Wai'anae 3751

Gallery Purchase during the 2016 Art Acquisition Party with contributions from Malu Alvarez ’02, Jane Avinger, Susan Beaumont, Armando Bellmas, Lydia Bittner-Baird, Chai Lu Bohannan ’14, Elizabeth Bradford, Caroline Brooks ’15, Im Chan, John Christian, Howard Daniel ’72, Dan Drayer, Rosemary Droney, Jennifer Sudul Edwards, Emily Mehta Farlow ’11, Donna Ferguson, John Ferraris, Monica King Friel, Anna Grumman ’19, Kate Hall ’16, Richard C. Halton ’77, Elizabeth Harry ’14, Scott Harry, Stephanie Glaser ’92 & Thomas Hazel ’92, Burkhard Henke, Joan C. Huntley, John David Ike ’13, Caitlin James ’14, Chandra and Jimmie Johnson, Amy Clemmons King ’97, Jamie Knowles ’10, Nan & Bill Loftin ’81, Fred Lopp ’63, Frank Lord ’89, Susan Norman McAlister ’85, Dan McLawhorn ’70 & Rob Hazelgrove, Louise Mohamed, Kate Nation, Sherry Nelson, Ginny Newell ’78, Madeline Newman, Lia Newman, Sara Nordstrand ’14, Elena M. Paul ’85, Annie Porges, Tatum Pottenger ’14, Sara Pottenger ’79, Jeff Prince, Julia Rich ’14, Sam Riehl ’15, Barbara Schreiber, Lucy Sexton ’16, Holly Sinkway, Tom and Kathe Stanley, Elizabeth Stern, Mary Taibl, Brad Thomas, Ian Thomson ’15, Bob Trotman, Linda Vista, and Russ & Lyn Bolen Warren ’83.

For several years, Matthew Brandt has been making photographs on a family farm in Wai’anae, Oahu, Hawai’i. Brandt merges his concept and process, taking photographic prints of the dense tropical rainfor- est and rolling them in materials from the site. Rolled up in burlap and lace, the prints are then buried under dirt and leaves for several months. Emulsion erodes in some areas, and patterns and textures imprint into others; the earth itself produces almost alchemical results, transforming the original works into new, unique prints. For his 2016 installation at the Van Every/Smith Galleries in the exhibition Material Matters: Water, Pigment, and Light, Brandt screen-printed a repeating image of palm trees directly on the gallery wall. Using mud from the grounds around Davidson College, the printed backdrop connected his photographs on display — excavated thousands of miles away — to the local environs.

Bibliography

Newman, Lia & Tyler Starr. Material Matters: Water, Pigment, and Light. Davidson, North Carolina: Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, 2016.