Vancouver, Colombie-Britannique, Canada
The Last Polaroids
2010
Polaroid

These images were composed by manipulating an Sx-70 instant Polaroid camera. By tricking the camera to turn off completely while leaving the shutter open, Johnsen was able to make exposures lasting upwards of 6 hours in almost complete darkness in municipal parks surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area.

Using the last Polaroid film produced in 2007 and set to expire in 2009, the resulting photographs were created in part by reciprocity failure, condensation, and the surrounding interference from mercury vapor street lamps. These factors, in combination with the duration of their exposure causes their other worldly appearance.

These prolonged-instant photographs appear like miniature sets that help to highlight the artificial nature of these human-made spaces.

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Mark Johnsen is an American visual artist living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia. His print-based practice examines the possibilities of the unique, hand-pulled impression in an era of digital reproduction. Through studies of material exploration, traditional and non-traditional printing techniques: he works to capture gestural and representational time stamps.

Mark is the co-founder of Patio Press, a virtual printmaking residency run alongside artist Sara-Jeanne Bourget.

He has exhibited throughout The United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Turkey, Bosnia, Japan, Switzerland, and New Zealand. He is currently a sessional faculty member at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

Art works are framed. Framed size = 13.5” X 13.5” each

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