Matthew Blum

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Exhibition · Solo exhibition · 2022

Nature and Machine

Bethlehem Town Hall’s Rotunda Gallery · November 13, 2022 – December 21, 2022

Thirty photographs printed with palladium, cyanotype, and silver gelatin.

See the work in the museum’s Main Gallery

Nature and Machine installed at the Rotunda Gallery

Virtual reconstruction

Arranged by the exhibition’s hanging list, which numbers each bay and gives every print an A or B position (AB where one work is listed for both).

  1. Two strips of black-and-white motion-picture film, every frame showing the same person standing in a park.

    Bay 01

  2. Black-and-white close-up of the rear fender and tail fin of a dark car, with chrome trim and the word Premiere in script on its side.

    Bay 02

  3. Black-and-white photograph of a diesel locomotive on tracks beside a steel truss bridge, trees behind.
    Blue-toned print of the Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces rising behind a long, low shed and overgrown grass.

    Bay 03

  4. Print with brushed dark edges of a long industrial hall lined with large engines and flywheels, tinted pink and gray.
    Close-up of round black typewriter keys lit from the side, the Q W E R T Y and A S D F rows receding.

    Bay 04

  5. Low-angle black-and-white view of a modernist building with rows of deep-set windows beside a curved wall, under a cloudy sky.
    Warm-toned print with brushed dark edges of a single iris flower lit against a dark background.

    Bay 05

  6. Print with brushed dark edges of a white water lily open among green lily pads.
    Black-and-white close-up of a large whelk shell resting on small pebbles.

    Bay 06

  7. Print with brushed dark edges of three bison standing in a grassy field before a line of trees.
    Small color print with brushed dark edges of a monarch butterfly on pink flowers against a blue sky.

    Bay 07

  8. Black-and-white photograph of pale shelf fungus growing in clusters up a dark tree trunk.
    Warm-toned print looking straight up at bare, crossing tree branches against a pale sky.

    Bay 08

  9. Black-and-white photograph of tall, straight trunks in a pine forest, sunlight on the ground between them.
    Black-and-white photograph of a woman in a patterned sundress sitting in the grass against a tree, in dappled shade.

    Bay 09

  10. Black-and-white still life of a woven basket holding peppers, a pear and tomatoes on a wooden table.
    Warm-toned print with brushed dark edges of a leaning bare tree in snow beside a pond, long shadows across the snow.

    Bay 10

  11. Black-and-white photograph of a large willow silhouetted against bright, streaked clouds, the corners of the frame dark.
    Warm-toned print with brushed dark edges looking up a tall tree trunk into its bare branches.

    Bay 11

  12. Color photograph of a woman in a long teal dress bending forward on a lawn among autumn trees.

    Bay 12

  13. Cyan-blue print of a lone bare tree standing in a grassy field.
    A strip of color 16mm film with repeated frames of a dark Mustang parked beside a snowbank, edge numbers printed along the side.

    Bay 13

  14. Dark-toned photograph with a mottled border of a broken engine piston standing upright, its connecting rod snapped off.
    Print with brushed dark edges of the grille of an old tractor, the name FARMALL across its front.

    Bay 14

  15. Print with brushed dark edges of an open grand piano in a wood-panelled room.
    A black single-button game joystick photographed against a plain white background.

    Bay 15

  16. Black-and-white photograph of a large glass RCA electron tube lit against a black background.
    A silver Panasonic cassette boombox with two round speakers, photographed straight on against a pale background.

    Bay 16

Checklist

29 works, in hanging order.

  1. 01AB
    Portrait in MotionBMAM.2026.001
  2. 02AB
    1956 Lincoln PremiereSilver gelatin · BMAM.2026.002
  3. 03A
    UntitledBMAM.2026.016
  4. 03B
    Bethlehem SteelBMAM.2026.047
  5. 04A
    Bethlehem Steel Blower House2020 · Palladium, cyanotype and pigment · 8x10 · BMAM.2026.048
  6. 04B
    TypewriterBMAM.2026.003
  7. 05A
    City HallBMAM.2026.012
  8. 05B
    IrisPalladium · BMAM.2026.017
  9. 06A
    UntitledBMAM.2026.018
  10. 06B
    Sea ShellBMAM.2026.009
  11. 07A
    UntitledBMAM.2026.019
  12. 07B
    UntitledBMAM.2026.020
  13. 08A
    MushroomBMAM.2026.008
  14. 08B
    UntitledBMAM.2026.021
  15. 09A
    KalmbachBMAM.2026.011
  16. 09B
    UntitledBMAM.2026.022
  17. 10A
    HarvestBMAM.2026.010
  18. 10B
    UntitledBMAM.2026.023
  19. 11A
    UntitledBMAM.2026.024
  20. 11B
    UntitledBMAM.2026.025
  21. 12AB
    UntitledBMAM.2026.026
  22. 13A
    UntitledBMAM.2026.027
  23. 13B
    Mustang on 16mmBMAM.2026.006
  24. 14A
    PistonBMAM.2026.004
  25. 14B
    FarmallBMAM.2026.007
  26. 15A
    UntitledBMAM.2026.028
  27. 15B
    Game JoystickBMAM.2026.013
  28. 16A
    Electron TubeBMAM.2026.005
  29. 16B
    BoomboxBMAM.2026.014

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