“We’ve looked and looked, but after all where are we?”
— Robert Frost, from The Star-Splitter
DARK MATTER was published as part of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts/Jerome Foundation Mentorship Program Series III.
Deep inside an idle iron mine, below the ancient hematite rock formations of northern Minnesota, a tiny elevator rattles to a halt on Level 27. Here among dozing bats and artificial lights, people wait. And wait. This is the unlikely site of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) lab, where scientists are looking for the tiny burst that will indicate evidence of dark matter, a product of the big bang believed to comprise 25% of the material in the universe. Observations of visible structures in space suggest that their own gravitational forces are not strong enough to account for their formation, suggesting some kind of missing mass is responsible. This missing mass is believed to be dark matter, so called because it does not emit or scatter light like ordinary matter.
DARK MATTER is a conceptual investigation of the visual phenomenon of shadows inside the CDMS II lab and in the forest around the site. Since scientists don’t know what it is exactly, or if it even exists, these photographs imagine what this mysterious substance might look like if it were visible.
MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
“Photographer Keith Taylor plunged into “dark matter,” that mysterious and still-unfound stuff that scientists are looking for via experiments conducted in an abandoned northern Minnesota mine.
Taylor’s dark images of the surrounding forest, overgrown rail lines and strange structure are evocative metaphors for this invisible stuff.In 20 perfectly printed photogravures, he eloquently suggests the hypnotic appeal of this strange quest to crack a cosmic mystery.”
— Mary Abbe, Nov. 17 2011
• Twenty unbound but sequenced hand-pulled polymer photogravures.
• Printed on Rives BFK with letterpress printed text pages set in Proxima Nova.
• Title page, statement, colophon and plate index.
• Single tray case in black Canapetta book cloth with hand made Cave paper.
• Designed and produced entirely by the artist.
• Image size 7.5″ w x 7.5″ h on 14″ w x 15.5″ h paper.
• Edition of 10 plus artist proofs.
• Title page, statement, colophon and plate index.
• Single tray case in black Canapetta book cloth with hand made Cave paper.
• Designed and produced entirely by the artist.
• Image size 7.5″ w x 7.5″ h on 14″ w x 15.5″ h paper.
• Edition of 10 plus artist proofs.
