Biography
Michael Part (Austria, 1979) explores processes based on chemical experimentations from the early, undefined days of the medium of photography. Though historical in practice his artistic work is as much narrative and scientific as it is aesthetically oriented. In fact, his works consistently combine all three of these elements.
The „defining moment“ in Part’s work is found as much in the object/subject as in the process of their social, physical and chemical creations. His photographs, installations and sculptures are meticulously composed, but always as fragile and intangible as fleeting memories – impressions that transcend the physics and reflect their aesthetic. The artist himself driven by „Sehnsucht“ creates works that strive to awaken such longing in the viewer.
In his most recent and longest enduring research, Part has intensively worked with the gelatine silver process. Developing his photographs with this technique led him to exploit the chemical processes even further. He managed not only to extract the valuable metal from the waste-the gelatine silver fixation solution-but also to fixate these silver remenants onto paper, leaving charcoal grey images composed of weightless and fluid forms, much like shadows of exhaled cigarette smoke.
- From the text 2 {Ag (S2O3) 2}3- + S2O4 + 4OH- → 2Ag + 4 S2O32- +2SO3-2 + 2H2O by Kristina Marberger, 2010.