Demonstrations, 2005-2008
12 gelatin silver photographs on baryta paper 51 x 61 cm (edition of 15)
Saying that science is useful is not really saying much at all. There are many other adjectives that can be used to define science, such as fun, enigmatic, solemn, stunning, and a long list of other possibilities. Caleb Charland (Portland, Maine, 1980) is a photographer who captures the physical phenomena resulting from experiments that he carries out himself. In the end, the photographs are the only remaining evidence of his arduous domestic research. Charland uses water, fire, nails, magnets, bits of wood and other elements to create the small experiments captured in the series Demonstrations. “I look for the extraordinary in everyday life. My observations are based on the properties of materials, on their possibilities.”
Fireworks, mechanics, and magnetization are just some of the things that Caleb Charland likes. Fascinated by tools and forces of nature, his photographs are proof of his curiosity: the artist as engineer, scientist, inventor and magician, working in his basement at home. The experiments that arouse Charland’s curiosity take place in front of a fixed camera, a silent witness that captures the crucial moment like a still life in black and white. Demonstrations combines scientific curiosity with a constructive approach to making pictures.
The idea initially begins with certain questions that the photographer asks himself: Is this possible? How would it look when...? What would happen if...? Based on one of these premises, Charland goes down to the garage, like he has been doing since he was a small boy, in search of inspiration, drawing on his knowledge of and familiarity with the hidden power contained in certain tools and objects created for a specific purpose. Then, the visual potential of the idea is sparked by one of the initial questions, and leads to the construction of the “set” in which the experiment is carried out.
Charland uses children’s books of science experiments to guide his work, and still reads them with as much interest and curiosity as when he was nine. The artist himself explains that he is fascinated by the medium of photography, and that he uses it to question the world through the magic of the camera lens. And when we contemplate his photographs they prompt us to ponder the artist’s original questions and a few others: How did he do it? How did he photograph it?