A voracious collector of amateur photographs and subjects, Thomas Mailaender has dedicated his recent practice to developing and exploring innovative ways of bringing his ‘Fun Archive’ into the line of art. Since 2000, he has amassed a collection of over 11000 absurd and humorous images gathered from the Internet and flea markets. Working with the cyanotype – a traditional photographic printing method that produces a distinctive blue-hued print – Mailaender has employed his archived images to create innovative works that not only entertain his audiences with their amusing and candid content but at once highlight the changing parameters of art today.
Prussian Blue presents together a selection of Mailaender’s newest cyanotypes in varied formats. Among the presentation of his largest works mounted upon plasterboards (measuring 120 x 250 cm), the exhibition includes a number of the artist’s smaller paper prints through which he has experimented with photograms: a unique type of contact print made without the use of a camera. Through his use of the photogram process Mailaender accentuates the artist’s hand, adding to the artistic sensibility and uniqueness of his innovative works.