Into the Woods is an ongoing body of work catalysed by the following quote by Andy Grundberg:

“It is dishonest to pretend that untapped visual resources are still out there in the woods waiting to be found by artists who can then claim to be original. For them, imagery is now overdetermined – That is, the world has already been glutted with pictures…

These artists believe we enter the woods as prisoners of our preconceived image of the woods, and what we bring back on film merely confirms our preconceptions”

Literally interpreted, Blain repeatedly visited a nearby wood initially starting with nothing but an open mind and a Polaroid camera. What transpired after is a series of explorations into what it means to be in the woods, looking. Of the healing journey that unfolds thereafter...

There are many parallels between the development of the woods and that of the work, the initial black and white polaroids emerge and then continue to age much like the growth within the woods.

Repetition and the cyclical undercurrent of the woods are literally experienced throughout the works, polaroids are re-photographed in the same settings they were taken, images are run through the printer over and over again mimicking the repeated visits, reflections found in puddles are transferred onto mirrored paper…

Over time the project evolves into exploring ways the woods can express itself. Inspired by Malevich’s black square painting, a non-representational starting point, printed black sheets of glossy photographic paper are taken to the woods. The paper interacts with the woods, it is marked with traces from surfaces such as tree bark and thorns. The piece of paper is then re-photographed in the woods, capturing surrounding light and shadow. One of the resulting images can be viewed below.