# William Fink > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/William_Fink > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/William_Fink.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fink > Source revision: 1343437814 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{for|senator from Iowa|Bill Fink}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = William G. Fink | honorific_suffix = | image = Four Faces of Me.jpg | image_size = | alt = Four-fold self-portraits of Fink | caption = Self-portrait composed by Fink using his own hair | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1954}}{{cite web|url=https://timeandmatterphotography.com/bill-fink-bio.php|title=Artist biography|publisher=Time and Matter Photography|date=2012}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | education = [California State Polytechnic University, Pomona](/source/California_State_Polytechnic_University%2C_Pomona) | known_for = Photography, photorealism, lithography | notable_works = ''Bob'' | style = | movement = | spouse = | partner = | awards = {{awards|First prize|2007|''Bob''|name=[Millard Sheets](/source/Millard_Sheets) Center for the Arts photography competition}} | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = {{URL|https://finkart.com}} | module = }} '''William G. "Bill" Fink''' is a California-based American artist known for his technique for producing images of his subject matter by making the photograph itself out of soil, clippings of human hair, [pollen](/source/pollen), cremation ashes, etc. to simulate [photorealistic](/source/photorealism) vintage photographs of the person/ object/ location from which those media originally derived, and the images then printed in a light-sensitive alternative photographic process Fink describes as "Time and Matter Photography".{{cite news|author=Lu Parker|author-link=Lu Parker|work=[The CW](/source/The_CW)|title=It's an Art Form Where Cameras and Paint are a Thing of the Past|date=23 August 2007|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bBgznEDrGA|via=YouTube}} Fink has laid claim to being the originator of the technique of using virtually any material in the place of traditional photo chemicals to create an image, saying, "There are [silver prints](/source/Argyrotype), [gold prints](/source/Chrysotype), and [platinum prints](/source/platinum_prints)-- precious from a metal standpoint-- but they embody nothing more than capturing time; ash is a way to capture both time and matter." His works include an image of his left eye made from clippings of his own hair and an image of flowers made from the pollen of those flowers.{{cite web|url=https://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/11/bill-fink-creates-photorealistic-images.html|author=Kaushik|publisher=Amusing Planet|date=26 November 2014|title=Bill Fink Creates Photorealistic Images Out of Literally Anything}} In 1992 he created an image of a man named Bob Christensen out of Christensen's ashes.{{Cite episode | title =Deepak Chopra | episode-link = | url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-PW2Rw-eXs | access-date =21 December 2018 | series =Strange Universe | series-link =Strange Universe | first = | last = | network =Syndicated | station = | date =18 November 1997 | season =2 | series-no = | number =S02 E183 | minutes = | time = | transcript = | transcript-url = | quote = | language = | via=YouTube }} Christensen died of [AIDS](/source/AIDS) in 1991 in [Long Beach, California](/source/Long_Beach%2C_California) at the age of 39, and his mother donated the ashes to Fink in accordance with her son's wishes.{{cite news|newspaper=[The Dallas Morning News](/source/The_Dallas_Morning_News)|title=Photo exhibit uses ashes of AIDS victim|date=24 November 1992|page=6C}} Fink then took these ashes and created a photorealistic image of Christensen's face with them using his undisclosed technique.{{cite news|newspaper=[Los Angeles Daily News](/source/Los_Angeles_Daily_News)|title=Photos made with cremated remains get varied reactions from viewers|author=Meg Sullivan|date=22 November 1992|page=12}} The image was considered controversial not only for its stark depiction of a person nearing death, but because of the unconventional medium of which Fink created it. Reactions of viewers during its two-month exhibition at the Valley HIV/AIDS Center in [Van Nuys, California](/source/Van_Nuys%2C_California) in 1992 ranged from understanding it as productive/ creative commentary on loss to offensive and insulting. The image is one of a series that Fink created of various people who had died of AIDS using their own cremated remains.{{cite magazine|title=Photo Realism: Artist Bill Fink uses human ash to create a visual AIDS memorial|author=Steve Greenberg|date=2 June 1992|magazine=[The Advocate](/source/The_Advocate_(LGBT_magazine))|issue=604|pages=80–81}} Museum curators have described Fink's work as innovative, with Diane Gaston from the [Museum of Photographic Arts](/source/Museum_of_Photographic_Arts) in San Diego identifying it as "socially as well as artistically important" and Bolton Colton from the [Laguna Art Museum](/source/Laguna_Art_Museum) saying, "I find his work highly provocative and conceptually potent".{{cite news|title=From Ash to Art|author=Susan Goldsmith|newspaper=[New Times Los Angeles](/source/New_Times_Los_Angeles)|date=30 October 1997|page=19}} == Image gallery == {{gallery |title=Representative works |align=center |File:My Eye RS hair(1).jpg |alt1=Image of subject's eye made using his own hair |"My Eye"; this image was produced entirely from Fink's own hair clippings |File:Wildfire Cabin DryGrass 30 Sheetflattened(1).jpg |alt2=Ad Council poster |[Ad Council](/source/Ad_Council) image created using ashes from the [Calabasas wildfire](/source/Calabasas_wildfire); part of a series of ash images made by Fink for the Ad Council |File:Hair photo.jpg |alt3=Image of a man and wheel made using clippings of his own hair |Image of a man made using clippings of his own hair |File:1 AIDS MADE OF BOBS ASHES RS extra.jpg |alt4= |Image of a man named Bob Christensen who died of [AIDS](/source/AIDS) in the 1990s, made of Christensen's cremated remains }} == References == {{Reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, William}} Category:1954 births Category:Artists from California Category:Photorealist artists Category:Living people --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [William Fink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fink) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fink?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.