Technique of Neutralization is a series of images where I push the limitations of photo-based paper. In this series I prepare non-photographic chemicals and paint with them using different materials to control color selectively. Most of these images were produced in my apartment in New York after experimentation to control the colors and combine with photograms before being processed. The title comes from my fascination with philosophy and psychology with a particular reference to the Esopus fairy tale The Fox and the Grapes. Since the neutralization technique is one of the main methods to neutralize cognitive dissonance, which is also the title of my first abstract work, I am here “justifying” my desire and incapability to paint by developing a new technique that allows me to do it anyway with the tools that I am most competent. I have always been fascinated by the absence of latency in this work, and also by the possibility of employing rigorous methods. I come from a scientific background so I believe in rigorous processes, even if most of the time they are direct and simple. The ability of photograms/chemigrams to capture notions and information is also interesting to me even if that is, of course, an illusion. A person’s history influences and distorts perception.

All images © Federico Grandicelli