The Photography of John Brill

John Brill earned a degree in physiological psychology, steeping himself in the scientific method – the practice of discriminating fact from hypothesis – before committing himself in 1981 to art-making. Beginning with staged portraits and self-portrait, his imagery became increasingly nebulous, reflecting his interest "in how resonance could remain unaffected by the systematic removal of content." he scavenged for pictures, made some from life and others from the television screen, then worked to distance the images from their origins through multiple printings, fragmentation, tonal shifts and value reversals. In the end, the pictures derive more from mind than from matter. They’re projections of his will, contrived out of pure desire.