Lucas Samaras

unique manipulated Polariod SX-70 print, dated and with annotations in ink on the reverse, matted, a Pace Gallery, New York, label on the reverse, framed, 1973 (Samaras, p. 51, this print)

In 1973, Polaroid employee John Holmes arranged for artist Lucas Samaras to receive one of the company's new SX-70 cameras. The result of years of research, the SX-70 was the realization of Polaroid founder Edwin Land's original impulse: to create a truly instant one-step camera that produced images in full color. The SX-70 in the hands of Samaras—whose career had already established its tone of fearless experimentation—became a powerful tool for transformation. Earlier, in 1969, Samaras had undertaken a series of self-portrait studies with the Polaroid 360, producing a series of black-and-white images that the artist then altered with drawing. These AutoPolaroids, as Samaras called them, laid the groundwork for a new self-portrait series with the SX-70, the Photo-Transformations. The unique properties of the SX-70 allowed Samaras to pursue this transformation in a wholly new way. Within the multi-layer complex of the SX-70 print, the emulsion remained soft and malleable during, and even after, development. Samaras exploited this peculiarity of the process to manipulate the emulsion—pushing, pulling, and even scrambling it—to create transformations that range from the surreal to the phantasmagoric. In the present Photo-Transformation, Samaras has executed considerable delicate handwork upon the print after it was ejected from the camera and the automatic development commenced. As the image formed, Samaras used a stylus or other tool to manipulate the surface. This unique Polaroid print is in generally excellent condition. The colors appear vibrant. Upon close examination in raking light, a few scattered surface scratches are visible, a result of the photographer's manipulation of this Polaroid during development. On the reverse, '637 Q' and 'P [circled]' are annotated in ink.
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