Stewarts • click to embiggenThe aforementioned "j" also commented:
...what really interests me is that you can line up yourself and all your readers and we will all view a scene differently. In a very real sense we will all see - “ be conscious of” - different elements of the scene while all mechanically “seeing” the same thing.
I'm interested in what you see and why.
What "j" is asking for is essentially an Artist Statement - that is, a statement from me regarding the driving force that instigates my picture making. As it happens, I am in the process of composing something of the sort although I'm not certain that it will answer his question when it comes to the specifics of any one picture.
That said, I offer this first (caveat: the first sentence is a bit obtuse. Ignore it if you wish):
What is particular and peculiar, about photographs is the conjuncture of resemblance and trace - the iconic and indexical components of the sign coincide to a remarkable degree. The resemblance of a photograph to its subject - the image - is a direct and physical result of that subject and could not exist without it. Photographs point to the objects that called them into being and show us those things. As such, photographs bear witness to the events and things they depict. ~ Steve Edwards, from, Photography: A Very Short Introduction
Contained within that paragraph is the essence of what I see and why I picture it.
As I have mentioned previously in a number of entries, I do not, with the exception of commercial assignments, venture forth to picture with any specific event or thing in mind. My preferred M.O. is to empty my mind (my state of ku), have cameras at the ready, and let referents come to me - in effect, listening and looking for the objects that call(ed) them (my pictures) into being.
As should be quite evident from my pictures, the objects that most often call themselves to my picturing attention are those that surround my everyday life - the so-called, "mundane", "commonplace", and "ordinary". In essence, I believe that I am drawn to these things because my picturing is, in fact, an exploration of "life" and living - especially the stuff of everyday life.
At its "deepest" level, I sense that that exploration is nothing less than an attempt to be "connected" to what might be called the godhood or the oneness of being (it should be noted that this is not a religious quest by any stretch of the imagination). I am fairly certain that is an attempt to construct a bridge between thought and feeling. Hence the subtitle to this blog - Photography that pricks the Unthought Known.
That said, if "j" is wondering why, as an example, I pictured Stewarts (the above picture), An honest answer would be something along the lines of "I don't know". The scene just stopped me in my tracks. The light - both natural and manmade, the "arrangement" of elements, and a sense of a serene commonplace event / thing (amongst other feelings and thoughts) just "caught my eye".
Now, all the previous ramblings basically address the idea of the objects that called them (my pictures) into being. In addition to that concept, the other notion in the above quote with which I identify is the idea of photographs bear witness to the events and things they depict.
Without going all New Age, hippy-dippy, mystic on you, I must confess to a certain feeling of connectedness to the artist Rockwell Kent who lived (and died) in my little Adirondack village of Au Sable Forks.
Before I moved to Au Sable Forks I was aware of Kent and his art but did not know that he lived here. It was only after a year or so that I discovered that fact. It took a year because there is not a single solitary bit of evidence that he ever set foot here in Au Sable Forks - the reason being that he was an avowed socialist.
As a socialist, Kent was called before Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation. As a result, his paintings were removed from the walls of many American museums (although he was given a solo exhibition at The Hermitage in St. Petersburg in 1957 where half a million Russians attended the exhibit). Kent’s appearance at the McCarthy hearings was both personally and financially detrimental. Nevertheless, his place of residence, Asgaard Farm still bears the name he gave it.
I mention this because Kent wrote (and illustrated) 2 books about his life in Au Sable Forks - This Is My Own (1940) (I have a signed first edition) and It's Me, O Lord (1955) - and it is the titles of the books that applies here ...
... As I picture my way through the Unthought Known, I have come to understand that my pictures are, if nothing else, autobiographical. Without a doubt, I am bearing witness to the events and things of my life.
It is my shout of, "it's me, o lord", and, "this is my own".
And, interestingly enough, it has been said of Kent's works:
Kent stands out in American art in his use of symbolism. Humanity was the hero in most of his prints, which are symbolic representations of certain intuitions about life's destiny and the meaning of existence. Many of the prints seem to depict humanity in a struggle to capture ultimate reality, to penetrate into the mystery of the dark night of the universe, and to discover the reasons for existence.
And that is how I view, quite literally and quite figuratively, my pictures - symbolic representations of certain intuitions about life's destiny and the meaning of existence.
Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 11:36AM 
