Photographs :: Cloudscapes of Northern New Mexico (portfolio)
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DAVID MICHAEL KENNEDY PORTFOLIO: CLOUDSCAPES OF NEW MEXICO David Michael Kennedy's Cloudscapes of New Mexico, 1991 is an elegant portfolio containing 10 palladium print photographs of clouds taken in northern New Mexico. Housed in a handsome linen bound case, the photographs describe the artist’s fascination with the endlessly varied skies above New Mexico's high desert. Each image captures a unique moment and mood of the atmosphere between dawn and dusk; the speckled underbelly of a "mackerel" sky, vapor wisps extending like delicate branches, a brooding dark cloud against blazing illumination, a feathery cloud resembling a Lascaux horse. At the same time, the photographs are exquisite abstractions composed of amorphous forms and a sensitive range of sepia tonalities. Cloudscapes of New Mexico was released in 1991. The portfolio consists of ten handmade, palladium prints on warm, buff?colored rag paper. Each print measures 5 1/2 x 7". The top of the 16" x 18 linen bound case, is embellished with an original 2 1/2" x 3 1/4" palladium print of the sun peaking through clouds, a tantalizing invitation to look further. The edition consists of twenty portfolios numbered I to XX, with five Artists Proofs, numbered I to V. The pages were, typeset and hand printed by letterpress at The Yolla Bolly Press, Covelo, California, The portfolio's printed pages include the following statement by the artist: As April approached New Mexico, so did the clouds. I found myself helpless to look anywhere but up. Unable to perform daily chores, I was drawn morning to nightfall amidst the clouds Everywhere I looked, the, splendor of the Now Mexico skies engulfed me. I spent the first two weeks of April Obsessed with photographing the flowing forms, I found one month later that the ten images in this Portfolio embraced the Spirit of my two week fantasy in the sky. This portfolio is dedicated to my daughter, Tymara Christen Kennedy, December 14, 1968 to August 1, 1991. May she ever be among the clouds." David Michael Kennedy moved to New Mexico from New York City in 1987. His splendid palladium prints of southwest lands and skies, celebrities like Bob Dylan, Isaac Stern and Bruce Springsteen, and Native American Dancers, from the Sioux Reservations in South Dakota and New Mexican Pueblos, have made his work sought after by collectors from all over the world. Copyright: Liz Kay |
