Knowing its history full well, Robert Zahornicky has chosen to explore the photogram. And in a concept structured around a new experimental process based on instant image photography, he elevates it to a new means of artistic expression. “Sofortbild Fotogramme” [Instant Image Photograms] is the title of his four-part series of works, created in 1988, 1996, 2008 and, currently, 2019. Many of the titles bear the botanically correct Latin designations of the flora depicted. His starting point in each case are blossoms, petals, meadow flowers and grasses placed on the instant film, either individually or as an arrangement, for short exposure times. The flower parts are entirely arranged in a dark environment, based on the motif. And in arranging his objects, Zahornicky works like a blind agent capable only of sensing the objects by haptic means, deliberately embracing randomness as part of the design process. The brief light source paints the motif, which then gradually releases the colour image during the development process lasting several minutes.

Robert Zahornicky, *1952 in Vienna. Lives and works in Pressbaum, Austria.