Print of the Month February 2023

Vitus vinifera #23/25 (print #3/5 in this size), currently hanging in the elevator lobby at One Front street, the world headquarters of First Republic Bank

The evolution of my cameraless technique has provided one surprise after another. In 1999 I sought to image wine grape vines, but discovered that even when collecting them in the Napa Valley, placing them on ice, and then driving directly back to my studio for imaging, they had lost the coronal effect that is critical to the impact of the resulting image. I reached out to my friend Jim O’Shea at Mumm Napa, who graciously offered the vineyard’s support. On my arrival there, I commandeered a janitor’s closet and got to work. This vine, specifically “Cabernet sauvignon clone 337” was cut from the vine, bought into my impromptu studio and immediately imaged. The artwork Vitus vinifera was born. It is currently part of an installation in the lobby of the of First Republic Bank’s headquarters in downtown San Francisco at 1 Front Street.

In the interest of making my artwork more widely available, one print from my studio inventory is being offered monthly at the gallery price of the print alone, with the cost of mounting, framing, crating, shipping and insurance to anywhere in the United States, all provided at no charge. Artworks come with a certificate of authenticity and are signed and titled in pigment en verso, with a secondary signature in pencil en recto.

Vitus vinifera

50x40” Chromogenic development print framed to 56x46” in black wood frame

Vitus vinifera 1, 50x40 “chromogenic development print

The “Print of the Month” for February is the first panel of the triptych, “Vitus vinifera” on the wall at right. Each of these panels is available as a 40x50, but are offered in the 20x24” size only as a nested triptych as shown here during the “Signs of Life” exhibition at Mumm Napa Gallery, Rutherford, California.