Industrial Portrait Works
2008–

The Industrial Portraits are an ongoing series of photographs made with a 35mm roll film camera of both individuals involved in the production, dissemination, and support of art production and exhibition, and the sites of their labor. The photographs are taken of people and locations during active production, made in the midst of a professional exchange or collaboration. The more than 1,500 photographs comprising this series to date represents a random sample of the art world. The individuals are photographed over a short period of time, less than 30 seconds, the time it takes to expose the 36 frames of one roll of 35mm film in quick succession. The duration of the exposure is dependent on the readymade industrial parameter of commercially produced 35mm photographic roll film.

Because each person is photographed for the duration of an entire roll, a roll of film doubles as a short movie, describing the movement of the individual during the process, and thus, the person’s relationship to being photographed and the exchange with the artist over that brief duration. This is registered through their physical response to the process, which is documented in the sequence of exposures. The process is initiated in the midst of working, and after complete, work continues; as such it also signifies a momentary break in the working process and a moment of brief reflection on the relationships that are at work in the process. On one hand, the works represent the collaborative interactions of one individual with a broader professional community, charting the evolution of an artistic career over time, on the other, it also references the expansive network of professions that intersect to make art available to a public.

The work is presented in three forms, all organized chronologically. These include framed prints grouped by year, a film projection which includes each frame of each roll shown in succession; and a sequence of books published in five-year increments.

Titling Convention:

When the work is presented as a film projection, the title is Industrial Portraits (2008–) and includes the entire project up to the moment of exhibition. When the work is otherwise presented, each photograph is titled individually beginning with the person or place’s official professional designation (e.g., museum preparator or private collection conference room), followed by the city and date when the photograph was taken. The date attributed to the work is the year of its first exhibition, which is separate from the production date included in the work’s title. A final description of the work, for example one that would appear on a wall didactic in an exhibition space with a selection of framed prints, might read:

Gallery Assistant, Los Angeles, California, February 23, 2014
2014
Chromogenic print
14 1/4 x 18 1/4 inches

Here annotated:
Gallery Assistant [professional title], Los Angeles, California [city, state or country when the photograph took place], February 23, 2014 [date of photograph]
2014 [date of first exhibition]
Chromogenic print [media]
14 1/4 x 18 1/4 inches [framed dimensions]