Holographic 'Hybrids' and 'Surrogates'...by Al Razutis
Click images for GALLERIES Holographic 'hybrids' is a term denoting the combination of sculpture (including assemblage) and holograms resulting in a 'hybrid' work. The sculptural nature of the holographic (virtual or real) image, the fact that it occupies 'space' and displays 'object' characteristics (size, proportion, perspective, depth) is paradoxical to those who appreciate the poetic potentials of 'phantastic' objects 'floating' in space. 
This seeminly 'illogical' condition (an object floating, free from gravity) has been inspirational to generations of holographic artists. It is of course related to a fascination with 'magic' (illusions, levitations) and of course has been trivialized by some trinket manufacturers to entice a audience interested in buying novelties ('how did they do that?'). It is also related to the 'marvelous' contained in surrealist works, but this relation is also a point of departure. The focus of this page is the works of Razutis. Hybrid holography has also been featured in the poetic works of Anait, the narrative works of Dan Schweitzer, the dream works of Steve Weinstock, the metaphysical and assemblage works of John Kaufman, and others. It is no longer that the holographic 'image' is complete in and of itself, but that the work refers to the holographic 'image' in relation to its 'container' or physical counterpart (the sculpture, or installation). In Razutis' works, the holographic hybrids can be allegorical, narrative, surrealist, didactic or metaphysical and alchemical notations. In his early essay, Some Notes on the Art of Holography (1979, Franklin Institute Press), Razutis provides a lengthy description of 'hybrid' holography in terms of didacticism, surrealism and the limitations of 'mimetic' or 'display' holographic aesthetics.
ENIGMAS AND 'EFFIGIES':The holographic image is part enigma, part physical science. It is enigmatic to artists who, upon discovering a effigy of an object suspended behind the plate, or projecting in front of the plate, in space, are dissatisfied with mere 'physical' explanations (diffraction, geomteric optics) and wish to participate in the creations of a 'marvelous' alternative to physical representation. Just think: to 'refashion the real' in ways that were previously impossible. In ways that combines traces of 'both real and unreal'. And some of the works arising from these impulses are didactic: they comment on 'the real' by creating 'unreal containers for the real', or conversely 'the unreal contained within the real'. SURREALIST 'MARVELOUS' CAUGHT IN THE REFLECTION...
Andre Breton's essay "Crisis of the Object" (1936) drew analogies between "concrete irrationality" in art with qualities of "mathematical objects", "poetic objects" and objects appearing in dreams. The surrealist war against surface representation was an attempt to liberate the imagination from habit and convention, to encourage one to seek meaning beneath the surface. Breton's convictions were that "there is more to be found in the hidden real than in the immediate known quantity". To attack the habitual is to "make it strange". To revitalize our sense of life and the 'real' is to enploy 'poetic displacement of subject and object' . Rene Magritte himself could have pronounced: 'This is not a object!'
The holographic image is 'unreal' - you can't touch, smell, taste or hear it. It's a visual ghost of a recording stage or object. It exhibits no gravity, only focal properties. In combination with the world of objects, with sculptures, frames, planes and reflections, it can occupy what I termed 'hybrid' status. The combination of the surreal and the real creates a dialogue about what is 'real', how images occupy memory, how solid and immaterial exchange places. The framed, installed, sculpted results of these 'hybrids' is one of the early accomplishments of a new art medium like holography asserting its place beyond its predecessor art forms - beyond, but not disconnected. THE ALLEGORICAL MIND...
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Yesterday, we had a "crisis of the object"; today we can contemplate the absence of the object, and the many stories that are told concerning its wherabouts. For example, the whereabouts of - 'THE READY-MADE':
These historical precedents inform the directions that holographic art would take in the 70's and 80's. Some might claim they came upon it later 'by accident' - but no one could deny how tough it was to buck the tide of 'proper holographic imaging technique' standing in for art. The departure from mimetic-technical holograms in the early 70's was a phenomenon that I and others pioneered. One can take it for granted today, but in the early 70's, the preponderance of 'technical imperatives' which afflicted holographic expressions were dominant reminders of 'where' this medium had come from: the lab. See also: 'Some Notes on the Art of Holography' - Razutis, 1979 HISTORICAL - CONTEXTS:
In understanding the emergence of 'hybrid holograms', it is useful to remember that early holographers in the 70's were dependent on scientists (for the optics, physics, chemistry) and had to act 'in spite of' early biases for the medium to be limited to representation. Most scientists in the lab could care less if it was a 'aesthetic' or 'unaesthetic' object. It was a technical excercise to most, and their papers reflected it. Thus, the early work (up to the early 70's) was dominated by the creation of holographic representations of objects as still-life images suspended behind ,or in-front of, a sheet of glass. Quite literally, the 'hologram' was presented as if it was a 'three dimensional laser photograph' ......and the audience was invited to try and 'touch' that transparent image that projected out or appeared behind the cutely framed plate. With great 'fanfare' the development of image-plane holography was announced: the projected image was now bi-sected by the glass, it was brighter (more 'real'!) and, of course, the piece was also framed nicely and hung on a gallery wall to 'challenge the pre-eminence of photography'. These types of bright-image holograms ('image-plane' holograms ) became the 'rage', with toy Mickeys, toy locomotives, toy 'anythings' being the subjects....with each holographer trying to out do the other in terms of bleaching techniques, image brightness, and noise-free playback. Showing after showing of this kind of work (less interested in content than in 'mimetic effect') brought holography to a new puplic as if it were a future high-tech special fx imaging system. Needless to say, most 'holo-shops' today, featuring retail holographic novelties, have a lot of examples of trite subject matter in a 'image-plane' format. (And for confirmation of this, travel with 'Alice' on her visit to 'The Royal Holographic Art Gallery'.) At variance with this exploitation of the novelties of the medium, I chose initially to explore holographic images in relation to sculptural (physical) forms. In the early and mid-seventies, this work was unique (although later, as we have seen in 'revised' biographies, there are many artists who claimed 'to be involved' in hybrid holography all along (!).) My early essay, Notes Towards the Art of Holography (Franklin Institute Press - 1979), coined the term "holographic hybrids' and discusses this phenomenon in terms of surrealist influences. See also the lengthy treatise on Art and Holography - Part One for an examination of these subjects. In this emerging period, there were a few other holographic artists across North America (Silberman, Anait, Deem, Schweitzer and Moree, Unterseher, and others) who were also interested in multi-media art, and some of this work is documented in part in the videotape West-Coast Artists in Light'. But in the 70's, the overwhelming hype from both West and East coasts was coming from technical holographers (Outwater, etc.) trying to convince everyone, from the movie industry to the space industry , that 'this was THE MEDIUM OF THE FUTURE!' based on its ability to 'mimic' reality in a 'magical' way. The pitch was that holography was 'entertainment' and a 'magic act', and not a medium for interpreting reality. Author's source of quoted material: AVANT-GARDE FOR HOLOGRAPHY...
PICTURE GALLERIES
'AETHER VANE'The stereopairs and subsequent reflection-hologram pieces below are representative of some of the early work at Visual Alchemy which investigated various compositions where holographic elements are integrated with sculpture and assemblage ('hybrids'). 
An example of holographic 'hybrid' (in this case a 'machine' and holograms), is found in the early piece AETHER VANE (1974). Other 'hybrid' assemblages included AUTOPORTRAIT - SUNDIAL, CAMERA OBSCURA, VENETIAN BLIND, SURROGATE (below), SUBJECT TO TIME, WINDOW, SPICE CABINET, and TOTEM. Sadly, many of these original works have been damaged or destroyed during the many exhibitions and relocations. The images depicted below (at video resolution) are from the 3D videotape 'VIRTUAL IMAGING' which contains documentation of holography by Razutis and others in 3D VIDEO. 3D ANAGLYPH (red/blue) of dichromate hologram in "AETHER VANE" as recorded in 3D video.  
PICTURE GALLERIES
'SURROGATE DRESSED FOR ART NEW VOGUE'Original "SURROGATE" (1976), featuring silver halide holographic elements, was replaced with dichromate holographic and interferometric elements in 1984 - , dichromates produced with the collaboration of Gary Cullen, Holocrafts. BELOW: "SURROGATE, DRESSED FOR ART NEW VOGUE"(1985 - in the collection of Gary Cullen), a mixed-media holographic piece by Al Razutis. Stills from videotape "VIRTUAL IMAGING". Other photo archives at Holograms at Visual Alchemy.
"As a hybrid form of holography it combined the holographic image with sculptural motifs, with the holographic image substituting for the physical body ...and you can see that I hinged open the face...hinged open the breast to reveal both a concave and convex shape..." A.R. in 3D videotape "VIRTUAL IMAGING")
"The holographic body in this piece was referring to the idea of a 'virtual body', something akin to what would happen in Virtual Reality where the virtual body of the person would seem to replace the physical body, and that is in fact what is occuring in Virtual Reality simulations today...and there is an image that the "Surrogate', that is, a stand-in for a physical person, is looking at ..." (A.R. from 3D videotape - "VIRTUAL IMAGING")  Details: 'Surrogate Dressed for Art New Vogue' (1985)
PICTURE GALLERIES
'DADDY'S SPICE CABINET'BELOW: "DADDY'S SPICE CABINET"(1985) by Al Razutis, a mixed-media holographic (interferometric) assemblage, with dichromate interferogram produced in collaboration with Gary Cullen, Holocrafts. A visual narrative with symbols, hints and details
Interferometric Holograms
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