"chemical bath" artists:
Ladislav Viszoczky
Ladislav Viszoczky is an artist from the Czech Republic specialising in oil printing, a contact print process - predating bromoil - which requires the negative to be the same size as the final print. It was patented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855, who discovered the light sensitivity of gelatin mixed with dichromate; the method became popular with Pictorialists.
Oil prints are usually made on watercolour paper and, depending on the
surface of the paper chosen by the artists, different effects can be
achieved. (You can find some interesting facts about history of oil
printing on this page, which is where the above info comes from)In his work, Ladislav focuses mostly on
landscapes, waterscapes and rural scenes; the printing technique he uses
give them the texture and hue of old illustrations that some of us may remember from their childhood books. The graininess, and sometimes coarse, and sometimes smooth blending of colours - greys and sepias, give Ladislav's photos a unique feel. Many of his photographs portray a tiny village,
whose stillness, beauty and atmosphere are perfectly captured through
the use of oil print. In other images, Ladislav uses the technique to
render the dynamism of water and the slightly bleak atmosphere of the
stormy sea, or the eeriness of abandoned buildings.
