single women # 24 ~ my intentions made more clear
Friday, July 20, 2012 at 11:59AM ;)
Bartender ~ Lake Placid, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenA couple weeks ago, in response to my single women ~ ready to go / I like to watch entry, Sven W (no link provided) stated that he thought the body of work was "More of a mixed bag this lot -- some strong images and some not so strong." I requested that he give me/us a more detailed explanation, re: his comment, and he did so. You can read his complete response HERE.
As I read it, it seems that Sven was bothered by 2 main points: 1) "Some images are too ambiguous for me, to the point where I'm wondering what they are about.", and 2) "...this woman is at her work ... I was expecting women in a social type of situation."
My response: I appreciate that Sven has told it like he sees it and that's exactly as it should be. And, as I stated in my request for an expanded critique, my request was not a setup for an opportunity to "defend" my work nor to "refute" or contest his critique in order to change his perception / opinion regarding the body of work. So, in that spirit, ....
Let me address point # 2 first - Sven had an expectation that the body of work would focus on women in social situations, which was never my intention or stated intention. The intention of my single women picturing is and has been to pictorially isolate (to single out) a single woman, that is to state one woman, who attracts my eye and attention in whatever situation they might be found.
None of the pictured women are alone. In virtually every instance, they are part of a larger gathering / crowd of people. Whether my subjects / referents are amongst an arena full of people, sitting at a desk at work or in a pub, shopping at a mall, or wherever, I have singled them out for special attention. As far as I am concerned the venue / location is immaterial inasmuch as ones' eye and attention can be directed toward a single woman no matter where one might be.
Re: point # 1: "ambiguity" and "wondering what they are about" - It could be stated that most of my "art" pictures are rather ambiguous, in part because I am more interested in raising questions rather than in providing any easy answers. In that regard my single women pictures are no different from, say, my picture window or life in my kitchen pictures. In all cases, I am pointing the camera's gaze toward something I think merits attention, from myself and, hopefully, from others.
Concerning "what they are about", first and foremost, on one level, the pictures are about looking at women, one woman at a time - here's a person who caught my eye and attention and you can look at her too. Nothing more, nothing less. Make of it / them what you may.
However, on another level, the pictures have something to say about how, on a daily basis, people look at other people (the voyeur in all of us) - most generally with fleeting / furtive glances, avoiding eye contact. Looking at the surface of things (in this case, a person) and imagining what it's about with little or no depth beyond what one sees.
And, of course, in the case of making pictures of these women, they are even more about "surface" impressions (on the surface of a print) which lack any depth. So there's also that art-speak thing going for them, meaning wise.
All of that said, I have intentionally avoided including an Artist Statement with any of my recently edited bodies of work. In part, because I haven't finalized them and because I am interested in reading / hearing reactions to the pictures without any verbal input from me.
Reader Comments (2)
I take it she is the barkeep in a one of the most beautiful areas in New York, on a beautiful day but she looks upset and depressed. This image has alot of emotion.
Very nicely rendered image -- the colours, the soft highlights.
At first I thought the bar person looked androgynous -- the long sleeve shirt, the tie -- then I noticed the pony tail draped over her left shoulder. I peered at her face but I can't quite read her expression: is it boredom?
An interesting little moment in time.