ARTWORK DETAILS
David Aston
ULO Rotary
Antique one arm bandit and unidentified mid 19th century tintype photographs
2010-11
73 H x 49 W x 20.5 D cm
FURTHER DETAILS
ULO Rotary is an antique one arm bandit with anoymous stamp-sized mid 19th century American tintypes (ferrotypes or direct positive photographs printed on metal|).
The Unidentified Living Object (ULO) Series includes sculptural photographic works which explore themes of anonymity, commoditisation and copyright through the curation of anonymous 19th century photographs.
In the Unidentified Living Objects (ULO) series, I purchased 19th antique century photographs of anonymous sitters, recorded and archived their original context and repackaged them as low price high street consumerables to influence the contemporary appraisal of age, provenance and value.
Other ULO images are re-presented on correspondence and postcards, mugs, T-shirts and made into play things within antique fruit machines to randomise or alter the contemporary interpretation of the work.
These early works also explore the potential for both copyright and copywrong in the re-evaluation of historical and personal objects.