Choir

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Preece produced these works through the cliché verre process, whose name translates simply as “glass plate” from French. A technique dating back to the middle of the 1800s, cliché verre involves creating an image on a glass plate (or sometimes another transparent surface) and then placing the plate on light sensitive paper in a darkroom before exposing it to light, thus using the plate as a photographic negative. Various methods can be used to create the image on the plate, but most commonly the glass is coated in an opaque material that is then scratched away to leave clear areas where light may pass through. Camille Corot and the French Barbizon artists used ink for this purpose, while Preece employs soot, which he then manipulates through the dripping of solvents. This technique appears to have been without precedent, and so the artist has dubbed these images “Nolangrams.” The fine details and gentle gradients of Sensuous and Choir suggest deep three-dimensional depth, and the title and suggestive forms of the latter show Preece’s willingness to suggest a degree of figuration in his experimental photographic work