“Combining artist Paul Nylander’s haunting images with a personal narrative, Isolation is as much a proclamation of society’s need to accept the need for artistic isolation, and an artist’s need to break that detachment, as it is a book of images. By marrying photogravure images depicting various types of isolation with a short series of thoughts and questions, this contemplative work surrounds the reader with abundant white space, allowing the images to sit in isolation, yet always in mind as an echo of the past or hint of the future.”
This photography collection, exhibition, video, fine press book, and trade book represent both the beginning of my artistic explorations and the ongoing exploration into the necessity and contradiction of self-imposed isolation to the “creative” professional.
The Origins: Photography
The isolation theme started for me as I began to explore the subjects I was drawn to. Instead of appearing as a specific study, these images were culled from across my photography work at the time—the original exhibition photographs were taken from 2010 to 2012, from a variety of locations in the U.S. and Europe.
However, the locations are less important than the subject and its relation to its own isolation.
The Video Photo Essay
I was searching for ways to express the ideas beyond gallery exhibitions, and so the project began to evolve. In late 2012, I created a video version that includes my own narrative, overlayed on an expanded collection of images.
Evolution to Photogravure
My interest in this theme has evolved in both my personal search for “life’s meaning,” and as a theme in my visual art.
It took several years to discover the next step, a move from digital photos to photogravure prints.
Part of my goal was to slow the images down by moving from large-format to quite small prints—I was seeking an even more personal and intimate way to convey the emotional weight of these images.
But I also wanted to retain the idea of the narrative from the video essay—and in this way, the idea for a book was born!
I talk about the photogravure process in more detail elsewhere in this collection. And the design and assembly of the fine press book and trade edition are examples in my book design portfolio.
