"As for where Lucian came from. It was made while I was living in Prague (though shot in my studio in L.A.) I was preparing for a show called Faces+Places. Places came from all the photography I was doing of the places I’d see every day in Prague. Faces came from the fact that I’d always been doodling and painting faces throughout my life. I was a big fan of Lucian Freud’s work at the time and I think I discovered the picture that I used in a newspaper or magazine article. As far as I can recall it was a current photo of him and I was just struck by how intense the gaze was - moreso than in his self-portraits. I can’t seem to find a copy of the original, either in my papers or online using image search (strange).
I guess I was sort of hoping to do a holographic color mixing as an interpretation of his painterly color mixing in his portraits. The thing that made the hologram really special though was the spiral interference patterns that occurred right where his eyes should be (there’s one on the nose also but I conveniently disregard that one). It gave the face a life and makes it feel as if he’s looking right at you viewing the hologram. The hologram itself was probably a 4-exposure rainbow shadow gram - 2 exposures in each masked area." Steve Weinstock
Video of hologram:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv2TLRa2JuM
Steve Weinstock with 'Big Lucian' exhibited as part of the 2023 exhibition Virtual/Real Holograms from the 1970s-2000s, selected from the Jonathan Ross Collection by Sydney Koke.
Shown at Gallery 286 London
Video interview with Steve during the exhibition:
