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The MB&F
M.A.D.Gallery in Geneva features an exhibition called
“X-RAY” by British visual artist Nick Veasey, who takes photographs of things
twe cannot see.
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These images transform
everyday objects from banal into beguiling.
In particular, his images of two vehicles – “VW Beetle” and “Matchless
Rider” – coincide with MBF's passion for mechanics and perpetual dream of
revealing fantastic, ingenious details normally invisible.
It is these details that got MBF really excited to learn about Veasey’s fascinating process of creating the images,
which take many months to complete.
Because the x-rays emit potentially
lethal radiation, Veasey’s workshop in the Radar Studio, a converted Cold War
spying station that he bought from the military, is isolated in the middle of
a field in the Kent countryside in the south of England.
Understandably, Veasey protects himself by taking extreme
precautions.
With potential exposure to such high levels of radiation, he has
constucted his studio using 10 cm/4” thick blocks of a material called
lignacite, which prevents x-rays from passing through the walls.
The floor is
made from a high-density, radiation- absorbing concrete. The lead and steel
door alone weighs 1,250 kg / 2755 lbs!
To create his images, Veasey uses very slow film. This produces an extremely
clear capture with no grain.
His x-ray equipment is unlike the type you find
in hospitals; while a typical hospital x-ray is about 100 kilovolts and lasts
0.2 seconds, Veasey’s hard-to-find machine is much more powerful, going up to
200 kilovolts and emitting x-rays for far longer – sometimes as long as 20
minutes.
Amid a great deal of experimentation with the exposure,
distance, and type of film used, Veasey at times has to dismantle the object
he is shooting in order to obtain clean, sharp images, which are always 1:1
in scale.
Every image taken is captured on 35 x 43 cm (14”/17”) sections.
No problem if x-raying a lightbulb.
But for something like a VW Beetle Veasey
has to dismantle the whole vehicle, x-raying every single component
individually – months and months of work.
Nick Veasey, 53, admits that he derives much of the joy
he finds in his work not just from the final images as we know them now, but
from the journey he has taken to arrive at the final images.
His work is a
classic example of fusion between art and science.
“The great thing about x-ray is that once you think that you
know it, it comes and bites you in the backside and surprises you,” he says.
“I often get it wrong.
Everybody makes mistakes. And you learn by your
mistakes.
As always, this M.A.D.Gallery exhibit is a human adventure. Veasey is a
simple man, passionate and curious about his chosen field.
In today’s world
obsessed with image, superficiality, and artifice, Veasey counters
insubstantial diversions by delving deep inside things to discover and reveal
what they are really made of.
He’s also curious. Over the years, Veasey has created many
x-ray photographs, from small everyday objects to large multi-component
structures such as cars, and buses full of passengers. He has even x-rayed a
life-size Boeing 777 jet!
Don’t miss the eight images created by Nick Veasey on display at
Geneva’s M.A.D. Gallery: “Matchless Rider”, “Mitchell Film Camera”, “Decks”,
“Airport X-ray”, “Typewriter”, “VW Beetle”, “Superman” and “Lightbulb”. All
of these are available as prints or framed Diasecs.
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