Interview with Herman and "Forty Years a Photographist" opening at Through This Lens Gallery.
Video directed and produced by Todd Tinkham.
“For me, art is not a way of providing answers, but of sharing questions. I make pictures so I can see what I have always envisioned, but never really seen.
Since the beginning, photographers have used many different techniques to present their visions. I see no reason not to create my own negatives. Black and white film has been manipulated with various methods to present my vision of color prints.
When a picture succeeds, I feel as if a gift has been passed through me and on to the viewer.”
Bernard Herman retired from one love, the medical profession, to develop another—art. Working with alternative processes, he has developed his photographic career by experimenting with many different approaches. This progression has led him into black and white photography, Polaroid transfers, and a unique process of manipulating black and white negatives into a color photograph. He visualizes his own colors for each image. His saturated colors are then blown up into polytychs. Painting, scratching, and otherwise altering the negative produces images, which are spontaneous and focused on what might be. Each piece you see here was produced by Herman in his darkroom.
Herman takes a photograph of the subject matter, and then transforms it so that the essence might be seen. This idea makes the viewer see common objects in a manner in which they are not normally viewed, removing the mundane and adding ethereal characteristics. It is as if you have encountered these objects in an exquisite and vibrant dream world.
Negative space, often overlooked, subconsciously affects the viewer as it creates a harmony with the positive space. This harmony accentuates the setting in which the objects should exist, and adds to the mystical quality of Herman’s photographs. This play between negative and positive is emphasized by form, which plays a large role in each piece. Herman has a sculptor’s feel in his work. He translates the three-dimensional into two-dimensional art.
Herman’s work continues to grow, not only in style but also in size. He continues to develop his style, pushing the line between painting and photography.