R. J. Kern The Unchosen Ones Solo Exhibition Opens Saturday, May 21st 11am– 7pm Artist Present 4pm-7pm On view May 21 through July 2, 2022 R. J. Kern – The Unchosen Ones features a selection of photographs from the series of the same name, presented in archival pigment prints, tintypes and toned silver gelatin prints. “In 2016, I made portraits of youth contestants at Minnesota county fairs. Each participant—some as young as four years old— had spent a year raising an animal, which they entered into a 4-H livestock competition. None of the youths I photographed succeeded in winning an award, despite the obvious care they had given to their animals. Four years later, in 2020, I returned to photograph the young people, asking them what they carried forward from their previous experience. Some of them have continued to pursue animal husbandry while others developed other interests. It is likely some of these kids will not choose to continue running their family farms— an unpredictable and demanding way of making a living. As I created the second group of photographs, I asked them what were their thoughts, their dreams, and their goals for the future? How would they fit into the future of agricultural America? The Unchosen Ones depicts the bloom of youth and the mettle of the young people who grow up on farms, reminding us how resilient children can be when confronted with life’s inevitable disappointments. The formal quality of the lighting and setting endow these young people with a gravitas beyond their years, revealing self-directed dedication in some, and in others, perhaps, the pressures of traditions imposed upon them. The portraits capture a particular America, a rural pastoral world, and a time in life when the layered emotions of youth are laid bare.” – R. J. Kern
“His work is about people and animals, but it is also very much about a world in which people and animals continue to coexist, and the ways a childhood experience may or may not shape a later life. It is also about photography itself, and, as such, shows us two different treatments of people and their cultures in special moments that are rarely dignified by the camera.” -Why Photograph Animals? essay by Alison Nordström from R. J. Kern’s book The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral
About Kern's tintype process Kern explores two historical processes in addition to archival pigment printing in this series. Using a century-old 8x10 view camera and antique brass lens, Kern creates tintypes using wet plate collodion, a process popular from 1850s-1880s. Then, a toned gelatin silver print (a positive) is created from the tintype (a negative) using a traditional black and white darkroom process. Chance, accident, spontaneity, and weather are ingredients in his photographic process. Ghostly images with irregularities— made possible with a novel approach using condensation to create ghosting and irregular patterns — form a new pedigree of tintype. The interdependency between the pictures and the process is integral to this work. Kern uses the medium of collodion as a contemporary tool to create a historical photographic document with a new perspective.
The more time I spend with young people growing up on farms and the more I learn about their plans for their futures, the more enthusiastic I am to use the tools I understand to carry their stories and experiences to a broader audience. — R. J. Kern About the Artist R. J. Kern (b. 1978) is an American artist whose work investigates ideas of home, ancestry, and a sense of place. His portraits focus on intimate, interdependent relationships of people, animals, and landscape. His work has been included in group exhibitions at the Zurab Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art (Tbilisi), the National Portrait Gallery (London), and the Yixian International Photo Festival (Anhui, China), among others, and in solo exhibitions at the Griffin Museum of Photography (Winchester, MA) and the Plains Art Museum (Fargo). National Geographic published photos from his series The Unchosen Ones and Out to Pasture in its November 2017 issue. Awards and accolades include CENTER 2017 Choice Award Winner (Curator’s Choice, First Place), 2017; Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize (Finalist), 2017; Critical Mass 2018 Top 50, 2018 and 2021; Royal Photographic Society International Photography Exhibition 160 (Silver Medal), 2017; and three Artist Initiative Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board (2016, 2018, 2020). Monographs include The Sheep and the Goats (Kehrer Verlag, 2017) and The Unchosen Ones (MW Editions, 2021). Public collections include Minneapolis Institute of Art and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
For inquiries: 952.473.8333 info@burnetart.com
Archival Pigment Print Editions Large Edition of 3 + 1AP Landscape Paper Size: 39 x 52 inches Portrait Paper Size: 56 x 44 inches Landscape Image Size: 36 x 49 inches Portrait Image Size: 53 x 43 inches Starting at $3,100 Medium Edition of 7 + 2APs Landscape Paper Size: 24.5 x 32 inches Portrait Paper Size: 32 x 24.5 inches Landscape Image Size: 23.5 x 30 inches Portrait Image Size: 30 x 23.5 inches Starting at $1,300 Small Edition 10 + 2APs Landscape Paper Size: 20 x 24 inches Portrait Paper Size: 24 x 20 inches Landscape Image Size: 17 x 20 inches Portrait Image Size: 20 x 17 inches Starting at $950
Hannah, Pastoral Study, 2020 2021 archival pigment print
Rylee and Nelly, Clay County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 2016 archival pigment print
Rylee and Nelly, Clay County, Minnesota, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
Shania and Greg, Hubbard County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 2016 archival pigment print
Shania and Pineapple, Ramsey County, Minnesota, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
David, Pastoral Study, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
Eric, Pastoral Study, 2020 2020 screen print on paper
Blake and Bolt, Hubbard County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 2016 archival pigment print
Blake and P. T., Hubbard County, Minnesota, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
Kol and Annabelle, Anoka County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 2016 archival pigment print
Kol and Annabelle, Anoka County, Minnesota, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
Cody, Pastoral Study, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
Josilin, Pastoral Study, 2021 2021 archival pigment print
Taite and Evie, Anoka County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 2016 archival pigment print
Taite and Beau, Anoka County, Minnesota, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
Gus and Doolittle, Mahnomen County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 2016 archival pigment print
Gus, Wilkin County, Minnesota, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
Nick and Fiona, Pastoral Study, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
Kael, Pastoral Study, 2020 2020 archival pigment print
Emma, 2021 Minnesota State Fair 2021 unique tintype 10 x 8 inches NFS
Matthew, 2021 Minnesota State Fair 2021 unique tintype 10 x 8 inches NFS
Cody, 2021 Minnesota State Fair 2021 unique tintype 10 x 8 inches NFS
Hailey and Shawnee, State Fair Mounted Patrol, 2021 Minnesota State Fair, 2022 toned gelatin silver print from wet plate collodion tintype Edition of 10 + 2APs 10 3/8 x 13 inches unframed 14 ¾ x 17 ¼ inches framed $950 unframed $1,250 framed
The Herrera Family, 2021 Minnesota State Fair, 2022 toned gelatin silver print from wet plate collodion tintype Edition of 10 + 2APs 10 3/8 x 13 inches unframed 14 ¾ x 17 ¼ inches framed $950 unframed $1,250 framed
Payton and Shay, 2021 Minnesota State Fair, 2022 toned gelatin silver print from wet plate collodion tintype Edition of 10 + 2APs 10 3/8 x 13 inches unframed 14 ¾ x 17 ¼ inches framed $950 unframed $1,250 framed
The Wanous Family, 2021 Minnesota State Fair, 2022 toned gelatin silver print from wet plate collodion tintype Edition of 10 + 2APs 10 3/8 x 13 inches unframed 14 ¾ x 17 ¼ inches framed $950 unframed $1,250 framed
Ghost Pig I, 2021 Minnesota State Fair, 2022 toned gelatin silver print from wet plate collodion tintype Edition of 10 + 2APs 10 3/8 x 13 inches unframed 14 ¾ x 17 ¼ inches framed $950 unframed $1,250 framed
Ghost Pig II, 2021 Minnesota Fair, 2022 toned gelatin silver print from wet plate collodion tintype Edition of 10 + 2APs 10 3/8 x 13 inches unframed 14 ¾ x 17 ¼ inches framed $950 unframed $1,250 framed
Dan grilling pork chops from Aldi, 2021 Minnesota State Fair, 2022 toned gelatin silver print from wet plate collodion tintype Edition of 10 + 2APs 10 3/8 x 13 inches unframed 14 ¾ x 17 ¼ inches framed $950 unframed $1,250 framed
Hold Over Barn, 2021 Minnesota State Fair, 2022 toned gelatin silver print from wet plate collodion tintype Edition of 10 + 2APs 10 3/8 x 13 inches unframed 14 ¾ x 17 ¼ inches framed $950 unframed $1,250 framed