Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category
hiatus
Leaf Heart
Hiatus sounds like a relaxing pause, but it has been the opposite around here. Since the first of June there have been shows, deliveries, new work, auto maintenance…..you name it. Little time to catch one’s breath. I am not complaining, for in this economy to be prospering is a joy. I only wish there was a better vitamin, or maybe that ‘hiatus’ that means ‘peace’ for just a brief time.
I am working on new work for a couple shows coming up. At the same time, brewing in my mind, is a dissertation about ‘Passion’ and being an artist. I hope to have that written soon. So please stand by and I will fill in the spaces shortly with pictures and philosophies.
traveling inward
Windowseat
Maybe the weather, maybe a series of events that have become a struggle…sometimes one has to take a long trip inward. This image of a castle window seat, in the Castilla Belmonte, in the LaMancha region of central Spain reminds me of that inward trek. As I wander alone, looking at this image, I imagine the numbers of women and men back in time that have sat at this window seat, pondering their own imbroglios. It is somehow comforting to know that there were places in the architecture of an old castle made specifically for contemplation.
the photo marketplace
Late Chrysanthemum
Yesterday there was this article on the front page of the online NY Times about how professional photographers have been required to make fundamental changes due to the influence of the digital world, the internet….and the sheer numbers of photographs being made and marketed by amateurs and parttimers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/media/30photogs.html?src=me&ref=general
It can make the work of the fine art photographer even more challenging. The work must be so filled with significance, so well crafted, that it can alone in the strength of its visual presence, convince the viewer that this work rises above the millions of images, is meaningful beyond what he/she experiences every day. This image, is imbued with a heart, and the viewer is reminded of something she already has known deeply, and feels an innate belonging to what the image shows. Maybe it is the same primal task as it has always has been, but as the Times article implies, it may be more tough for the serious photographer – and the viewer – as we go forward.
the female gesture
Nude with Leaf
‘the female gesture’ is the title of my nude show opening February 6 at The Studio, in Twisp, WA. As is usual when putting together a one-person show, the artist needs to write an artist statement, which is something said on one page about the show’s content, what is behind the work, and maybe a bit about the artist. It is always difficult to write in words what is essentially the task of the work on the walls to portray visually. In the Reading section on the right sidebar, is a copy of the artist statement I wrote to go with the show.
In a short paragraph I can summarize the entire page I wrote: Working with the nude model is a special adventure, but at the same time is no more sacred than working with the still life or the landscape. The difference is it is a human being. But the work is not about the artist and the model as they live their everyday lives among society, so much as it about the two participants and what they have brought to the moment of collaboration together. It is about the individual and universal feelings expressed in the visual image that comes from that collaboration. I hope I did not dance around the issue of sexuality in the statement about the work. What I attempted to say was, although many photographers describe their work with the nude as about shape, form, and light….and that it isn’t about sex….that is impossible. For we are all sexual beings along with all the other aspects of our ‘beingness.’ I described that complete self as a fabric woven of all the threads that make us up. We cannot select one thread or another, shut off one part of ourselves, as though we are made of boxes, some open, some left unopened. The model and the artist have put it all into the work. So the work contains all the feelings it should if the work is successful, and that is what makes it beautiful, and felt strongly by the viewer.