"You could call
this Nigel Scott’s Blue Period, but that risks reducing his work to a gimmick,
an ephemeral conceit – which it isn’t. Rather, the peripatetic Jamaican-born
artist’s ambient, rhythmic images of flora floating and drifting within an
expanse of indigo reflect his absolute respect for the ocean. On a technical
level, they also pay homage to one of the earliest forms of photography, the
cyanotype: the printing process entails ultraviolet light (Scott goes au
naturel with the sun) and a solution of potassium ferricyanide and ferric
ammonium. No camera. No darkroom. No digital effects. The result: a deep
pigment referred to as Prussian blue. The effect is even more pronounced on silk,
which, unlike paper, transmits sheen and fluidity. Conversations with Blue,
Scott’s slim yet thoughtful monograph on the subject, manages to capture these
nuances, all the ghostly petals, fronds and ferns that are akin to botanical
X-rays. As adept as he is with the medium, it’s a significant departure for the
artist, who is better known for photographing female nudes in dramatic chiaroscuro.
Currently on display at Colette, the Paris retailer with a sixth sense for
cool, his one-of-a-kind cyanotypes seem right at home there; the store’s
signature logo – two stacked blue circles – is of a hue and hence quite
simpatico. Scott spent more than a decade in Toronto, where he is still
represented by the Corkin Gallery, before moving to Paris in 1987 and then to
New York, where he now resides. An avid surfer, he lives by a personal mantra
“Nami forever”. Nami is Japanese for wave.
Conversations With Blue by Nigel Scott continues at Colette (www.colette.fr) until Jan.28. the limited-edition book is
published by Tokyo-based Clear Edition (www.clearedition.jp)
source: AMY VERNER, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada, www.theglobeandmail.com
Who knows, maybe someday in the not-so-distant future, fans of Transacmer Saint-Tropez will be able to admire Nigel Scott's surfing photos ...... watch this space!
Transacmer Paris
