As technological advances make digital photography the norm, the fine art of B&W printing in a darkroom from original negatives is fast becoming a lost art. Master Printer John Matkowsky would like to hold onto the past by recreating one of the last black & white labs dedicated to the highest quality of hand film processing and fine traditional, silver-gelatin printing, nearly lost in today’s digital age. But just as vinyl is coming back, so is B&W printing. It’s important to preserve this vanishing skill and offer it to established as well as emerging visual artists.
drkrm founder John Matkowsky has a thirty year reputation as a fine art black and white printer in Los Angeles. Mentored by SilverLab founder, Tom Consilvio, John learned the finesse of the fine artistic print working on the images of Ansel Adams, Gary Winogrand, William Claxton, Lou Stoumen, Phil Stern and many other renowned photographers. Hisdrkrm gallery has received an unprecedented two proclamations from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. He has also received excellent acclaim in the press. In one glowing review, the national magazine Juxtapoz, called Matkowsky a “visionary” for his edgy, dramatic showcases. He has launched many unknown artists as well as printed and exhibited many famous ones.
So now we turn to RocketHub to help make the new drkrm possible. RocketHub is not an investment or a charity. It is an exchange: Funds from supporters like you for Rewards from us. And we are offering some truly incredible rewards.
For PHOTOGRAPHERS (and FRIENDS OF PHOTOGRAPHERS) the incentives range from lab and printing services to having a private review and consultation of your work (by Mr. Matkowsky himself) with the possibility of being in a group show or having your very own exhibition!
For COLLECTORS, B&W ENTHUSIASTS (and EVERYONE ELSE) we have everything from postcards, signed exhibition posters and original drkrm books to original photographs from many incredible photographers including a set of unframed, limited edition Ansel Adams Los Angeles photographs!
Please help us bring drkrm back to the classic photographic lab it once was. And in the process you become part of the newest, the best and the final drkrm!
Member since: January 13, 2011
drkrm founder John Matkowsky has a twenty-five year reputation as a fine art black and white printer in Los Angeles. Mentored by Tom Consilvio, the founder of Silver Lab, Mr. Matkowsky learned the finesse of the fine artistic print while working on the images of Gary Winogrand, William Claxton, Lou Stoumen and many other renowned photographers.
John is the genius behind the curtain, the Master Printer, the innovative curator and what Juxtapose Magazine calls a “visionary” for his edgy, dramatic showcases. He is the only printer ever to be allowed by the Los Angeles Public Library to print the original Ansel Adams negatives.
Past spectacles have include edgy oddities a la Beefcake Babylon, the Art of the Peplum Film, Found: Mid-Century Vernacular Nudes, and Haunted Hacienda, a study of Mexican horror films. Taboo and alternative subjects like ghosts, gay identity, cell phone photography, horror film iconography, brothels and prostitution, AIDS activism, the films of Roger Corman andDonald Cammell and LA Punk have been explored. Mr. Matkowsky, who’s never afraid of unspoken issues, specializes in documentary and photo-journalistic work, cutting edge and alternative photographic processes and the display and survey of popular cultural images both current or historic.