Matthew Brandt

M + B, Los Angeles, 2017

For his Burnout series, experimental photographer Matthew Brandt prints his photographs using the popular garment industry technique of the same name, whereby velvet fabrics are treated with acid. The acid partially erases certain parts of the velvet, giving way to images of Brandt’s well-dressed friends and studio assistants. Renderings of faceless torsos wearing patterned shirts, ties, jewelry, and holding cameras emerge from the lush cloth. By picturing garments in his Burnout images, Brandt unifies subject and medium much like he did in his Lakes and Reservoirs series, where he soaked his prints in liquid from the body of water photographed (see Lot 2).