Red Camera, 2012-2022
Quadriptych (4 photographs)
42h x 28w in. ea. (106.68h x 71.12w cm)
Sizes Variable
Ed: 4 + AP
Signed en verso
Red Camera, 2012–2022 is a quadriptych of monochromatic photographs which foreground artifacts from a camera’s digital sensor. These imaging flaws—intended to be hidden—create an unsettling, foreign texture, almost a facture. By bringing these concealed flaws forward, Red Camera interrogates what we, and the imaging systems shaping our reflected reality, attempt to obscure. As digital media increasingly operates autonomously in its pursuit of the perfect image, our mirror ceases to reflect reality, instead generating a meticulously manipulated version of it.
Installed horizontally, the quadriptych recalls the structure of bricks—units of construction that build and reinforce. This formal reference is a paradox at the heart of the work: the invisible errors within digital imaging become the building blocks of a new visual order, shaping what we accept as truth. The deep red hue, achieved by tricking the camera into misinterpreting the color of light and forcing an extreme overcorrection, echoes this manipulation—revealing how digital systems not only reconstruct our perception but, brick by brick, fabricate the very reality they claim to reflect.
Installed horizontally, the quadriptych recalls the structure of bricks—units of construction that build and reinforce. This formal reference is a paradox at the heart of the work: the invisible errors within digital imaging become the building blocks of a new visual order, shaping what we accept as truth. The deep red hue, achieved by tricking the camera into misinterpreting the color of light and forcing an extreme overcorrection, echoes this manipulation—revealing how digital systems not only reconstruct our perception but, brick by brick, fabricate the very reality they claim to reflect.
“Young pushes the limits of digital photography in extreme close-ups of brick buildings, which were captured under cover of night and recorded as “digital noise,” in a group of large-scale, abstract color photographs that refer back to its index. Through his mastery of photography, Young applies his personal relationship to the architectonic of brick patterns in a suite of chromatic, geometric abstractions.”
- Clifford Owens, Curator, Interlocutor, Art Club, September-October, 2022