Physi-Digital Technique

During & post the pandemic Fontaine-Wolf developed a unique physi-digital mixed media technique in order to create works which incorporate her concerns around identity, self-image and digital representation within the working methodology. 

The idea is to shift between physical and digital during the image making process. The final images encapsulate a multitude of art forms from the initial physical performative act, photography, printmaking, painting to metal work and collage. It's a cyclical almost dialectic process through which the image shifts from physical to digital mediums, back and forth several times. In each instance losing some of its initial ‘identity/identifying characteristics’ but gaining another undefined quality. Until at the end, it’s quite removed from the initial ‘reality’ of the image and it’s not quite clear what it is or how it was made. 

The final phase of the work is a application process  created by  Fontaine-Wolf in which she paints on the hand cut aluminum surface, and then manually applies the vinyl image on top of this. So even where it may seem like a photograph at first glance, this image has been applied manually, and involves elements of chance and visible paint texture. 

As the viewer shifts so does the image, the surface below reflects light through the image, and the painted surface turns from highlight to shadow depending on the angle, so the image is never quite graspable. Much like the subject matter it’s portraying the work's ever shifting identity means it’s never fully representable in the form of a static digital image.