Artist Bill Blair's photostream

AWARDS
2005 Canada Council for the Arts
2005 British Columbia Arts Council
2003 British Columbia Arts Council
2002 British Columbia Arts Council

I've been creating photomontage images since the early 1980s. Much of my imagery fluctuates between themes of Canadiana and Mexicana - both real and imaginary. Both play off ideas of early-20th-century romantic travel ideals and issues of souvenir culture and national identity in North America.

My earliest influence was the tall-tale or fantasy postcard - popular at the beginning of the 20th century - with its exaggerated images (such as larger-than-life vegetables and giant wildlife) and surrealist qualities - where mysterious juxtapositions are the norm.

For the images in my Mexicana series, I have sampled human subjects from my extensive collection of vintage Mexican real-photo postcards, mixing them - and other elements - with my own background images photographed during my travels in Mexico.

The final montage - a visual equivalent of literature's magical realism - is photographed and processed on black-and-white film. Then I print from the negative a single archival silver gelatin print in the darkroom. This fibre print is then hand-tinted with transparent photo oils.

Each photographic print is an edition of one only. They are not duplicated, so each image has only one signed and numbered print ever available of it.

My Mexicana pieces are represented by Deborah Page Projects in Austin, Texas. www.deborahpageprojects.com