the solar system has been understood over time.
For this series, Doug and Mike constructed Plex-
iglas light boxes that contained more imagery of the
sun, maps of the heavens, the Christus Young
Woman, and pages from Dante’sParadiso, all on
transparent film.
In 1996, the Starns exhibited at the Tower of
David Museum in Jerusalem, Israel, Rampart’s
Cafe, an installation consisting of a transparent
table that enclosed see-through polyester prints of
pages of religious texts such as the Koran, the Bible,
and the Dead Sea Scrolls. These prints were lit from
below by fluorescent lights. Books as a source of
enlightenment began to take on more importance
for the Starns, and among their next projects was a
notebook lit by fiberoptics embedded in the pages.
In the late 1990s, the Starns took their interest in
light in a new direction with their filmAttracted To
Light, a film about insects attracted to light. In
1997, the brothers were artists-in-residence of the
NASA Art Program, and they began a number of
projects utilizing NASA’s extensive image banks
and the SOHO satellite, which observes the sun.
In the late 1990s, reflecting the increasing tech-
nological complexity of their previous series of
works, Doug and Mike began exploring digital
technology. TheBlack Pulseseries uses advanced
technology to produce two-dimensional prints of
large images of dried leaves. First scanned into a
computer, the images are then manipulated and
printed on various delicate and textured Japanese
papers and finally pieced together. Unlike many
other contemporary photographer-artists, such as
Nancy Burson or Japanese video and photo artist
Mariko Mori, whose use of digital technologies
allows them to create seamless, entirely modern
images, the Starns’ work retains its handcrafted
qualities with the intentional patina of time that
shows that the blurring of the lines separating
photography and art are still a primary concern.
ChristianGerstheimerSeealso: Burson, Nancy; Digital Photography;
Hand Coloring and Hand Toning; History of Photo-
graphy: the 1980s; Pictorialism
Biographies
Mike and Doug Starn born Somers Point, New Jersey in
- Both studied at The School of the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts 1980–1985; Fifth Year Traveling Scholar-
ship Award Recipients, 1985; National Endowment for
the Arts Grant, 1986; Massachusetts Council for the
Arts, Fellowship in Photography, 1986; participated in
the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Bien-
nial 1987; Artists-in Residence, NASA Art Program,
1996; commission, Tower of David Museum, Jerusalem,
Israel, 1996; created first film,Attracted to Light,in
1996–1997. Live and work in Brooklyn, New York.Individual Exhibitions
1985, 1986 Stux Gallery; Boston, Massachusetts
1987 The Christ Series; Museum of Modern Art; San Fran-
cisco, California, and The John and Mable Ringling
Museum of Art; Sarasota, Florida
1988 Mike and Doug Starn: Selected Works 1985–1987;Wads-
worth Athenaeum; Hartford, Connecticut and traveling
1989 Anne Frank Group; Leo Castelli and Stux Gallery;
New York, New York
1990–91Mike and Doug Starn; Baltimore Museum of Fine
Arts; Baltimore, Maryland and traveling
Multiples; Pace/McGill Gallery; New York, New
York
1992 Yellow and Blue Lourve Floor—A Project; Galerie
Thaddeus Ropac; Paris, France
1993 Mike and Doug Star; Naoshima Contemporary Art
Museum; Kagawa, Japan
Marking Time: Mike and Doug Starn Photographs;
National Gallery of Victoria; Melbourne, Australia
1994 Spectroheliographs; Leo Castelli; New York, New York
The Sun Studies; Olin University Gallery; Kenyon
College, Ohio
Doug and Mike Starn: Sphere of Influence; Portland
Museum of Art; Portland, Oregon
1995 Helio Libri; Pace/McGill Gallery; New York, New York
1996 Doug and Mike Starn: Retrospective; Overgaden, Min-
istry of Culture; Copenhagen, Denmark
1997 Size of Earth; The Friends of Photography/Ansel
Adams Center; San Francisco, California
1998 Black Sun Burned; Leo Castelli; New York, New York
1999 Blot Out the Sun; Fay Gold Gallery; Atlanta, Georgia
2000 Black Pulse; Baldwin Gallery; Aspen, ColoradoGroup Exhibitions
1985 Boston Now: Photography; Institute of Contemporary
Art; Boston, Massachusetts
New Work from New York; Carpenter Center for the
Visual Arts, Harvard University; Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts
1987 Biennial; Whitney Museum of American Art; New
York, New York
Post Abstract Abstraction; The Aldrich Museum of
Contemporary Art; Ridgefield, Connecticut
The Big Picture: The New Photography; The John and
Mable Ringling Museum of Art; Sarasota, Florida and
San Francisco Cameraworks; San Francisco, California
Portrayals; International Center of Photography;
New York, New York
1988 Binational: American Art of the Late 80’s; Museum of
Fine Arts and Institute of Contemporary Art; Boston,
Massachusetts and traveling
First Person Singular: Self-Portrait Photography,
1840–1987; High Museum of Art; Atlanta, Georgia
1989 Photography No; Victoria and Albert Museum; Lon-
don, England
L’Invention d’un Art; Centre Georges Pompidou;
Paris, FranceSTARN, DOUG AND MIKE