Digital Stain

Buried in the pixel grid of every photo library are accidents. Errant screenshots, 1-second oops videos, grainy blackness, canted and blurred apparitions. Digital stains, maybe. The best of these are like dreamscape stills from a David Lynch film. In their familiar non-specificity, they are uncanny, revealing those spirits hiding beneath the mundane. The unintentional pretends intention, suggesting artistry, a human touch. They are painterly, formally exciting in the diagonal. Open your photo library. Slowly scroll. Find those thumbnails that register as not quite right, the throw-aways. Set them apart, push the contrast or pull the saturation. Give them an evocative, perhaps provocative, title. Sign your name. They are readymade.