For a long time, the quarry was a typical subject of artistic production. By looking at quarry studies - from Albrecht Dürer and Casper David Friedrich to Paul Cézanne and Paul Klee - we may reflect on whether we want to consider the environment as pre- human existence and nature or as the idea of a condition that takes human intervention into account. They testify of man’s desire to exploit materials.
In an urge to address the world’s concerns within the proposed 'Anthropocene' era, Mandry's new focus on ancient quarries accross Europe brings him to question our relationship to natural materials.
By use of photographs shot during explorations in quarries of stone and marble, printed using a traditional photographic process, the chromogenic print.
Due to its chemical composition, the C-Print will tend to fade when exposed to the proof of time. The 3-colors layers that compose its surface (red, blue and yellow), will start to merge and reappear independently.
The prints, layed in the quarry area itself, are disposed with large, found pieces of the marble or stones that compose the
landscape, in the open air and for sometimes up to 3 months. The rain, sun and weather conditions will alter parts of the image that aren’t protected by the stones.
A new composition, shaped by uncontrolled forces of nature, will add an unexpected layer of color and shapes, bringing the original print – a mechanical reproduction of the material – to a sublimed, painterly result.