Kevin Clarke

Portrait of James D. Watson, 1998-1999

archival color print under acrylic panel 29 x 96 in. (detail), each of 6 panels, Courtesy of JGS, Inc.

In 1987, when my interests returned to genetics, researchers were using creative imaging strategies, including coding or advanced methods of photography, to display chemical units, which were otherwise invisible. The DNA sequence or the chromosome revealed itself through chemical reactions, such as pcr (polymerase chain reaction) or crystallography. While the codes employed by geneticists allude to real physical entities, their visualization originated in the imaginations of researchers. I found parallels to the art world of the late seventies and early eighties when the subject of the ordinary, the commonplace, was acknowledged, referenced as art through codes shared by the art community. Understanding semiology and its mother science, structural linguistics, enriched the experience of Conceptual Art. In both fields a fledgling belief system became consistently repeatable, predictable, and the basis for ever more precise experimentation.

The chemistry interested me as a portrait photographer, as did the exploration of new ways of seeing people. Encountering the physicality of my sitters, conceived as a coded, readymade being, allows me to perceive them freely rather than define them socially, as does traditional photography with its many clichés, references, habits, and uses. A person's specific genetic code, a hereditary inscription, is a direct reference to that person's physicality. With these portraits I feel freed of ordinary representation and more open to interpretation. This portrait of James D. Watson, whose insights led to the discovery of the double helix model of DNA, is an exploration of structure and gesture.

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