The photographs in Any Color You Like are an experiment in how photography can confuse our perception of information. These photographs are of objects whose primary function is to stimulate the way we see color.
A black-and-white image might depict an object of the present, but its character is forever is locked into the past. When these items are rendered in a traditional black-and-white format, the information that remains is merely an abstraction of its previous form.
The chalkboard was once considered to be distortion free, and a photograph was once considered a transparent window onto the world. By photographing chalkboards with film, the syntax of both technologies becomes apparent. The temporary schematics drawn on these boards to emphasize abstract ideas are now embedded in the slate. A useful chalkboard has no history; a used chalkboard is history. What was once empty is now full of information.
As one of the first photographic methods, the photogram was empirically valued for its ability to trace an object by direct contact. To view a photogram is to witness the recent absence of an object. The desire for contact outweighed the shortcoming of its description. Television programs are broadcast and lost. Pressing the photographic paper against the tube, heat and light emanating from the tube are self-inscribed, fulfilling the desire to span distances, making illusions more present.
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