Doug Prince

From its inception, photography has explored the relationship between fact and fiction. Early practitioners were heralded for their images of the American West, proving its magnificence and existence. While most artists used the camera to document people, places and events, Oscar Rejlander and H.P. Robinson offered a different approach, combining negatives and staging events to discuss prevalent social issues. Rejlander and Robinson created such a stir in the late 1850s, forcing people to grapple with the concept that the camera has the ability to create fictions, rendering truth obsolete.

Doug Prince continues in this tradition, constructing pieces, which blur the lines between fact and fiction, reminding us that photographs are taken and made. Prince creates photographic prints and three-dimensional photo-sculptures, which flawlessly combine negatives, creating a hyper-reality, which comes to life in the darkroom. A museum diorama of an elephant is combined with parched soil in Kentucky; a child makes sand castles on a beach as a wave threatens to wash him away; a boy stands in a wheat field as the Good Year blimp prepares to land behind him.

Doug Prince started combining negatives in the late 1960s, exploring new avenues of representation. One of his most renowned series is his photo-sculptures, images printed on film which are sandwiched between Plexiglas, creating a photographic fantasy. As light passes through the “boxes,” objects appear sharper, creating a drama, which taps into our memories and dreams. Image content ranges from realistic environments to illogical spaces, presenting a surreal juxtaposition of elements. This connection between disparate components is at the heart of Prince’s work, whether working with traditional photographic paper or constructing photo-sculptures.