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Prints, Drawings and Photographs
|  Andrew Sovjani
"Pulled #6"
Photographic Monoprint
15 x 15 inches (framed to 25 x 25 inches)
$1500.
Serene. Contemplative. Peaceful. Surreal. These are some of the words that come to mind while studying the finely crafted photographs from Andrew Sovjani. His thoughtful, Zen-like compositions capture the quiet beauty found in our natural and man-made worlds.
Andrew's photographs often take place during what he calls the fringe hours, the quiet introspective time after the sun has set, but before the sky has gone completely dark. The low levels of ambient light found during these hours require the photographer to use exceptionally long exposures, often keeping the lens open for more than 30 minutes at a time. While the lens is held open, the effects of time and movement are allowed to accumulate and participate in the imagery - creating a mood quite different from normal daylight photography. Additionally, photographic film exhibits unusual behavior under these extreme exposure conditions, often resulting in an increase in contrast and helping to create an "etched" look and feel to the image.
All of his silver-gelatin photographs are hand-printed by the artist on fiber paper. Both large and medium format negatives are used to create enlarged prints with exceptional sharpness and detail. Dodging, burning and various other tonal adjustment techniques are used to craft a final print that presents to the viewer an image that communicates what the scene felt like, rather than just simply how it looked at the time. Prints are also toned in a bath of tea or split-toned in a homemade sepia-selenium recipe to warm the highlights and for archival considerations.
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