even erotic. What you see in these images is based on what you bring to the images, not what I have put into them. They say more about your relationship to the world around you, your thought processes, your fears, biases, preconceptions, or neuroses. As humans, we are hard-wired to be able to recognize faces quickly. In fact, we can tell the differences between all six and a half billion faces on earth. Perhaps this ability is left-over from prehistoric days when it was a life-and-death necessity to be able to tell quickly friend from foe. But ultimately, these are just pictures of rocks!
Copyright 2008 by William Tenney. All photography, artwork, images, and sound recordings on this site are the property of William Tenney.
