California Grading (2009-2010) is culled from a larger project, But first, define the mountain, is from a suite of over twenty images that situate dormant, Southern California construction sites in relation to modernist depictions of the California wilderness. These pictures have been made at various plots that had been left in a state of stagnation; either defunded in recent years, fallen to vacancy, or just put on hold in the months after the economic collapse of 2008 and 2009. At each site, attention is paid to the grading (mounds of earth and gravel generated from the overall leveling of the location) and recorded with a 4x5" view camera. The individual character of each mound, initially built through mechanical processes, and subsequently influenced and rebuilt over time with weather and erosion, becomes a point of observation and of reverence. Each ‘mountain’ was discovered and named accordingly, utilizing similar fractions of ‘logic’ used in the naming of other California landmarks.
Mistryst Butte
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Mount Aorta
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Mount Chaperone
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Mount Helion
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Bickiron Slope
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Miter Box Mountain
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Suture Mountain
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Clavicle Mountain
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Not Yet Named
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Widows Peak
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Telegraph Range (Sierra Telégrafo)
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Mount Chaperone overlooking Lake Ullage
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Mount Aguirre
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Pico de Arco (aka Arco Lagona)
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Mount Chaperone, with Mount Hellion
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Mount Chaperone (north face)
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Venal Butte
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Telegraph Range
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame
Mount Perfidy (aka Túmulo de La Mesa)
2009/10
Gelatin-silver print on Dibond, with walnut frame