Honeybees
Bees of Bees 5
2012
gum bichromate print with honeybees on paper
59 x 100 inches
detail of Bees of Bees 5
2012
gum bichromate print with honeybees on paper
59 x 100 in
Bees of Bees D1
2012 - 2015
diptych, gum bichromate print with honeybees on paper
50 x 58 inches each panel, 102 x 58 inches
Bees of Bees 2B
2012
gum bichromate print with honeybees on paper
59 x 100 inches
detail of Bees of Bee 2B
2012
gum bichromate print with honeybees on paper
59 x 100 inches
Bees of Bees
2009
gum bichromate print with honeybees on paper
55 x 83 inches
detail of Bees of Bees
2009
gum bichromate print with honeybees on paper
55 x 83 inches
Bees of Bees 4
2012
gum bichromate print with honeybees on paper
59 x 100 inches
detail of Bees of Bees 4
2012
gum bichromate print with honeybees on paper
59 x 100 inches
“The Honeybees photos are pictures of bees printed with a gum-bichromate process that required using a solution of the bees themselves in the developing process. And Honeybees was made when Colony Collapse Disorder was making news, prompting the photographer to think of the bees as a clue that something was going wrong in the world.”
—TIME magazine, ‘Lakes, Trees and Honeybees’: Matthew Brandt at Yossi Milo Gallery, By Lily Rothman, 2012
https://time.com/44525/matthew-brandt/
“For his graphic "Honeybees" series, the artist ground up the dead insects he collected during the recent bee-colony collapse and, using the 19th-century gum-bichromate printing process, mixed them with a light-sensitive gel and smeared the solution onto paper — the bees themselves give the paper its pigment. Then he adorned the wall-size prints with more bee parts for a tactile, glittery effect. "What attracted me to the project," he says, "was that it showed a vulnerability in humanity." The ink and paper used in his "Trees" series are handmade from the branches of the specimens depicted. While the pictures have a nostalgic quality, the labor-intensive process taps right into today's hands-on, DIY culture.”
—ELLE Decor Magazine, ART SHOW: MATTHEW BRANDT, by Vicky Lowry, 2012
https://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/g323/matthew-brandt-artist/