Alvin Booth: Osmosis

Osmosis is a departure from Booth's earlier work. Uncomfortably constrained by conventional photography paper formats, Booth created his own paper, long and narrow, the ideal complement for his attenuated and fragile figures. The elongation of the original prints, the prefect accommodation for his filiform figures, is suggested here in the oversize format of the book.

While Booth's fascination with the figurative remains, his 'Osmosis' images are deliberately more abstract, diffuse, and otherworldly than his previous works. The human form is reduced to its bare lines, and like a delicate gouache the body dissolves into the paper. The exquisite tones of the images and the graceful, ghostly figures are suggestive of 19th-century photography, reflecting Booth's old-world techniques and approach to the craft.

'(Booth's) pictures often seem painterly or drawn.... The figures in them appear alternately as pure form and corporeal impression.... Mysteriously laden with narrative potential, these works seem most successfully to speak to the sensibilities of a perhaps irretrievable past.' ArtForum

Alvin Booth was born and raised in Hull, England. His work is highly valued on the international photography market, and has been exhibited in international museums and is represented by some of the most prestigious galleries in major cities in the United States and Europe. Edition Stemmle published his first book Alvin Booth: Corpus in 1999. Booth is based in New York City and spends several months of the year in France.

ABOUT THE LIMITED EDITION:

The limited edition comes slipcased with 1 of 3, uniquely toned, 12 x 6' gelatin silver prints. Each print is signed and numbered by the artist, in an edition of 33 with 2 artist's proofs.