X=TIME
Feb 8 – Apr 19, 2020
Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA
Jay Mark Johnson’s unconventional method of timeline photography examines human space and time, broadening established understandings about linear temporal space. He combines the storytelling abilities of a cinematographer with a handmade German scanning device to create an image that effectively melds the ideas of time and space into a single artwork.
In his series of work, the subject remains clear while the background appears to be distorted and in a constant stream of motion and colors altering time and space. Instead of standard photography which favors space and stagnation, these images are captured through the rate of movement of the subject. This project began when Johnson tested the effect of a rotating slit-scan camera had when he stopped the rotation and focused on a fixed area. The camera takes photographs of a single moment represented by a single vertical sliver and over time a series of vertical lines are created of the moving subject resulting in a composite series of strips. Depending on the rate of motion of the subject, the object can appear elongated or crushed. The rendering of reality in conjunction of time into space provides powerful interpretations of the way humans move through time and space.