Hollis Frampton (1936-1984); Selected Images (from the portfolio 'ADSVMVS ABSVMVS');

HOLLIS FRAMPTON (1936-1984) Selected Images (from the portfolio 'ADSVMVS ABSVMVS'), 1982 2 chromogenic prints, including 'Rose (Rosa damascena)' and 'Common Garter (Thamnophis certalis)'; each signed, dated, and editioned 'AP' in ink on the reverse. each 19 5/8 x 15 5/8 in. (49.8 x 39.7 cm.) Footnotes: Provenance Acquired from the artist by John Pfahl Note In the proposal for Hollis Frampton's portfolio of photographs titled ADSVMVS ABSVMVS, which ultimately included both of these images, he explained: ' One general, public assumption about photographs is that the process of photographic representation amounts to a preservation or embalming process. The lost presence of the photographed thing, person, situation is invoked through a mummified echo, reduced to a husk of the light that once revealed it. The photographic likeness bears a distant, partial, decolorized or muted resemblance to its subject; at the same time, it has unique qualities of its own, which are entirely independent of what it depicts. Every photograph is potentially a keepsake, like a lock of hair, and a MEMENTO MORI. 'For some years I have been interested in this abstract process of preservation, and its symmetry with natural processes of mummification where the contour of the once living thing is recognizably retained. I have made a collection of such 'autographic likenesses' of animals. They range from Upstate New York road kills, flattened and sun-baked, to dried fish and squid in oriental food markets: a single general process and appearance, metaphorically reminiscent of the photographic image, covers a range from the blatantly morbid through the grotesque and sentimental to the edible. Like photographs, as well, they are remarkable objects in themselves.' In 1982, the complete portfolio of 14 photographs was first exhibited at Light Work in Syracuse. Among the specimens photographed by Frampton, the rose was taken from his father's funeral wreath and is the last plate of the portfolio. Lot to be sold without reserve. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ¤ ¤ Without reserve For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing