DUMBER and DUMB | Artist Book (2024)
Edition of 30 + 6 APs
NEWS: The Walker Art Center acquired Dumber and Dumb for inclusion in the Rosemary Furtak Artists’ Book Collection on December 3, 2024. The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) added this artist book to the Hirsch Library on Dec 9, 2024.
In Dumber and Dumb, R. J. Kern intertwines themes of commemoration with his ongoing meditation on home, ancestry, and a sense of place. This artist book honors the message, "A reminder to cherish joy anew, in times when laughter feels askew," coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the American buddy comedy Dumb and Dumber, which debuted on December 6, 1994. Through this work, Kern celebrates the film’s milestone while also delving into creative methods of storytelling using generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Kern developed an AI image generator model using photographs sourced from his first monograph, The Sheep and the Goats (Kehrer Verlag, 2017). The model was executed using the free platform Openart.ai, resulting in the creation of the image Dumber and Dumb, 2024. Kern then produced the negative needed to create a salt print employing traditional 19th-century photographic techniques.
The earliest photographs often featured animals, particularly during the rise of animal contests in the mid-19th century. Horses, cattle, goats, and sheep frequently appeared in these pioneering images, reflecting a significant moment in photography's history.
In this work, Kern pays tribute to the origins of both photography and animal contests through the salt print process. He also celebrates the charm of everyday humor and the meaningful connections we draw from our interactions with animals.
This narrative is further enriched by a photograph published in National Geographic magazine in November 2017, depicting a young Minnesota 4-H participant alongside his goat, affectionately named "Dumb." A subsequent exploration in the pasture revealed another goat sharing the same name, leading to the amusing duo, Dumb and Dumber, 2017.
The three-panel folio book is 10.25 inches wide by 8.25 inches high (33 inches when open) and contains two salted paper prints signed verso, varnished with white beeswax and lavender oil— accompanied by a limerick written by the artist honoring his Irish ancestry. Kern made the folio using book board with archival materials and processes in his Minneapolis studio.
Dumber and Dumb is an edition of thirty copies numbered 1-30. Six artist proofs lettered A-F.
Pre-publication price before Dec 6, 2024: $330 plus tax. After December 6, 2024: $430 plus tax
Salt Printing 101 Demonstration with R. J. Kern
Join R. J. Kern in his "dim room" as he walks through the process of creating a salt print from start to finish. He covers materials, chemistry/solutions used, while offering tips on technique in creating photographic prints made in the 19th-century tradition.