X

XEROGRAPHY

Xerography, also known as copy art, first emerged
in the 1960s as artists from such diverse disciplines
as painting, printmaking, sculpture, and photogra-
phy began to examine the potential of the photo-
copy machine as an aesthetic tool. Developments in
photocopy technology during the 1950s, which laid
the foundation for such experimentation, greatly
expanded upon previous duplication processes
such as the Mimeograph and the Photostat, while
sharing with them a common dependence upon the
camera and photo chemistry. Patent attorney Che-
ster Carlson perfected his electrographic copying
process, called xerography (from the Greek, ‘dry-
writing’) by the Haloid Company of Rochester,
New York (now the Xerox Corporation) who intro-
duced it to the public as the first commercial dry
copier in 1948. In the xerographic process, an elec-
trostatic charge is applied to a metal plate, render-
ing it photosensitive. The charge is dispensed upon
exposure to light while a black powder, called
toner, is made to adhere to those remaining charged
areas of the latent image. The positive image is then
transferred to paper, which has the opposite charge
and is fixed through the application of heat. A
competing process called the Thermofax was devel-
oped by Carl Miller at 3M Corporation, which was

based on the concept of heat absorption rather than

static electricity. The first color copier, the Color-

in-Color, created by Dr. Douglas Dybvig also at

3M Corporation, and introduced in 1965, was an

automated machine capable of producing a dry

color copy in 60 seconds.

Xerography’s resonances with the photographic

medium extend beyond the relationship between

the two technical processes. Like photography,

xerography as an art practice raises issues pertain-

ing to originality and market value. Just as Walter

Benjamin argued that as a reproductive medium,

photography lacked the aura of the rare work of

art, xerographic art is often conceptually bound to

its status as a ‘‘copy’’ with the potential for limit-

less duplication produced with a utilitarian office

tool. The very use of the word copy suggests that

the piece functions as a reproduction of or surro-

gate for another original work, rather than reflect-

ing its status as a unique creation. As with

photography, xerographic works of art are often

produced in limited editions, which do not entail

the notion of a deteriorating printing matrix as

with editioned prints produced in graphic arts

such as etchings or lithographs, but which never-

theless serve to enhance their value in the market-