NADA Miami 2021

Operating between painting and experimental photography, Whale cultivates a visual language both material and personal that reflects on the psychological and emotional landscape of domestic space, landscapes, and social environments. Whale treats his photographic prints as a material—a means of recording light, color, image, and chemical alteration, but also as a page ready to receive a physical mark with oil pastel, carving, or chemical alterations. His subtractive gestures bring out colors that are otherwise latent underneath the surface of the print, injecting a disturbance into a medium known for visual acuity. In Whale’s most recent series, “In My Room”, the artist documents from the fixed perspective of his bedroom window, exploring microcosms of activity while sheltering at home. A recurring motif throughout the work is the decorative and protective wrought iron grate common to many homes in Los Angeles, serving as a barrier from experiencing or protection from the outside world. Whale photographs through this grate in some images and uses it as a physical mask while chemically altering others. Each of these actions simultaneously imprints and builds, creating depth and surface tension while confronting the viewer with a remarkable take on the seeming mendacity of the everyday.