Mike and Doug Starn
(Somers Point, New Jersey, 1961 - )
Umbra Terre
1992-1995
Toned silver prints on polyester, paint, ink and silicone on illuminated vitrine
20 1/4 x 23 1/2 x 7 in. (51.6 x 59.7 x 17.8 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of Barbara Schwartz in memory of Eugene M. Schwartz
2004.56
More Information
This is one of a series of transparent illuminated books made by the Starns that center on the sun, which they see as “a symbol of things greater and more powerful than the everyday trials of life.” Terre means earth in French. Umbra, a word in several languages, can be the dark central region of a sunspot, the darkest part of earth’s shadow during an eclipse or the color umber – the brownish tone of the work. The Starns believe photography need not be two-dimensional. For this series, they photographed pages of a sixteenth-century manual describing an earth-centered universe, printed the images on polyester film, collaged other photographic images and added cellophane tape, metal frameworks and sculptural elements.
Keywords
PhotographyBooks
Virgin Mary
Mixed media
Sun