urban ku # 57 in which I be thinkin' bout thinkin'

Knarly tree trunk • no embiggen - it's a Polaroid

I like reading, as a break from the heavier stuff, books which might be described as 'pulp fiction' - books purchased from the discount bins at the big-box bookstores. My main criteria for selecting them is that they have a military weapon/vehicle (submarines are my favorite) on the cover or a Sam-Spade type description on the book flap. In short, pure escapist stuff.

In my most recent read, I have run into a protagonist by the name of Easy Rawlins (a black man who's always telling people it's 'Rawlins, not Rawlings. Our family lost the g when we was runnin' so fast to get outa Tennesse.'). Ease, as his friends call him (that's short for 'Easy', which, in turn, is short for 'Ezekiel'), always has lots of stuff on his mind, something which one of his friends reminds him is "...the problem with most'a you black mens, Easy ... White people think we stupid but it's the other way around. We got so much on our minds all the time that we ain't got no time for little things like exactly what time it is or the rent. Shit. Here he askin' you about long division and you thinkin' about Lisa Langly's long legs, who you gonna have to fight to get next to her, and why this big ugly white man think anything he say gonna make a bit'a difference to you when you get out on the street."

A little later in the story, which, BTW, takes place in South Los Angeles just at the end of the 1965 riots, another of Easy's friends, Ronette, tells him, "That's why you always frownin, Easy, studying somethin' till it don't even look like what it is no more..."

So, you might be wonderin', what's this got to do with the price of photographic tea in China?

Well, I been thinkin' bout thinkin' bout photography and sometimes I be thinkin' I be thinkin' too much. Ronette's right. It is possible to be "studying somethin' till it don't even look like what it is no more."

I think that's the problem with 'pure' postmodernist photography - it don't even look like what it is no more. Extreme postmodernists won't let a picture be just a picture even though sometimes that's all, or almost all, it is. That's why I am not a card-carrying postmodernist.

Nevertheless, I be thinkin' bout that (but, hopefully, not too much). Thanks Easy, Jackson, Ronette and Walter Mosley (the author of Little Scarlet).

Update on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 12:50PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comments: Chuck Kimmerle and Chantal wrote;

CK - "I think academics could learn a thing or two from Ronette. I was just talking with an art student who was frustrated with his recent end-of-year portfolio eval because he was told he needs to explain the meaning of EVERY single image in the grouping. From looking at the portfolio, some images surely had meaning, but others were just beautiful and/or interesting scenes.

Too bad art students have to be taught in such a strict regime. Of all departments, they should be the ones with the most freedom of expressions. Oh well....thank you Ronette."

C - "W. Mosley is one of my favorite fiction authors.....Easy is an 'easy' character to love.

Too much thinking can often get in the way of good photography. 'Shut up and shoot' is what I tell myself. It takes effort, but sometimes it's just best to shut the inner voices up and get on with the picture taking."

urban ku # 56 ~ good for what ails you

The Glenmary • click to embiggenAfter my recent 'episode' with upgradicus- dementia, it was a relief to know that the wife had scheduled us for a quick weekend getaway to the southern tier (NY along the PA border). Even though the trip included a 4+ hour car drive with the 30 month-old, the teenage girl and a visit with the college-boy, it nevertheless seemed to be just the respite I needed.

I was able to include a visit with a wonderful couple - the Werners - whom I get to see all too infrequently. Years ago, their kids and my kids were playmates and, lo and behold, the 30 month-old was able to play with some of the very same toys which his dad and the Werner kids played with all those years ago. Man, does time fly.

The surprise of the trip came late Saturday evening when the wife ensnared me in her carefully planned trap - an involuntary overnight commitment to the (formerly) Glenmary Home for The Insane, The Nervous, and Drug-habitue in Owego, NY. - a beautifully restored Italianate structure circa 1857. The warden ... er, I mean, proprietress, puts inmates ...er, I mean, guests, well at ease in very comfortable cells ...er, I mean, rooms and common areas. The grub was good too.

There wasn't a computer or box of software in sight. Troubling thoughts of postmodernism v. modernism, artist's statements and meaning melted away during a pleasant Sunday morning stroll around the 'yard'...er, I mean, grounds. My commitment at The Glenmary was a gracious reminder of the joys of pre-digital life and, for that reason, the Polaroid seemed the perfect camera of choice.

(real) urban ku # 55 ~ beauty and truth

The 'real' Pittsburgh, PA • click to embiggenThe view of downtown Pittsburgh from Mt. Washington at night was named by USA Weekend Magazine as #2 on its list of the 10 Most Beautiful Places in the U.S.

Indeed, the view is quite beautiful. The place itself is an entirely different story. USA Mag declares Pittsburgh to be '...one of America's most scenic ... communities', but I've gotta tell ya that I don't know what they're thinking. From the photography-wise point of view, the city has a number of places from which, at the right time of day/light, a nice picture can be had. That said, if the photographer where to look around at his/her immediate place, the view would not be so rosy.

If you remember from urban ku # 53, Pittsburgh is considered a very large 'canvas' in the U.S. graffiti community because of its abundance of empty and dilapidated residential and commercial buildings. In addition to this reality, it's mandatory to note that the city is also dotted with ravines and gullies - much like the one pictured here - which, upon not-so-close inspection, are revealed to be 'public' dumps for all all kinds of refuse.

I could go on about the decaying infrasture - bridges, streets, city steps (in a city of hillsides, a story unto themselves), etc. but I won't. My purpose is not to bash the city of Pittsburgh. I lived there for 15 years and will be the first to admit that it has much to offer but, amongst other things, scenic beauty is not one of them.

And, to the point, photographs which suggest otherwise simply aren't dealing in truth.

BTW, the hilltop neighborhood, Mt. Troy, depicted in the attached picture is where we lived. There was a nice view at the end of our street.

(real) urban ku # 54 ~ contemplation

Contemplating the meaning of art • click to embiggenIt has been opined that '...the central core of the post-modernist gobble-de-gook (or post-post-modernist, if you prefer) is that if you make photographs that are considered "pretty" or depict an "idealized form", you are not, by definition, "thinking"? If all of your work is not a horribly obvious metaphor for how bad the human condition currently is, then somehow you "don't get it". So said Paul Maxim on ku # 471.

IMO, this statement does not represent the 'core' of postmodernist art/photography. It is more representative of the 'lunatic fringe' of postmodernism. As I and many others have stated, postmoderism is not easy to pigeonhole. It really doesn't have a rigid and defining set of operating principles. In practice, postmodernism is so diverse that it has been described as being simply 'pluralistic'.

In any event, in my recently stated 'manifesto' for what others have dubbed a "New Landscapist', I have called for a more 'hopeful' form of critical thought. One that is not afraid of things beautuful (although the notion of 'traditional' beauty will be challenged). One that starts to move beyond the self-referential 'visual navel-gazing' excesses that have dominated much of postmodern - but far from all - art/photography.

In that light, consider this poem, titled "August 24, 1961', by former Secretary-General of the U.N., Dag Hammerskjold;

Is it a new country
In another world of reality
Than Day's?
Or did I live there
Before Day was?
I awoke
To an ordinary morning with gray light
Reflected from the street.
But (I) remembered
The dark-blue night
Above the tree line,
The open moor in moonlight
The crest in shadow.
Remembered other dreams
Of the same mountain country:
Twice I stood on its summits,
I stayed by its remotest lake,
And followed the river
Towards it source.
The seasons have changed
And the light
And the weather
And the hour.
But it is the same land.
And I begin to know the map
And to get my bearings.

PS - the mural in the right-hand picture is titled 'The Two Andys' - Andy Warhol and 'Andy' Carnegie, both Pittsburgh natives.

(real) urban ku # 53 ~ artists and non-critical thought

This area is popular • click to embiggenOn Sunday past the kid and I were relaxing over a noon meal at one of Pittsburgh's diners of note, Ritters (the place where I took the eventual-wife after she picked me up in a bar), when I stumbled across this article in the Sunday paper. The headline was something along the lines of "The Biggest Graffiti in US History". How very sensational.

A little background: Pittsburgh is considerated a very large blank slate in the greater U.S. graffiti community. The newspaper article stated that this was so because, "...Enforcement was considered weak and the abundance of vacant warehouses and cramped hidden alleyways ... offered a canvas for many miscreants wielding a spray can."

The word 'miscreants' kind of set me off. See if you can follow.

To say that Pittsburgh has an 'abundance of empty warehouses and cramped hidden alleyways' is a little like saying there's some water in the ocean. The city has been in a state of decline for more than 3 decades. In addition to the massive population loss following in the wake of the demise of the steel industry, the city losses population nearly year - last year the only U.S. city that lost more population was New Orleans.

As a friend of mine opined, 'We don't need a natural disaster. We make our own.' The 'disasters' he refers to are those created on a long-standing and ongoing basis by an utter lack of creative imagination by both the elected leaders and the population at large. They face monumental hurdles in the task of trying to re-inventing a place that has been economically devastated and very little creative problem solving has been evident.

The results of the population loss and economic decline are everywhere visibly evident in the neighborhoods which surround a jewel of a downtown. Abandoned houses, businesses, warehouses, churches and schools are on prominent display. They constitute a dismal visual presence. Add to that the fact that Pittsburgh has more bridges than any city but Venice, Italy and you indeed have a 'blank slate' that, IMO, is the perfect and appropriate canvas for 'miscreants'.

Apparently, it has never occurred to anyone in Pittsburgh who matters that the city might benefit greatly from becoming known as the graffiti art capital of the U.S. Of course, that would require that someone be able to distinguish the true 'miscreant' from a serious graffiti artist.

Miscreants are the jerks with a spray paint can scrawlings racial slurs, vulgar comments, and all-around nothingness on occuppied homes and businesses, buses, cars and/or anything else that strikes their fancy. As unbelievable as it my seem to unimaginative 'authorities', there actually are responsible graffiti artist who select their canvas with some degree of common sense and discretion. Not all, but some.

Seems to me that the powers that be in Pittsburgh need to loosen up a bit and get away from hide-bound notions of the past.

Update on Friday, April 20, 2007 at 01:32PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comments: Aaron wrote; from Eric Vondy on my Graffiti image posted on flickr ... "On the progressive side of things the small ex-mining town of Bisbee, Arizona has become an artist community. There they have actually seperated graiftti into street art and graffitti. So street art is encouraged but then bad street art is not. So the random guy spray paiting his name on the wall is still disliked but the random guy spray painting a message on the board is often OK'd."

urban ku # 52

Enjoying the view * click to embiggen

Thanks to all who took the time to comment on the artist's statement topic. I'll be back to home base tomorrow, assuming that weather permits reasonable travel. I'll also be posting some real urban (big city) ku from my trip to Pittsburgh. I've been following, camera in hand, the 'biggest graffiti bust in US history'.

urban ku # 51 ~ artist's statements and critical thought

Grand View Motel • click to embiggenLet's get right to it.

Featured Comment: On ku # 471, Bret Kosmider wrote; "... Perhaps I could glean that meaning out of your artist statement but there's nothing compelling me to read it since I just assume that they are "pretty pictures" and nothing more ...."

Caveat - Bret, although the following is instigated by your comment, it is not directed at you personally.

Sure enough. Without reading my artist's statement, that might be a valid assumption - as valid as any assumption which anyone might make without reading my artist's statement. There's the temptation on my part to quote that thing about what happens when one assumes, but let's not go there. Let's be more thoughtful than that.

My first question back to you all is simple - knowing that an artist has taken the time and made the effort to extend to the observers of his/her work a glimpse into who he/she is, their motivation(s) and their intentions, why wouldn't you read it?

In consideration of the fact that, in all but the most propagandist of art, meaning is at best elusive, why wouldn't you read it?

Unless one assumes that all art is, in fact, merely decorative - pleasing to the eye and soothing to the psyche, why wouldn't you read it?

Unless one flat out doesn't give a damn about the person behind the curtain (shutter), why wouldn't you read it?

Unless all that matters is what you think, why wouldn't you read it?

There is the persistent notion amongst many who dislike or are suspicious of artist's statements that they are nothing more than transparent and rather feeble (and often deliberately obstuse) attempts to make important work that is otherwise devoid of merit. At times, perhaps this is true. But, an artist's statement is like the art itself - you can take it or leave it as is your wont. One is free to judge it and the artwork on their individual or collective merits.

Knowing that, and, if one believes that the best art works on 2 levels of understanding - the denoted and the connoted, why wouldn't you read it?

Critical thought relies on an open mind which seeks to gather as much information as possible on the topic at hand. So, once again, why wouldn't you read it?

Perhaps, upon first observing the pictures of other, one doesn't wish to be 'influenced' by what the artist has to say. Fair enough, but, once one has observed the pictures, why wouldn't you read it?

I just don't understand the near revulsion many have for the artist's statement.

Comments please.

Update on Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 04:58PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Paul Butzi wrote; "One of the reasons why many/most people don't pay much attention to artist's statements is that they know, from first hand experience, that artist's statements generally fall somewhere between outright lies and post facto rationalizations for the work..."

my response: I am certain that some have written self-serving 'post facto rationalizations'. No doubt. But using this as a rationalization for dismissing all (or most) artist's statements is rather ridiculous.

Not to mention that this atttitude dismisses the possibility of self-discovery by artist when viewing his/her work after or during the ongoing process of its creation - call it 'post-facto self-realization'. Many artists, myself included, use the process of creating art as a means of self-examination and discovery - a means to discover something that he/she does not already know about him/herself and the world about them.

My artist's statement contains at least one 'post-facto realization' about myself and my work which came from an observation about my work made by another. I have taken that revelation and folded into my ongoing cognitive motivation for and understanding of what I am doing. The fact that I have included this revelation/realization 'post-facto', or more accurately 'secundum-facto', does not make it a post-facto rationalization.

urban ku # 50

A nostalgic look at yesterday • click to embiggenLast evening a soft warm light enveloped the area. It looked a lot like Spring. However, the 4-day forcast calls for up to 12 inches of snow.

IMO, there's a lesson to be gleaned from Aaron's Cinemascapes, especially for all those who are struggling with what to photograph/how to photograph and how to create pictures with meaning (or, at least with the power to grab the observer's attention with something more than the 'wow' factor).

It's simple really - as the sportswriter "Red' Smith opined about writing, "All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."

Aaron is simply doing the equivalent, photography-wise. Just as 'Red' Smith wasn't thinking about his typewriter, Aaron really isn't thinking about 'photography' or things photographic. His photo 'knowledge' runs about as deep as an Adirondack creek during a summer drought, and, he keeps his 'kit' very simple - camera, 1 lens, tripod and a pano head. To keep the Adirondack metaphor going, he's picturing with the photographic equivalent of backcountry minimalist survival gear.

That said, Aaron knows enough and has enough stuff to get the job done - very well, IMO.

What I find almost humorous is his lunch-hour-madness approach to making his pictures. He can pull this off simply because he has 'opened a vein' well before he goes forth, camera in hand, to turn his ideas into pictures. The vein which he is bleeding for his creative life-blood is not a photographic 'how-to' book, rather, it is his life and life-experience upon which he draws - that certain something which resides 'inside' that one needs to address in order to foster that other thing called 'vision' which leads one along the path of meaningful expression.

I bring this up because one of the excuses I most often hear from 'newbies' (and a surprising number of those who should know better) is the 'I-am-not-accomplished-enough-to-make-good-pictures' or 'my-equipment-isn't-good-enough' or 'I'm-not-very-good-with-PhotoShop' etc.-etc. whines. Bulls--t.

Give it up. Get over it. Stop looking to the 'experts' (myself excluded, of course) for advice on how to make good pictures. Forget about gear and technique. Because, if you start leaning how to see inside yourself, unless you are the shallowest of assholes, you'll find something worth-while just waiting to get out. Then, the stuff you need to know/have in order to express it will become like mere child's play.

Update on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 10:19AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Mary Dennis wrote. "So what do we have here? A new sub-genre of art that we can call Lunchbucket Photography? or How we learn to squeeze out every ounce of creativity we have in the moments that Modern Life allows us? I love it!"

Mary also wrote, "I feel a song coming on and I'm calling it "The Shallowest of Assholes." ;-) That will be with me all day..."

publisher's response: Mary, I think the song you're thinking of is Assholes on Parade by Timbuk 3. If you want something to stick with you all day, give it a listen.

The lyrics:

It's an asshole celebration
and they're all out on the street
see them on the sidewalk
hear them shuffling feet
there's 20,000 assholes
in an asshole promenade
step aside good people
there's the assholes on parade

We got assholes for freedom
the assholes for fun
the assholes for jesus
the assholes for guns
assholes for justice
assholes for crime
assholes for assholes
assholes for all time

We got assholes making money
they're making all the rules
taking all our jobs
filling up our schools

Assholes on the water
assholes in the sky
sign that says help wanted,
only assholes need apply

Oh teacher won't you tell me
have I really made the grade
am I head of my class
or am I just another
asshole on parade?

Assholes give the orders,
and assholes row the boat
assholes get elected
cause assholes get to vote
I once heard it said
that old assholes never die
they just lay in bed and multiply
assholes in the morning
assholes every night
assholes to the left and
assholes to the right

There's 20,000 assholes
in an asshole promenade
step aside good people
there's the assholes on parade