David Alexander
Media: Ultrachrome Print on Matte Paper Size: 11 x14 inches (images roughly 8x12)
Created: 2020

Dave Alexander
American Photographer b. 1962
Artist's Statement:
I have been focusing on the photo scans that online auction sellers use to sell their vernacular photographs. I make a screenshot of the images I find and of the hundreds of images collected, an image is chosen and I digitally paint over these screenshots using a drawing app on a mobile device (smartphone or tablet.) These drawings are my act of inserting myself into the image and merge authorship of the new image that it becomes. In this moment I celebrate the original image itself with my attention. I move quickly to maintain the free flow and spontaneity of my "reading" of the photograph that is in front of me. I respond directly to the photograph and hope to successfully add to the image and not take away. It's a kind of dance.
The images I create with these screenshots are low resolution by the process in which I come to them and the qualities of the final output are based on the limitations of the original scan. I accept these limitations. I print these using an Ultrachrome wide-format printer on enhanced matte paper. I return to the original auction of these scans that I have altered and purchase those original prints being sold in the auctions. These original prints are later scanned at much higher resolutions and archived for possible future projects incorporating the same image. The original prints I purchased are left unaltered, I don't draw directly on the original photographs as it is not necessary to my work, they become a part of my resource library and collection.
Bio:
David Alexander was born in Sudbury, MA, in 1962. He is a photographer and fine art printer. Alexander was a student of photographer David Freund, Nathan Lyons, artist Joan Lyons, and Mary Ellen Mark. He printed the images for David Freund’s “Gas Stop: Culture” show, and assisted Freund on two photo books due to be released by Gerhard Steidl. Alexander practices and expands his own work everyday and only recently has begun showing in any formal manner.
Education:
BA, 1987, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Photography with David Freund
Other education:
Visual Studies Workshop (MA Program SUNY), with Nathan Lyons, Joan Lyons International Center for Photography (ICP)
Internships with Mary Ellen Mark, Esquire Magazine, Collins Publishers Cleveland Institute of Art
Willoughby Fine Arts Association
Berklee College of Music