6D - FALL ARTS FESTIVAL, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Photographer David Brookover calls this “Jen’s Boo” for the woman, Jen, who recommended the bamboo (boo) paper on which the image is printed.
The power of the print
Brookover Gallery 125 N. Cache 307-732-3988 BrookoverGallery.com ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
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By Kelsey Dayton
f you walked into Brookover Gallery a few years ago, vibrant color landscapes would have greeted you: purple mountains and glowing orange canyons. Photographer David Brookover was known for shooting bright landscapes with his large-format camera. Back then 80 percent of the prints on the gallery’s walls were color, Brookover said, and about 20 percent was black-and-white. Today if you walk into the gallery, about 85 percent of the images are black-and-white, marking a dramatic change in Brookover’s work in recent years as he has shifted his focus from the image to the way he prints it. During Fall Arts Festival, Brookover Gallery will again partner with Amangani and Four Seasons resorts for “Mocha’s Bash for the Birds” — named in honor of the photographer’s dog — Sept. 6 during the Palates and Palettes gallery walk. The $5 entry fee goes to the Teton Raptor Center, whose feathered residents will be on display at the gallery along with a variety of new work from Brookover. The photographer will showcase “Stallions of Andalusia,” a series he shot this spring in Spain. The portraits capture the horses’ ferocity and beau-
ty, but the artistry doesn’t end with the images. The pictures are printed using traditional techniques such as photogravure, silver gelatin and platinum-palladium methods. Brookover became interested in traditional printing processes around 2006. Things were changing so fast in photography. Printing was becoming more and more software-driven, he said. He missed the art of traditional printing. Brookover also was tiring of the vibrantly colored prints inundating the market. It seemed everyone was shooting color landscapes. The coloring was becoming oversaturated, he felt, and he didn’t like the trend of printing on canvas. He wanted something to differentiate his work, but also to challenge him as an artist. Brookover discovered printers all around the world were specializing in platinum and palladium, bromoil and silver gelatins, and using handmade papers and archival materials. “The printing is just as important as the photography,” Brookover said. “Ansel Adams was probably a better printer than he was a photographer.” This year Brookover expanded his printing techniques to include photogravure, a process that is likely the closest thing left to using woodblocks for creating prints. The result is an almost silk-like finish that is slightly embossed. “I’ve just fallen in love with the older process,” Brookover said. “Photography became fine art because of these processes.” The processes can take decades to perfect, but when done correctly they result in prints that last for-
ever and attract high-end collectors. Brookover’s new images of the Andalusian horses are printed with photogravure and silver gelatins, depending on the personality of the stallion. The series is mostly portraits. Silver gelatin is perfect for capturing the fire of the stallions. The medium results in a striking effect that makes the images pop. Photogravure creates a softer scene. Brookover used that technique on a long-haired white horse with an old stable in the background. The image was printed on bamboo paper and is one of the first color images Brookover has shot in about five years. “It’s not that pow factor, but you can kinda breathe softly when you look at it,” he said. Brookover printed on bamboo paper several large images — 30 by 44 inches — which give people a sense of the size of the animals. They look almost like paintings, he said. Since Brookover switched to focusing on the printing process, he has expanded his fan base. It now includes high-end collectors drawn not just to the image but to how it’s printed. Some of his pieces are selling for $30,000. “There’s no more matching a print to the curtains,” he said. About a year ago a woman from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City visited Brookover’s gallery on North Cache and told a staff member she had never seen so many platinum prints hanging anywhere outside MoMA. That, Brookover said, is one of the best compliments he has received.
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