Pandemic Portraits by Collin J. Rae (signed)
Pandemic Portraits is a large format collection of Facebook Messenger photos taken through distorting lenses made from found pieces of glass and plastic by the pioneering noise musician and CEO of Sono Luminus: Collin J. Rae.
Collin: EVERYTHING is about adding and organizing “noise.” Visually. So much of my life has been spent in music and noise and creating or representing sound / music that it has totally infiltrated my visuals. Very natural.
Kristine: how did you come across or think about using the glass for photos.
Collin: Well, it just made sense, traditional photo filters and lenses are glass (sometimes plastic), I thought about how I could add noise and distortion to a photographic image… Fucked up glass and plastic filters, home-made. That was the answer. It kept the process purely and organically photographic.
All the visual works would have never existed if not for my music and noise works both past and present. Distort, noise, organized chaos, visual and aural aggression at times these are important “thoughts” in my brain.
Kristine: when you look at a “finished” visual piece does all of that come through for you–how does it look?
Collin: It’s like anything in any medium I work in, when I feel a piece is done it is because it’s working for me in the way I need it too whether my actual intentions were reached or not. –Interview with Collin Rae by Kristine Snodgrass, South Florida Poetry Journal
“Rae’s musical and photographic work has always been engaging and provocative. But in this new project he manages to create a haunting feeling of passion and panic held captive behind a glass screen. The images are stunning but also relatable to a time we all shared in emotional isolation.” – Craig Brewer, Film Director
“I swore I would never engage with any art that includes “pandemic” in the title, but I’m happy I broke my own oath in this case. Like my favorite music, these portraits are simultaneously gorgeous and unsettling. They are provocative, but haven’t abandoned beauty or hope.” – Doyle Armbrust
“Collin Rae’s alien imagination transforms the banal hellscape of Zoom into an orgiastic funhouse mirror. Rae’s cursed portal reveals screaming sirens and liquid vixens, melting like wax, ruptured and replicating: the pandemic id in all its terrifying glory. You’ll never look at Zoom the same way again. Be grateful.” -Joy Ray, artist
Paperback, 125 pages, Weight: 10.2 ounces, dimensions: 7 x 0.3 x 10 inches. Alien Buddha Press, 2022. Signed copies available.
Collin J Rae is a Michigan born visual and aural artist currently living and working in northern Virginia. His photos have been published by TASCHEN books, European Photography Magazine, Secret Magazine and many others. His “asemic” works have been features in various online and physical journals. His current project is a series of books created throughout the covid pandemic.
$ 22.50
