The concept for the Frost-Byte – Hand Series of art prints was based on a spontaneous project I embarked upon after reading the book The Ice Master, by Jennifer Niven, during the summer of 2010. I was inspired and motivated by the accounts of tremendous personal courage, perseverance, and tragedy of the doomed voyage of the ship Karluk, which was trapped in the Arctic ice in 1913.

I decided to portray this event in visual terms by photographing the image of my own hand, with the assistance of my good friend Efrain Diaz-Horna, at his home in Salem, Oregon. I wanted to portray my impression of frostbite in color, and amped-up the graphic detail. I used food dye, Jell-O powder, and acrylic paint to achieve a strong exaggerated image, and colored my own hand with this material, then had Diaz-Horna photograph my hand on a background of baking soda and flour, in order to mimic snow and ice. After the photo session, with Efrain’s help, I digitally enhanced the images from the developed photos, and pushed the sequence to achieve a grainy, pixilated image. After this effect of color-ground was achieved, I had Efrain reverse the color digitally, and I produced the images into a blue color-field, producing a second group of graphic works. These ice-blue reversed images appear as ice and ice-locked forms. 

The blue images work best in conveying a sense of cold – absolute cold, with human expression portrayed only by hand gesture and form. The colored, “white” images are more colorful, but are also a bit more vulgar, or raw, with the saturation of reds, oranges, and yellows. 

My intention was to complete a group portrait of hand images that would ultimately appear as a color-field, or pixilated portrait, of hardship and suffering, documenting the Karluk’s historical outcome.

This series connects, in an abstract way, the effort of art and history in a snow and ice environment – “the human endeavor to conquer the Polar elements in human terms” – illustrating the brave and delicate balance of life and death in the Arctic environment.

I selected the Frost-Byte Series to be installed as part of the Perm, Russia Exhibition in January 2011. This work was exhibited along with Argentine artist Andrea Juan’s artwork. Andrea Juan’s work is photo-documentary, while my work is graphic-manipulated color-field, providing great contrast between styles. I think that our artistic expressions complemented each other, rather than competing. Although the total works were about Polar experience, they also showed a broader range of expression.

My intent is that this Frost-Byte – Hand Series of art prints will be shown in venues that reach viewers interested in human endeavor among harsh environments, as these artworks portray physical, psychological, and spiritual perseverance in challenging conditions.