TYPE 42 (ANONYMUS)

Type 42 presents 120 works from an extraordinary archive of work by an anonymous artist. The archive is composed of black-and-white polaroids showing headshots and close-ups of actresses taken from the television screen beginning in the late 1960s. They are mainly distorted, slightly blurry and occasionally pixelated, but a strong emphasis on the science fiction or B-movie genres pervades. In some of the photographs the television screen can be seen as a framing device, but for the most part the televisions borders are absent from the picture one of the many remarkable aesthetics of this collection.Type 42 refers to the type of Polaroid film used. The entire body of work was found intact in New York in 2012 by artist Jason Brinkerhoff; his attempts to trace the origins of the polaroids have remained unsuccessful.All but a handful are inscribed. In most cases the name of the actress is written across the bottom of the photograph; in some cases the title of the film or TV series she appears in is written across the top of the photograph; and in a few cases both sets of information are written on top and bottom accordingly. There are also 31 photographs where the artist has written the womens measurements across the top along with her name across the bottom.