Boston Artist Blog

rakushisha

2011-01-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a photograph of Rakushisha otherwise known as The Cottage of the Fallen Persimmons in Kyoto Japan. I've visited this spot on two occasions. Once in the Spring and once in the Autumn. This photograph was taken on my second trip in the Autumn. It's significant because on my first trip it was the "shot that got away". The light was right, but I delayed and missed it. On my second trip the shadows and light were recreated and the image was captured. There is a lot that could be said about this destination but I think that Kay Douglas says it best on her website and book: Kyoto in Seventeen Syllables. I recently printed the image and its currently in consideration for my upcoming exhibition at the Art Complex Museum.

Annus Mirabilis

2010-12-30T12:17:00.000-08:00

Annus Mirabilis: Latin for "Wonderful Year"

A wonderful year starts with a list of wonderful goals. My goals this year, as every year really, center on art. I am fortunate to have two large exhibitions slated for 2011, so from these I hope to springboard forward into new artistic realms. Below is an ever growing list of New Year's resolutions for 2011. Happy New Year!

1. Art Complex Museum Show
2. Rolly-Michaux Gallery Show
3. Show of new work (monotypes and photographs)
4. Implement Studio Day*
5. Start the Art Life website*

*Studio Day is a day set aside for creative endeavors and experimentation. In this way I guarantee breaking new ground. It will be modeled on the purpose of the Bauhaus foundation course as outlined by Moholy-Nagy in his book New Vision: "It's objective is spontaneity and inventiveness, to give the student a universal outlook, to make him conscious of his creative power. The method is to keep, in the work of the grown up, the sincerity of emotion, the truth of observation, the fantasy, and the creativeness of the child."

The Art Life website will be blog, website and social media outlet promoting the creative lifestyle. Look for it soon at www.bostonartlife.com.

Pittsfield and the Arts

2010-10-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Born and raised in Pittsfield it's great to see the life, culture and the arts starting to thrive. Each and every time I go back to visit family I hit a new restaurant and take in the museums and art shows. Some of my favorite destinations include Ferrin Gallery, The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, Barrington Stage Company, Brix Wine Bar, Mission Bar and Tapas and the many new cafe's and restaurants. Of course I then always make stops at MASS M0CA and The Clark which are just a short drive away.

Check out the following for what the media is starting to say about Pittsfield:

WBUR: Artist Pioneers Bring New Life to Pittsfield

WBUR: Pittsfield, Once a Speed Bump, Now a Destination

The Boston Globe also wrote a nice article entitled The Art of Saving a City which can be accessed with a fee here: Globe Archive

Road Trip V

2010-10-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

Destination Four: Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky

I’m not a caveman and by that I mean the idea of hanging out in caves only makes me want to see the sun even more. But Mammoth Cave was worth the 3 hour/3 mile voyage with lanterns. Its mammothness comes from its length. There are 400 miles of cave – the longest in the world. Not the biggest cave room for acreage but longest in tunnels. I think a better name would be “Longest Cave” but Mammoth will have to do.

After the trip below I came up and saw 25 deer – no kidding 25 in the stretch of about a half an hour. Why someone would find sport in killing these creatures is beyond me.

Destination 4.5:

The birthplace of Abraham Lincoln and his humble beginnings in a log cabin. When I was a youth I remember reading about Abe’s early years. How he learned math and writing, writing with coal on a shovel and such.

Destination Five:

West Virginia – the last state! Hoorah! But where to go?? Harper’s Ferry is where. A full day was wasted searching until I picked Harper’s Ferry off the map, located in the northeast corner of the state. I did not know why I wanted to go there but it seemed significant some how. Of course when I arrived the “how” was evident in its history. Yet again a National Park, Harper’s Ferry was a town frozen in time. What struck me most was the Brown Insurrection and a quote by one Frederick Douglass – “John Brown began the war that ended American slavery and made this a free Republic.” Besides a case of wine, I purchased Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave. Written by Himself. A tale of how he educated himself – learned to read and write while a slave. How he was inspired to do so and how it opened his eyes to freedom, which he was eventually to attain. A fitting end to my road trip and the completion of my 50 state journey: A reminder of the bloodshed to keep this country whole, those who were kept down along the way and more importantly those who rose up.

Road Trip IV

2010-10-02T10:33:00.001-07:00

Destination Three:

Selma Alabama – Sometimes you’re given a shock when you arrive at your destination. It didn’t help that I arrived on a Sunday, tired from eight hours of drive, hungry with nothing open but fast-food. But my hotel (Saint James) and concierge made up for my dour mood. I took to the streets just before sunset and photographed the most obvious thing about Selma. That it was yet again a desolate shell of what was: empty, lonely facades awaiting a revival. The beautiful sadness of this town is that the civil rights movement had integral moments here. One can penetrate the memory and emotion connected with the bridge – a symbolic point of the Selma to Montgomery March. At the bridge I photographed its checkered metal-work girders overhead, a distinctive feature visible in old pictures of the march.

The housing projects surrounding Brown Church act as a modern day reminder that the color of the skin is still an issue in 2010. To have beautiful but rundown historical buildings and devote energies to a cookie-cutter housing project around landmarks of the Civil Rights Movement is a slap in the face and a suppressing push down for an African American attempting to move up. It says, “You’re different in a bad way so go and live there. Oh and by the way – you have the right to vote if you want to.” The housing project was there back in ’65. When I walked through – early A.M. with kids going to school, there was emptiness in the faces – both of parents and the kids. It was as if the struggle was over but what was it for? A new struggle needs to be defined to counter cultural inertia and political and economic shackles.
N.B. This is one of the areas known for its stance and eradication of the Jim Crow Laws, yet a photograph of the day compared with today shows the shadow of Jim Crow still present.

In many ways Pawhuska Oklahoma is similar to Selma Alabama. The physical characteristics of architectural and historical shells help make the comparison. But looking deeper one sees lost culture and memories. Pawhuska was a town built on cattle and oil. Selma was built on cotton and the confederacy. Now they are built on memories and those memories are tattered and worn. A creative economy built on industry and art would seem to be its only hope forward.

The other connection is suppressed culture – on being Native Americans and the other African Americans. Pawhuska is situated in a reservation. The Tall Grass Prairie is a natural reminder of Native American ways and in Selma we have a confederacy/civil rights tension at play. Possibly both towns are examples that cultural build up on the backs of suppressed culture eventually fails. Allowing each its own diversity and prosperity – life can weave disparate yet coherent tales. Diversity should be seized as a beautiful thing. It’s interesting that diversity in my mind’s eye is essential and interesting. It’s what I look for and gravitate to. Yet this same concept is what causes war around the world.

After a push to Montgomery to follow the civil rights trail to Martin Luther King Jr.’s church and the State House I headed north. Got off the highway and interacted with some down home Alabamians. Saw a confederate lovin’ man who had the aura of a hatin’ man. But then met some regular folk. One woman I was talking to about the situation of the blacks that exists now in Selma responded with – “Maybe it’s their determination.” A cotton farmer that I met while photographing his farm equipment said, “Whach you doin’ down here?” He thought I was picking his cotton and said, “You can pick as much of that cotton as you want.” Made me think of my trip’s theme song – “I Never Picked Cotton.” Of course I wasn’t pickin’ his cotton but I can see why he might think I was. Johnny’s song tells the story of a man so well. The man ends up killing someone because that someone tells him to “go back to his cotton sack!” The only thing this man was proud of was that he never did pick cotton! The power of a decision to define a life was represented by this simple song.

Lyrics: I Never Picked Cotton by Johnny Cash

Chorus:
I never picked cotton
Like my mother did
And my brother did
And my sister did
And my daddy died young
Working in a coal mine

When I was just a baby
Too little for the cotton sack
I played in the dirt
While the others worked
Until they couldn’t straighten up their backs
And I made myself a promise
When I was old enough to run
That I’d never stay a single day
In that Oklahoma sun

Chorus

Folks said that I grew up early
And the farm couldn’t hold me then
So I stole 10 bucks and a pick up truck
And I never went back again
And it was fast cars and whiskey
Long legged girls and fun
I had everything that money could bring
And I took it all with a gun

Chorus

It was Saturday night in Memphis
When a red neck grabbed my shirt
And he said go back to your cotton sack
I left him lyin’ in the dirt
And they’ll take me in the morning
To the gallows just outside
And in the time I’ve got
There ain’t a hell of a lot
I can look back on with pride

Chorus
Chorus

Road Trip III

2010-10-02T10:25:00.001-07:00

Destination Two:

Keep in mind that each destination is a whim. Discovered while on the road, my agenda is nil but a point of interest is decided upon based on only the state. My only real agenda on this trip is the completion of travel through all 50 states. What I do in each state has no preconceived notions. So destination two is the rodeo in Hot Springs Arkansas. My accommodations consist of a campground in Hot Springs National Park for $5/night. VIP/press credentials allowed me great access to the national bull riding rodeo for two nights straight. One cowboy was injured with a wrap of bandage around his head and under the chin. Another cowboy came out of the ring dripping from the hairline and onto the face. Rivulets of blood looked cool on the cowboy.

The town of Hot Springs was a surprise. It centered itself around the bathhouses which pre-empted the hot springs for themselves. I assumed that a Hot Springs National Park would possess natural springs set out in the natural world. It gives new meaning to the park ranger who provides a guided tour of hot tubs and steam baths. Much can be said about the bathhouses but I won’t. I did learn that 29 National Parks have artists-in-residence programs and this is something I intend to explore. So hot mineral baths, hikes in the park, steak, rodeo, live music, contemporary art and a Harley Rally all merged into one experience.

Road Trip II

2010-10-02T10:10:00.001-07:00

Pawhuska is a no-where town that was once somewhere too. And its shell still gives hints of its past whereness. A cattle town that once thrived – its main downtown district focuses on the Triangle Building: a brick façade, empty but the centerpiece of a possible artistic revival. J.D (a man I met on the street) gave me the lowdown on its past – and spoke with pride as if he was talking about his own history. One building seemed to spark with life – an antique store and a coffee house was housed within. Tin ceilings in relief revealed the possibilities that existed then and there. The rest of the town was a shell – brick two level main street stores just waiting for the spirit of man to ignite. I photographed this shell giving it an aura of the past with a trick lens I packed along. I’m trying not to overuse it but it does provide an element of creative reverie to the image at capture.

Road Trip I

2010-10-02T10:04:00.001-07:00

Re:
Road Trip 2010
and the Completion of all 50 States, approximately 4400 miles from September 7th to 16th

Destination One:

Tall Grass Prairie in Oklahoma located just outside the town of Pawhuska. This prairie contains miles and miles of dirt/gravel roads which lead to somewhere and no-where. Bison range the grass but were visible in the far distance. The station was closed but a one mile hike put me close to the grass and got me acclimated and starting to get settled after 2 ½ days of driving and feeling that I had to get somewhere fast (It’s interesting that my somewhere was a no-where!). The grasslands preserve was a throwback to the expansive grasslands of the pre-settlement days that stretched well into Texas. They are located in the northeast corner of Oklahoma in Osage County, within a Native American Reservation. Apropos since grasslands and bison are essential to a once Indian culture.

N.B. The Osage purchased this reservation after they were schemed out of their original land by western moving European Americans and the Federal Government. They were allowed to acquire this land only because it was useless at the time. Of course later on oil was found…

red earth

2010-08-09T15:34:00.001-07:00

This series of red earth was taken on Kauai. I was struck by the earth's deep brown-red texture. It is even used as a pigment for clothes and t-shirts: a tourist souvenir of the island. I'm simply fascinated by its undulating and rich movement.

canoe meadows

2010-08-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

Canoe Meadows is beautiful wild-life sanctuary a couple blocks from where I grew up in Pittsfield Massachusetts. I haven't been there for about 30 years and I was quite happy about the changes there.

Meadow

A meadow
a path
traveled once
one time ago

close to home
no significance
but to roam

An empty sea
of useless meaning

but resonant
ginger steps
taken to

reworked
for there
was something

A palpable place
of reverie

there
here
within me

sky series

2010-08-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

This series of sky imagery was taken on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in my recent trip there in July 2010. I'm currently using them as a basis for painting. There is something magical in the sky. The subtlety of whites and blues and the wisp-like grass suggest a calmness and peace.

Open Studios

2010-05-06T17:15:00.001-07:00

The Brooks Estate is a bucolic landscape situated in the middle of Medford and Winchester, just a short walk from my studio. With roots back to the pilgrims, it provides a respite for my busy day and a window into nature and its seasonal migration.

You're invited to my studio this weekend as part of West Medford Open Studios. Saturday and Sunday, May 8 and 9 from Noon to 5, located at 160 Playstead Road in Medford.

Art installation Proposal

2010-02-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

blackboard

Table of Aesthetic Values: An Art Installation

The mergence of the world of science and art is more and more a key component of our zeitgeist. The fields of chemistry, physics and mathematics are thought of as exact sciences working in tangent with strict reality. Aesthetics and art are thought of as extrapolations from reality, with more of a stronghold in our imagination and our own personal views and slants on creativity.

This installation jumps off from the Table of Aesthetics as its creative springboard. This table presents the elements of artistic creativity in a format of the Table of Elements and thereby lends to it a more codified and scientific approach. The main visual element of the installation comes from the extrapolations of the table. Here we approximate a university physics course room with equations, diagrams and laws filling an entire large blackboard. The blackboard looms large and forbidding, seemingly an esoteric knowledge for only those in the know. Yet if one chooses to follow, the equations represent true approximations of our inherent creative abilities and aesthetic senses.

Lastly there is a bulletin board, empty at first, but ultimately filled with the creative ideas of those who come to observe. This is an interact feature allowing contribution and sharing.

For downloadable files on this art installation proposal click on the following:

Artist Statement

Table of Aesthetic Values Photograph

Art Installation Summary

Equations for Creativity

Equations for Creativity 2

Artist Resume

Seasons Now

2010-02-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

Seasons Now

The place is marked by space,

seasons mark off time.

What we see now is all there is.

There only exists a potential for the future,

an idea for the past.

Quote for inspiration:

"For an artist to be interesting to us he must have been interesting to himself."

Robert Henri, The Artist Spirit

E squared: Equations and Experimentation

2010-02-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

E1 Equations: Since my last post in the beginning of the year I've been quite busy with various creative ideas, however I've been quite slack when it comes to blogging on them. This is in part because I often get side tracked in unusual pursuits that don't come under the regular heading of creating simple consumer art. Above is a photograph showing the process that I use to create a Chart of Elements in order to conceive and create elements in different fields. For example my first Table was the Table of Aesthetics Values. I'm currently very near completion of my second table entitled "Table of Ethical Values". And just completed a paper extrapolating ideas and symbols from my original table entitled Equations of Creativity.

E2 Experimentation: The above watercolors were early experiments done about a month ago. They are using a new type of watercolor paper called Yupo. It's maximum gloss and fun to work with. However not really my style. I'm a matte type of guy. All of my photographs are always printed on cotton matte paper so the adjustment to super-gloss is quite harsh. But it is truly unique paper and I'm sure will make a fit with certain artists. My plan is to work in watercolors for a bit and to simulate my extreme shallow depth of field photographs with watercolor. Hopefully you'll see something along this line posted soon. Meanwhile I've found a terrific watercolor tutorial site that offers great techniques in an easy to follow style. Check out these watercolor tutorials.

To see a recent interview I did on art and inspiration go to photo blogs.

Photographic Moments

2009-09-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

Photographic Moments:

The Decisive Moment Explained

Introducing the Contemplative Moment

The phrase - the decisive moment - was made popular by Henri Cartier Bresson and although he did a good job of describing and demonstrating its use in photography, the phrase could still use some clarification and explanation.

“Decisive” means making a decision, determined and resolute. On its opposite extreme it means without hesitation. One could also apply the other definition that connotes crucial or important. However if we do we miss the causative action that must be taken by the photographer to decide and act simultaneously - thereby creating the decisive moment.

To further clarify let’s look at what a “moment” is photographically. To do this we must define it in terms of shutter speed as the shutter speed used in any picture is the moment it was taken. A moment may vary from many seconds as in a timed exposure (typically using a tripod) to one-eight thousandth of a second (the fastest speed my current camera travels). In order to demonstrate the decisive moment let’s use an intermediary speed of one-hundredth of a second - a common shutter speed for picture taking.

If we took a five minute interval of time and broke it up into one-hundredth of a second moments we would find out that there are 30,000 picture taking opportunities. Mathematically this would be 100 X 60 or 6,000 moments within a minute, times 5 for a total of 30,000 moments. How many decisive moments exist within this five minute interval? Of course this depends on the event unfolding, but one can see that the moment of decision is not as easy as it may seem. One has to be ultra-perceptive to pick out THE moments of greatest meaning and visual impact. Add to this positioning and viewpoint along with the myriad technical decisions inherent in the use of the camera and you see that the decisive moment could easily be described as the elusive moment.

We can now introduce another type of moment which is a mode of photographic seeing: the contemplative moment. Whereas the decisive moment involves action, the contemplative moment involves little and places more stress on positioning, viewpoint and camera technique. Unhesitating decisiveness is no longer of paramount importance in order to capture the image. Instead finding and seeing in a more reflective and studied manner takes precedence. Landscapes, abstracts, reflections - moments of deeper seeing in the now. With this type of photography it is as if the moment is stretched in time to allow one to look further and select out compositions never before seen. In fact it is this faculty - the unique view - which highlights the better contemplative moments.

There is no black and white in terms of moments. Decisive and contemplative moments may merge and it is in the mergeance of the two which makes the most memorable and compositionally interesting. Having found an ideal contemplative moment and to have suddenly appear a bird in flight which you capture at optimum harmony with your design makes the best type of photography.

Yet their distinction is helpful. Contemplate means to observe thoughtfully. For a decisive moment the action before one is unfolding quickly - time is on the move. On the other side, time has slowed considerably. Like a walk in the forest, the expansion of time allows one to look and see if one wishes to: to contemplate, compose and capture. A good photographer can do both and combine their elements as necessary.

The Eternal Moment

2009-09-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

In reading “On Photography” by Susan Sontag I was struck by two cited quotes:

“... the hundreth of a second caught so precisely that the motion is continued from the picture indefinitely: the moment made eternal.” Hart Crane

“The photographer is the contemporary being par excellence; through his eyes the now becomes the past.” Berence Abbott

Crane was referring to iconic imagery made by Alfred Steiglitz and yet it provides an understanding of the potential power of photography. I would never be so naive as to state that every image taken is eternal but one must realize that the taking of an image by a skilled photographer who has something to say provides the potentiality of the image to be eternal. This can be as limited as a family photograph which moves down the generations, or as wide as a pulitzer-prize winning reportage that takes the world by storm and becomes emblematic of a cultural time and place.

Once an iconic image enters the ken of man he proliferates it down the ages through his ideas and reproductions. Even a simple photograph of a birthday celebration “eternalizes” the image for the celebrant. It becomes a way of sharing the moment and becomes part of the familial or societal memory bank to a greater or lesser degree.

The following quote by Berenice Abbott provides an antithesis to the eternal concept yet fits hand-in-glove somehow. A photograph, as it travels forward in time is always suggesting the past. It is a record, a memory, a private or cultural imitation of what was. It therefore follows that the eternal value of a photograph travels not just forward but backward - creating a timelessness.

So it is commonly thought that photography stops time and this could be easily proved. However in reality it is false - a specious argument made by the philosophically inane.* In reality a photograph expands time. It allows a single moment, whether that be one-hundreth of a second, one-thousandth or whatever, to expand ad infinitum. Depending on the moment, the skill of the photographer and a myriad of aesthetic values - the single moment captured reflects on the past as well as travels to the future. Therefore instead of stopping time, we are dealing with the infinite from the viewpoint of the viewer.

*It is true only from the perspective of the photographer who is searching for the decisive moment in the now. But only from his perspective.

Boston art criticism

2009-09-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

When I read lines like this: “...the less stratified, increasingly porous quality of the postboom art world seems to have made setting up shop in some form easier.” in the New York Times article of September 3, 2009 entitled The Mood of the Market, as Measured in the Galleries by Roberta Smith, I want to pop. Pop in a good way. This to me is art criticism with its pulse on the cultural flow. It’s also art in itself, a beautifully worded sentence that is full of insight.

Art criticism in Boston is often simply cronyism or paid for advertising, and the aspiring artists will take it any way they can get it. Believe me I understand that it is not easy to keep a magazine or newspaper going these days but lets face it, integrity must come first. artscope magazine (that don’t capitalize their name) is a beautiful, glossy magazine with great image reproductions. But if you want a review, be sure to place an ad. The Boston Phoenix recent review of a Tufts University group show touted one particular artist as deserving an ICA one-person show. The author was good friends with the artist. Where’s the professionalism, the integrity?

Art New England, another glossy mag which comes out bimonthly (i.e. once every two months) is often behind the times in this rapid-fire information age. For example when their front page article on the Brandeis University Rose Museum debacle made the newstands, the news was practically over. And unfortunately the Boston Globe just doesn’t seem to have the space or resources for a good look at the art scene in our area anymore.

So we must turn to the internet and online magazines and blogs. Here we have Big, Red and Shiny, The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research and .... ? Please let me know what other art blogs or online magazines are out there? Obviously this is where the Boston art scene will get its due. What we need are moonlighters, art critics who take pride in their work, don’t care if you advertise or not with them in order to get a look, and are willing to not only review the Shepard Fairey exhibit but also lesser known artists as well. Add to this a bit of insight on the artistic zeitgeist of the past, present and future and away we go.

Much of what I’m describing here is what Susan Sontag would describe as “negative epiphany” in her book of essays entitled On Photography. Although her context involved photographs of atrocities the same sense applies in that it’s an unwanted realization of reality. I’m not happy about it but it’s what I see as true. In my last big show I was fortunate enough to have the attention of Beat Magazine, an art magazine that soon after folded. I was honored by an article that was honest, that is unpaid for in any way. Looking back on it now I appreciate even more it’s significance. Significance not in the art world but to me. A good review if paid for is tarnished. No matter how glowing, one feels the dirt underneath. Maybe they’ll come back to start an online magazine or others will grab their mantle. The artist needs you.

Geometry within geometry

2009-09-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Enlarge the above photograph and count the various

geometric forms (especially triangles) within the frame.

Geometry is by derivation measured earth (geo-earth and metry-measure). In a photograph one is isolating a part of the earth in two dimensions which we call the frame. This isolation in two dimensions is a measurement of the earth, a selective measurement made by the photographer. But when we talk about geometry and photography often we are talking about something different altogether. We are talking about the geometric forms that are within this frame: geometry within geometry. These forms are made up of various shapes, lines, squares, cubes, both two dimensional and three dimensional and even fractals those multi-dimensional and repeating chaotic forms seen throughout nature.

Does the creator matter?

2009-08-08T05:53:00.000-07:00

We can't afford it.

Why should only the elite see it?

These are justifications for forged art that were expressed on the recent NPR On Point Show entitled Faking Fine Art. The above rationalizations made by Laney Salisbury were then followed by a caller who stated If fake art is so much like the original isn't it worth as much as the original?

The show centered around an infamous case of a painter and con-man who worked together to create forgeries of master paintings. Unfortunately the show missed a major point and fell into a sort of collective mentality that assumed there was no ownership to an idea or creation. The imagination and originality of an artist, his courage and hard work, are what make art.

Aesthetics is a philosophical system with definite values. Values that rank highest include thought, imagination, conception, originality, creativity, authenticity, identity, vision, etc. (See Table of Aesthetics for more on this.)

Let's take a look at the above justifications more closely:

We can't afford it. First of all there are thousands of original artists that one can afford, support and enjoy. Secondly if you like something well enough why don't you search it out in a museum or, dare I say, make more money so you can afford it?

Why should only the elite see it? This disparaging term insinuates that the elite don't deserve their rewards and that they are hiding the art from the masses. Possibly it is these elite who empowered the artists to rise to even greater creative heights. Both of these remarks are degrading to artists and patrons of the arts.

If fake art is so much like the original, isn't it worth as much as the original? See above comments on the Table of Aesthetics. This is ultimately for the buyer to decide. The consumer must live with his purchase and if ethically he deems a fakery to be worth his money in gold then that's his choice. Just don't try and pawn off a fake on me.

Salisbury also mentions that there are two reasons to buy art: 1) Beauty, 2) Collection. Again both justifications for fakes, that is, if a fake is beautiful then it's okay and collectors are too wrapped up in provenance to recognize the beauty of the work. But another reason to buy art (and note there may be many others) is the idea behind the art or inspiration one draws from it. A fake does not hold up to this reason.

Unfortunately many artists will be drawn in by this show and use it as a "reason" for their lack of success in the field. I hope that they can see these comments for what they are and lash out in the field with their own courage and originality and thereby succeed.

Table of Aesthetic Values

2009-08-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

Table of Aesthetic Values by Robert Castagna, 24 X 36 inches (first draft)

Enlarge image for a closer look.

The above is a recent endeavor whereby I created a scale of common aesthetic elements fashioned after Chemistry's Chart of Elements. The Table of Aesthetics has two alternate names: The Scale of Aesthetics and The Aesthetic Chart of Commonalities. It contains the common denominators of all art with thought or concepts at the top and matter at the bottom.

The following are notes which can be found at the bottom of the chart which helped define, explain and develop the work.

In addition one can find a paper of further extrapolations from the chart at Equations for Creativity.

Aesthetics and Science:

The chart must be scientific in proportion to the table of elements. It must be aesthetic in presentation and can involve many revisions and drafts. It must be large and on art paper. The chart includes stable values and unstable values such as opinions of art critics. Light values are on the top. There are 118 known elements (observed even if only briefly during decay), 94 are found naturally on earth, 1 possibly in space and 22 artificially derived and radioactive.

Aesthetics and Art:

The word "aesthetics" derives from "perceive" and is therefore a philosophical discussion of our perceptions on art. The word "art" is derived from "skill" and is an act or doing. This chart is an aid to the perception and discussion of art. It is also a tool for the artist to create. One can fashion a table of his own aesthetic values.

Aesthetics and Spirit:

When dealing with aesthetics one is as close as one can be to the spiritual aspect of man. One is at the threshold of the spirit and the physical, the place where the two merge. The superscript °T represents the creator of thought and is written in the form of an isotope. Superscript 1 T represents the aesthetic value of thought, the lightest value on the table. (note: the 1 should be smaller and higher to truly represent this - a limitation of my keyboard skills).

Finally:

Axiom: Art could be described as minimum matter with maximum thought.

Note: I have worked out a mathematical equation to express this axiom however I'm unable to type it in html code here. It states that Matter is less than Thought to the power of infinity. The greater the thought the greater the art produced. This is relative and does not diminish statuary or other "heavy art forms".

Original Greek Elements:

The original Greek elements were Fire, Earth, Water and Air. These have been converted to Concept, Creation, Communication and Culture respectively. Together they make the Cycle of Creativity which you see on the bottom left of the chart.

Aesthetic Values:

Below are a list of the Aesthetic Values as seen on the first draft of the table from top to bottom:

Thought

Imagination

Concept

Originality

Creativity

Authenticity

Perception

Viewpoint

Identity

Personality

Inspiration

Vision

Self Expression

Perspective

Abstraction

Composition

Design

Presentation

Experimentation

Harmony

Simplicity

Rhythm

Form

Space

Pattern

Arrangement

Balance

Symmetry

Color

Hue

Texture

Depth

Dimension

Repetition

Proportion

Muse

Aesthetic

Lines

Shape

Scale

Beat

Pitch

Intensity

Light

Gradation

Shadow

Emphasis

Unity

Refinement

Direction

Wabi Sabi

Counterpoint

Allusion

Tone

Voice

Reflection

Communication

Participation

Appreciation

Experience

Impression

Contribution

Feeling

Resonance

Wavelength

Vibration

Emotion

Elegance

Grace

Poetry

Beauty

Mystery

Geometry

Movement

Melody

Lyricism

Metaphor

Vocabulary

Mood

Shade

Contrast

Chiaroscuro

Subject

Time

Skill

Technique

Quality

Representation

Criticism

Taste

Interpretation

Style

Avant-garde

Symbology

Tradition

Overtone

Allegory

Sensitivity

Significance

Meaning

Value

Iconography

Audience

Portrayal

Integration

Genre

Nature

Reality

Place

Imagery

Series

Perfection

Appropriation

Collaboration

Context

Media/Matter

Universality

Culture

art and criticism

2009-05-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

Bokeh triptych by Robert Castagna 2009

"...no artist needs criticism, he only needs appreciation. If he needs criticism he is no artist."

Gertrude Stein

The above statement, found while reading “An Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” by Gertrude Stein, sums up my opinion on criticism and the art world. It’s pithy and profound meaning may come as a surprise to many artists but with a little explanation can be proved to be true. This is not to say that I would like all art critics to cease writing for newspapers or blogs or to simply state that they love all art that they see. On the contrary, in the larger picture, I feel they do provide a very essential dialogue that sustains the thought and idea strata that lies behind art. But it is a comment trained toward the artist who often seeks out the opinion of others in order to sustain his or her own art work.

The thought or idea that lies behind the art is the essential ingredient that turns a regular object into an “objet d’art”. This idea stems directly from the artist and must by necessity come directly from him or her to create meaningful art work. An artist is a person who trusts his own ideas. He or she is continually working the idea, often walking the brink of oblivion, but hopefully pushing the envelope to the point where his idea takes hold via a visual creation, song, written work, video or sculpture, and then is cast out amongst the masses for effect. I understand that there are insecure artists and artists that doubt themselves, but in the end an artist is a courageous individual who is willing to put his own concept out on the line.

As a photographer I often grapple with the idea of, am I a photographer, an artist or both? For all practical purposes I am both. However essentially I am more and more an artist. The difference lies in the thought underlying the body of work. With the “Conceptual Art” of Sol Lewitt and others of his brood came a new slant to contemporary art as we know it. There was once “Modern Art”, however that has now been branded and represents a past era of the art timeline. Now we have “Contemporary Art” and this signifies the art of now and will most likely lose its holding in the future and become relegated to a bygone era. But for now, art is heavily laden with concept, thought and ideas. Much of it needs those written words or explanation to provide a backbone and understanding. And often it is the obscurity of its meaning which prompts us to probe, question and find out what it is all about. When it catches our eye for its visual or sensual impact and then rides over this with meaning that resonates we are caught in the midst of a masterpiece.

But all masterpieces stem from the idea of an artist and for this reason as the artist is experimenting with his idea and putting it forth in reality, criticism acts as a deterent in more cases than not. It is one thing to produce a pretty picture and quite another to bring to fruition an idea for others to see. So the next time you walk into that contemporary art space or an exhibition of new work take a moment to reflect on the thought and idea behind the piece. Learn to appreciate.

kaleidoscope

2009-05-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

Creative word:

A kaleidoscope - shattered bits of color moved and reflected to reveal a variety of endless patterns while held up to the light; a child's toy. Derived from the Greek literally meaning to view beautiful forms.

While photographing in the Brooks Estate I was reunited with a style of photography I first discovered in Japan. What's more interesting is that the weather conditions were the same: dark, rich timber soaked from recent rains and muted leaves of color. Photographing leaves using very shallow depth of field and manual focus sprung to life the use of a kaleidoscope and that feeling of a child excited in his own imagination. Except here I was able to fix the image permanently and to control the bits of color through movement and focus of the camera. As a child your creativity and imagination are always in flux, present one moment and gone the next, as an artist one works to capture the imagination and to hold it up for others to see.

Note: The creative word for me is a freeing word. One can decide based on importance to the subject or self whether to know a word or not. If it releases or explains creative action it is a "creative word". To see my first mention of the term go to creative words blog post.

Notes on Art and War

2009-04-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago I started writing an essay on art, civilization and war. In it I started to look very closely at the word "civilization" and its true definition. (I recommend looking at the derivation of the word at the Online Etymology Dictionary.) Most recently the Iraqi National Museum reopened its doors. If you remember, this museum was looted shortly after U.S. occupation of Iraq. To commemorate the reopening I am issuing my essay on art and war. In it I reference key writings that helped shape my ideas:

Redefining Civilization
Notes on Art and War

Notes and ideas after reading “Our Oriental Heritage” Volume I of the History of Civilization by Will Durant.

One could possibly state that by this writing I am trying to redefine the word “civilization” or one could look at it from the other side and say that it has already been redefined. Whichever way, the point is to take a good look at what the word “civilization” means. This is a very learned subject, one that involves more study than a simple dictionary. Historians and anthropologists study ancient cultures and decide where early civilizations first sprang. Many agree that in Sumeria there came the first written words and thereby the first culture, followed quickly by Egypt and the rest of Mesopotamia. These ancient cultures were agricultural, relying heavily upon the rivers that they were formed against. By this fact, they no longer were nomadic hunters, but planned for their future with crops and animals thereby setting forth roots that enabled them to build permanent homes and develop a more sophisticated culture, a culture called a civilization.

However civilizations and its footprints ( art, writings, architecture, etc.) are destroyed by the antithesis of civilization – “war”. Wars wiped out early Indian culture. Wars wiped out early Chinese culture. Mesopotamia went to ruin due to war. One needed to build huge monuments that could stand the test of time to overcome the ravages of war and the elements, namely such monuments as the pyramids and their hidden tombs below.

If civilization is culture elevated to the point where art, letters and language can flourish, it then follows that the eradication of war would be an elemental point of what civilization is. In fact if one were to follow back the etymology of the term one would find that it originated to be the opposite of “barbarity”. Barbarity is cruelty, killing, raping, pillaging and the lot. Barbarians perpetrate barbarity on civilizations destroying them.

In fact the lack of war is a necessary element to be included in the definition of “civilization”. It is this missing element, misunderstood and unpracticed which has brought about a tremendous amount of grief to the planet earth. Possibly earth and its population were not able, up until now, to grasp the meaning of what a high culture is. Possibly it is simply a step in the evolution of higher man. But for whatever reason, we are at a point where civilized man should be able to work out their differences with reason and therefore a “civilization” should have as part of its innate meaning, the lack of war. Or on the positive side, the reconciliation of differences by diplomatic and cordial means.

How it comes about that war is no longer practiced is not for this essay. The strategy for attaining this Utopia is not for this author at this time. Nor is it for any one author at any other time. It is enough to state that civilization is by definition a culture that no longer resorts to war and barbarity, but uses civility to affect its ends.

From section “Dianetics and War” (p. 484 of Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard):

“The social organism which we call states and nations behave and react in every respect as though they were individual organisms. The culture has its analytical mind, the combined sentience of its citizens in general and its artists, scientists and statesmen in particular. The social memory bank is the data accumulated along the generations. And the social organism has as well its reactive mind as represented by the prejudices and irrationalities of the entire group.”

The social memory banks are the accumulated museums, libraries and other institutions which house social memory. The importance of such museums and libraries are vital, and access to them by everyone is vital. Museums such as the Holocaust Museum serve to present terrible moments of history for all to see. By doing so it acts as a means of recognition and eradication of the trauma. One can see the happenings over and over and in this way release any encysted emotion or trauma connected to the event. War and its outcome are the antithesis of museums and libraries. Examples where such houses of social memory were obliterated by war is quite common. There was the war for Egypt fought in Cleopatra’s time when the great Egyptian library at Alexander was set afire losing all of the books and manuscripts of antiquity. Or more recently there was the aftermath of the U.S. occupation in Iraq when all of the museums, holding artifacts and art from the heart of Mesopotamia – the birthplace of civilization itself, were raided and looted. Great architecture acts as a conduit to the past, as these immense edifices stand the test of time to reveal civilization’s great past. Yet again, war has ruined many of these testaments: Great Hindu temples of India were laid waste by Moslem armies, Japanese towns were laid to ruin by U.S. bombardments in World War II.

In “What is Art” by Leo Tolstoy he compares the role of the artist to that of the military. Although his point was different, it leads to a core comparison: The artist and the militarist are two opposing roles in a civilization. One builds the civilization while the other brings it to ruin. Art and War are two extremes. There is a gradient that can be laid down to measure the degree of civilization extant at any time. The more art present, conserved and created compared to the degree of war present means a closer approximation to true civilization.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque:

A classic novel of the barbarity of war has a section in it where the protagonist, after months at the front, finally returns home for a short spell before returning back to war. While at home he sits in his room and confronts the books that he used to read:

“I want to feel the same powerful, nameless urge that I used to feel when I turned to my books. The breath of desire that then arose from the colored backs of the books, shall fill me again, melt the heavy, dead lump of lead that lies somewhere in me and waken again the impatience of the future, the quick joy in the world of thought, it shall bring back again the lost eagerness of my youth. I sit and wait.

“I wait, I wait. Images float through my mind, but they do not grip me, they are mere shadows and memories. Nothing – nothing – My disquietude grows. A terrible feeling of foreignness suddenly rises up in me. I cannot find my way back, I am shut out though I entreat earnestly and put forth all my strength. Nothing stirs; listless and wretched, like a condemned man, I sit there and the past withdraws itself. And at the same time I fear to importune it too much, because I do not know what might happen then. I am a soldier, I must cling to that.”

The above is a terrific and terrifying example of the results of war on a single human being directly involved in it; a perpetrator of the war, yet a victim. The barbarity prohibits the fine distinctions of the mind necessary to imbibe culture. War prevents this soldier from drinking from the well of civilization. Instead he is a soldier.

For information on the reopening of the Iraqi National Museum see Iraq Museum Reopens Six Years After Looting in the New York Times.

the empty frame

2009-03-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

I enjoy a good conversation about art and aesthetics and for this reason I attended the recent talk at Tufts University entitled, "The Value of Art: The Place of Art in the University Today." The panel was made up of scholars, art historians, sociologists and even an artist. The language was heady and prompted earnest ears and busy pens. There was some very good intellectual terms used that wet my whistle for the "creative word" (see previous post). Such language as empty frames (think Isabella Stewart Art Museum), canonical artist (Warhol), rubric (just a cool word I heard used), public vs. private domain, etc. Of course the catalyst for the discussion was the recent Brandeis University debacle which I feel may end up providing us with a much needed lesson and benefit before it's said and done.

But as I left the discussion to return to my workaday world of art and photography I felt a void. Although all of the discussion was about art I felt deflowered of ideas and verveless. I realize for me, this comes about whenever one talks about art and money. I am not so naive as to think that one is totally divorced from the other. But for me, I do see that as an artist I need to create in a fashion that is divorced from money.

Art has at its origin a virginal state, a soulful place where creativity flows. From this place an idea forms and mechanics follow. Money is not located at that place of origin. Money is much further down the chain. So at its inception one creates and if the creation is good, money follows.

So in the end I'm redefining "the empty frame". No longer does it stand for stolen art at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or can it be used as a metaphor for a university selling off its art collection. Nope, I'm reclaiming "the empty frame" and it now means that creative ether where nothing but artistic potential lies.

Now I feel better.

creative words

2009-03-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

Words. Sometimes one good word can set you off into a new line of creativity, or simply open up a whole new field of thought. For this reason I have a word book: a book of words that I find cool and creative, words I want to know.

Here are some words with their meanings and an invented sentence:

1. lapidary: having the elegance and precision associated with inscriptions on monumental stone. His prose, although seemingly off the cuff, had a lapidary quality that proved unforgettable.

I love this word because only those words that have special meaning to a person or culture would ever get recorded on stone. It signifies longevity, a phrase or line of poetry that we want to remember over many lifetimes and generations.

2. habitue: a regular visitor of a place. While I travel I am an incessant cafe habitue.

This word is simple, however it captures a certain lifestyle for me. It makes me want to park myself in the nearest cafe with a cup of tea and a nice book.

3. sotto voce: under the breath - in a private manner ( in music: softly). In a manner of sotto voce he revealed his darkest secret.

Borrowed from the Italian it literally means "under the voice". I think of old times, under the dark eaves of a mountain-top castle, planning intrigue.

As an artist, a good word can set you off in a new direction. One good word can lift the fog of thought and open up a large field of ideas and inspiration. If a word isn't fun or interesting I don't get caught up in it too much, but if the word has a special meaning or feel I make a point to write it down and give it some time.

Do you have any creative words?

Stieglitz on Style

2009-03-14T08:23:00.001-07:00

Key West 2009, by Robert Castagna

Alfred Stieglitz is well known as the father of art photography. His marriage and art-partnership with Georgia O'Keefe only helps in solidifying his legacy. His prints are masterful renditions of black and white and many have become iconic. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has several of his prints which they periodically put on view and have available in their print room.

Here's an important point: whenever you encounter an artist or muse that inspires creativity, such as Stieglitz, it is always appropriate to search for and find his or her original words on the subject. To do so is to find inspiration and valuable key information. I stress this because you will always find hundreds of biographies and scholarly studies but none of them compare to the original words expressed by the artist. Autobiographies, journals, letters and articles are simply the best.

For this reason some years ago I acquired a book entitled "Stieglitz on Photography, His Selected Essay and Notes" compiled and annotated by Richard Whelan and published by Aperture. The book is full of essays and articles penned by Stieglitz.

There is one article entitled "Simplicity in Composition" which is a gem. I have read it over and over throughout the years and continue to draw vital data from it. My most recent reading a couple days ago left me again in awe. I wondered how I could have missed so many points before!

The most powerful words come about in his description of how to acquire "style".

"...study the best pictures in all media - from painting to photography - and study them again and again, analyze them, steep yourself in them until they unconsciously become part of your esthetic being. Then, if there be any trace of originality within you, you will intuitively adapt what you have thus made a part of yourself, and tinctured by your personality you will evolve that which is called style."

One of the key words in the above passage is "tinctured". The word means to imbue something with a quality and comes from the idea of tinting fabric with color by dyeing. Lastly, he ends the article by restating the above:

"Observe the work of recognized artists - I do not mean look at it, but observe it - make it your own. Then study the appearance of nature more closely than ever before everywhere. And there is also one simple and direct warning I would like to give: Avoid books on composition as you would the plague, lest they destroy in your mind all other considerations than the formulae which they lay down. If you must be taught by others, not being able to teach yourself, seek out a broad-minded teacher, but guard your originality as the one precious possession which may save you from turning out machine-made work."

As one can see the first step is to truly look at accomplished art work. Go to museum exhibitions, galleries and take out books from the library by the armful. Then create your own art and study nature and life. Do this as a constant activity and everywhere. Learn to be a self-learner, an autodidact. An artist is a beingness and way of life. And finally seek and expose that spark of originality and style that develops within your own creativity.

acquistion

2009-02-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

9 images from the Kyoto Series have been acquired by the Boston Public Library Permanent Collection. Several more images, including the one above, need to be added. If you are interested in making a tax-deductible donation to the library toward the acquisition of further photographs from the Kyoto series please contact me by email or Ron Michaux of Rolly-Michaux Gallery at 617.536.9898.

"The Print Department of the Boston Public Library continues to actively build our collections of contemporary photography by photographers working in the New England region.

"We were happy to add the photographer Robert Castagna to that growing list of photographers represented in our collection. Our relationship with Robert started in 2002 when we purchased a selection of photographs that he took in the Copley Square area that were part of his exhibition in the Boston Room of the BPL called 'Just Outside'.

"The BPL is now actively pursuing the acquisition of images from Robert's latest project: The Kyoto Series. The series not only represents the continuation of the photographer's strong imaging work but also his development as a photographer. We hope that by acquiring images from the Kyoto Series we will continue the process of building a collection of Robert's work that will begin to represent the arc of his career as a photographer."

decomposition

2009-02-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

I've always heard of composition in art, especially photography. However how often do you hear about decomposition in art? I'm sure in some circles it's quite well known, however I recently ran across the term in a terrific book. I often take-out art books from the library and enjoy leafing through them at leisure while at home. This week I was looking through "Modern Art, 1900-1945: The Age of Avant-Gardes" by Gabriele and Crepaldi. It's a great book with large prints and very readable and informative information about the work and artists. Very little artspeak is used and the sections are broken into genres that really assist in understanding the many styles of art. While reading a passage concerning a stunning painting by Georgia O'Keefe entitled "Street, New York, I" the authors used the term "decompositions". In this sense, decomposition means the artists ability to break down the subject into its basic elements. And of course O'Keefe did this so well in the above referenced painting.

I love abstraction and often use abstraction in my art and compositions. However I never understood exactly what I was trying to do until I ran across this term "decomposition" used in such a context. As soon as I read it my eyes and mind opened up. I mentioned it to my wife who is a painter and music composer and she had a similar experience. Much of the fun in art is taking a subject matter and presenting it in such a way that one can see its essence, using rudimentary shapes and design; namely decomposing. Many artists use this technique including myself. However I never had it so succinctly crystalized.

artist-museum partnership

2009-02-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

With all of the talk about economic stimulus packages I thought I'd mention a revision to law which could be made, that would allow artists to donate their art work and receive a tax break equivalent to the arts actual value. In other words, currently the law allows a donor to purchase art and then donate it to an institution and receive a deduction on their taxes. However if an artist donates his/her art

work his donation is worth only the paper it is printed upon.

Today with donations to institutions and museums suffering from the recession, this would benefit both the artist and the museum. The image above was part of my Kyoto Series that appeared on the cover of artscope magazine in Boston. Although pieces were purchased and donated to the Boston Public Library's permanent collection, several of the images are left to be donated. Of course I'm happy to donate them, however I feel a proper tax deduction should be allowed. In this way both the collection and the artist (myself) would benefit. Kyoto and Boston are sister-cities and therefore the collection is quite relevant to the BPL's photographic collection.

For information on the bill go to Artist-Museum Partnership Act.

For common sense information on the bill go to Partnership Act for artists.

Brandeis Rose Art Museum

2009-02-06T10:10:00.000-08:00

What's up with Brandeis? By now most people are aware of the scandal that has unfolded at Brandeis University. Let's face it, times are tough. As one drives up to the Rose Art Museum one sees a sign designating the Shapiro's donations at work. The Shapiro's, large donors to education, arts and other institutions, have been hit hard by the economy and most notably Madoff. So when the President of Brandeis freaks out and declares the Rose Art Museum will close and sell off its art who can really blame him. Listen or watch one hour of news media and you start to get a nagging feeling that we are about to implode economically. It really starts to freak you out.

But what I think is much more significant from this debacle at Brandeis is the fact that the board decided that art must pay. Individuals such as Madoff (and there are many of these individuals out there: individuals who evidently thought that they could loan money where it was not appropriate, individuals who thought that an economy was not based on reality but instead inflated figures on a piece of paper, corporate execs who borrow money, don't make it go right and walk away under the shield of the protective corporation, Presidents who borrow money endlessly for war, etc.) have ruined the economy and the first place one looks to shear costs is art. Maybe this is appropriate as art certainly is not food, or a home, or health insurance. And let's face it art has ballooned just like the rest of the economy selling for outrageous sums of money, amounts that truly seem absurd.

But I'm thinking otherwise. I'm thinking that this type of thinking and prioritizing is what got us in the soup to begin with. Art is often imaginative, but it also has a way of getting at the truth of reality. Let's really look at this. Art is the antithesis of war. Remember how the Iraq museums were sacked after our "victory"? It's starting to come home to roost. How much money is spent on war? How much is spent on art?

I could go on and on about this. However I'm getting this nagging feeling that I better do something more productive so I don't implode. My point: The selling off of art at Brandeis is symbolic of what is wrong with America. Hopefully the economy starts to turn around and Brandeis can use this infamy and media attention to bring about a resurgence of interest in art in their environment.

BRANDEIS ROSE ART MUSEUM MONTAGE was created by Robert Castagna.

The Artist Journal

2009-01-31T12:06:00.001-08:00

I had the above photograph on my home page for quite some time and when I took it down I thought I should comment a little bit about it. In case you are unable to read the actual journal entry handwritten on the left I will quote it below. It was written while in Kyoto photographing:

"Looking through a Japanese Arts and Culture Magazine I was reviewing an article on Japanese Modern Art and came across a piece of work that was quite simple and like above (see drawing on the journal page) simply budding limbs of a tree. I will take my pictures of isolated cherry blossoms and remove all background so as to leave the lone blossom lying on white paper. A sort of Modern Japanese aesthetic."

The photograph was taken later. The image became entitled "Lone Blossom".

Journals are a major part of my artistic process. They assist in working out ideas and are a venue for thought. One can air out concepts. Some work out and many do not. However one thing that I notice most of all is that in reviewing back through entries you can see an overall arc of creativity. One can see how current ideas germinated some time ago and how a long forgotten "failed" idea has now finally come to fruition.

Finally, artistic journals have a long tradition. I'm sure there are many examples of artist journals throughout time but one that comes to my mind is the art form of haiga in Japan. Haiga is an art form in and of itself. It involves short, terse prose and haiku. So periodically I also add poetry to my journals as another mode of expression. Poetry is a nice way of expressing universal concepts in an abbreviated form and allowing the reader plenty of room for mental movement and reflection.

return to place

2009-01-29T15:59:00.000-08:00

As I walked to the Brooks Estate I thought of its history: a preservation land with roots to the first Puritan settlers in 1660 (I wonder what Native American tribe was there before?). Since its inception the estate has dwindled, sold off by ancestor after ancestor. More recently the battle had become one between Brooks preservation and Oak Grove Cemetery. I thought: when I die throw my ashes in the Brooks Pond, a more appropriate place of burial. Allow my monument to be the images that remain, signifying my vision - better than any tombstone.

I circled all three ponds today in snow often to my knees. I thought - how would you explain this beauty to a child - a child who grew up with the over-saturated media blitz of television, video games and internet. It's a sensitivity to the unembellished detail that's needed. An ability to look at nature and find within its often tangled branches and inconvenient places a symmetry, detail or beauty that transcends the flashy stimuli of modern culture. A return to place and "here and now".

beauty in the sky

2009-01-29T15:48:00.000-08:00

the small

myopic

views

the close looks

the thin

vaporous

whim

small, subtle, overlooked and temporal

a wave of the hand, a brushstroke

against a mottled plain

of trees

sky

pond

of large

breathtaking

muted tones

god exists in both:

the small, subtle, overlooked and temporal

the wide expanse that opens ever more

caught up with the bigness of life

its ever changing scale

often lost in its future

the goals that bring us there

the minute

the detail

the frail

of which there are thousands

upon millions

seem unimportant

but through the smallness

bigness

close looks

wide horizons

frailty

strength

beauty in the sky

connections...

2009-01-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

What I like about combining poetry and photography is that it is an invitation to stop and perceive the experience. To be in the moment and to reflect back on other moments. To take a break from the rapid motion of life and just be in the experience. Art is always a way to step outside. Anything that enables this, provides further dimensions, is a welcome art form. Art is about connections, connections between image and poem, viewer and his past, observer and now.

New Work: a start

2009-01-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

I read Sol LeWitt's "Sentences on Conceptual Art" and found them to be basic logic principles for the field of art. They are like those laid down by Euclid many years before (science and art are much more connected in their operation than most think) that set forth the rules of geometry in that they provide a hierarchy of knowledge so that one can create. I think the key to take away from these sentences is not that they are hard-bound rules to live by but that one can make his or her own logic principles, and should so that he can become conscious and in control of the creative process.

The current "concept" that I'm working on is narrow depths of field and intentional blurs of nature, using the Brooks Estate and its surrounding environment (pond and forest) as the context. Because it is just a short walk from my studio, I'm able to spend an hour or so capturing nature as it slowly turns from season to season. I've become more aware of the incremental changes that occur during each season: partial freezes, crumpled leaves long past their life yet still clinging to barren branches, as well as all-out storms that define the essence of what a season is about.

I've experimented with writing short poems on selected favorites and then using a line from the poem to title the image. This adds subjectivity and brings the imagery into the realm of thought: taking reality, revealing its ephemeral aspects with blur and selective focus and bringing it into the high position of interpretive thought.

New Year's Resolution

2008-12-30T15:24:00.001-08:00

I'm making a New Year's resolution. To post to my online art journal daily. Ok, not daily but frequently and if all goes well, daily. An ambitious resolution but not impossible. Heck it might even fuel the creative fires.

On my mind today is Sol LeWitt and conceptual art. It validates the "idea" which has been quite invalidated of late. Ideas and concepts are the gateway to art. Then one needs to experiment and produce to make it happen. However because many of us conceptualize and have a hard time getting the reality aspect of art off the ground we tend to diminish the idea, the inception of the art form. After reading about Sol's art walls at MASS MoCA I've gained renewed strength for my many ideas that have come and gone in the field of art.

In fact this "conceptual art" idea fueled my resolution to blog (or as I like to call it journal). So, my hat is off to Sol LeWitt wherever you may be. Here's to a year of creativity in 2009!

For information on the art exhibit at MASS MoCA go to 2033

For a very good interview on the exhibit from NPR go to conceptual

Autumn Abstraction

2008-11-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

Inspired by my travels to Japan this Autumn abstraction was taken while hiking the backwoods of my home. Walking through a temple in Kyoto I became aware of the selective focusing qualities of a wide open lens and started to selectively blur within the camera creating myopic imagery that reflected the viewpoint of a bird or insect. Improper Bostonian Magazine published the image in their Fall issue. The photograph was taken in the Brooks-Parkhurst Town Forest in Winchester, MA.

working hard

2008-07-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm working hard to prepare for my upcoming exhibition at Rolly-Michaux Galleries in November. Stay tuned for more posts and information!!