CHERYL VAN HOOVEN
b. 1948 Chicago, Illinois

From the beginning, Cheryl Van Hooven's intentions in photography have been twofold: first, to cross the barrier between herself and the photographed object, and secondly, to expand the technique, boundaries and definitions of the medium. The artist had been working on a series of photograms when she began adding light drawing to enhance dimension. Using a penlight to draw directly onto photographic paper, Van Hooven moved from light drawing as tool to Light Drawing as subject, at which point the technique became inseparable from the content. "I am interested," says Van Hooven, "in the ability of photography to be both a handmade object and the opposing notion of infinite reproduction; the mechanically photographic versus the personal line; the dialectic between the rational and the irrational."

Van Hooven received her B.A. in Journalism from the University of Georgia, Athens in 1970. The following year, she was awarded a fellowship at the Graduate School of Sociology and Anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta. Van Hooven has worked as a free-lance photographer for magazines, including Interview, Details, and Vogue Italia.

Artwork from top to bottom:

Untitled (Light Drawing), 1985
unique drawing with light on photographic paper

Untitled (Light Drawing), 1985
unique drawing with light on photographic paper

Untitled (Light Drawing), 1985
unique drawing with light on photographic paper

Untitled (Light Drawing), 1985
unique drawing with light on photographic paper

Untitled (Light Drawing), 1985
unique drawing with light on photographic paper

Untitled (Light Drawing), 1985
unique drawing with light on photographic paper

list of artists/artwork