Bill Armstrong • Dolby Chadwick
Bill Armstrong
Buddha Series
Buddha Series
The Buddha photographs delve into questions of spirituality and consciousness. Sourced from books and internet archives, these images utilize effects of dematerialization to reconsider the mutability and ephemerality of forms we take for granted as durable and enduring. Armstrong’s process of appropriation, which is predicated on the re-use of materials, also speaks to the Buddhist concept of reincarnation. These beautifully haunting, mesmerizing images serve as a powerful reminder of the transformative potential of art to expand our understanding of the world around us and our experience within it.
As part of his unique process, Armstrong appropriates found images that he photocopies, cuts, paints, and re-photographs; he then blends the collaged elements together to create brilliantly colored, seamless images. In these ethereal worlds, the “contrast, harmony, and gradations of color are the driving forces behind a subliminal chromatic psychology.”
Armstrong used dye-sublimation onto aluminum to print his photos. Each print is carefully proofed by Armstrong to guarantee the quality of the artwork. The image is first printed onto a transfer paper using inkjet technology and adhered to a pre-treated sheet of aluminum. The dyes are then infused into the aluminum via heat transfer. Once the dyes submerge underneath the surface, the process is complete and permanent. The prints are archival for up to 65+ years and tested by Wilhelm imaging research. These semi-gloss fine art aluminum prints retain excellent color density and have minimal glare, so no glass is needed.
Dolby Chadwick Gallery
210 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94108
July 13 - September 2, 2023
Tuesday - Friday 10am-6pm; Saturday 11am-5pmAbout the Artist
Born in 1952 and based in New York, Bill Armstrong earned his B.A. from Boston University in 1979. The prize-winning artist has exhibited extensively throughout North America and internationally and has taught at New York’s School of Visual Arts and the International Center of Photography. His art can be found in the permanent collections of the Vatican Museum, the Getty Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and Bibliothèque National de France, among others. This is his third solo exhibition at the Dolby Chadwick Gallery.
