(The fake rock climber on the fake rock wall, it is me.)Arnold's "Fake Rock, I-80, Rodeo, CA" (2011) presents a highway retaining wall molded, cut and colored to look like a natural outcropping.This piece of public works fakery enshrines the assumption that none of us will look at our surroundings more carefully than a speeding driver can. The camera's steady gaze cannot make the fake any more real, but it might unmake the thought behind it.
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| Detail of: Passenger Train / I-80, Benicia, CA. 2012 |
By the Home Depot, I-80, Oakland, CA (32" x 40" Digital C-print; 2011)
Happy to have this new interview up on the Rayko Website - teaching there has been a fun learning experience. As they say, to truly learn a subject; teach it. Between the new students and the changing technology, teaching the beginning digital courses remains exciting. Photography is a magical thing, and showing people how to utilize their cameras helps me re-consider the basic precepts of photography - a treat within itself.
I am super excited to be included in a show of four photographers at the San Francisco Art Commission Gallery entitled Nothing To See Here
The show opens next week, and is curated by Aimee LeDuc, who seems pretty wonderful. She came to my studio last month to look at my new photos and discuss her ideas for the show.
As I see it, the primary connection between the four photographers selected is a desire to learn from landscapes usually passed over. With the continuing compartmentalization of our land photographers have plenty of opportunity to continue the subversive desire to document areas officially considered "uninteresting". Often utilized for human purposes, these locations are intended as a means not an end. This in itself is not a new interest in photography - what was new to me was Aimee's thoughts about the landscape as a stage. This idea being that in our contemporary "first-world lifestyle" we have separated ourselves from the land to such an extent (through digital media, cars, clocks, supermarkets and the rest) that the landscape becomes an option, something to enter into but not something to daily contend with.
I'm fairly fascinated with this theory - a modern view of this historical relationship; one that sees us not necessarily as having lost, but instead having altered our perspective.
Install of Nothing to See Here at SFAC Gallery
Meanwhile, an official thank you to Damian Taylor (now at Reprint Mint in San Leandro). Damian and his impressive Light Jet printer/processor helped me out in a couple of pinches while getting ready for this show- always with a smile. If anyone is looking for high quality digital C-prints in the Bay Area (up to 53" I believe) with a kind, flexible, knowledgeable printer at the helm, willing to work with the crazy artist’s timeline, I can't recommend Damian highly enough. Email: damian"at"reprintmint . com
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| Arnold Point, I-80, Oakland, CA (32" x 40" Digital C-print, 2012) |
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| Detail: Arnold Point, I-80, Oakland, CA |
I was delighted to discover that I was a recipient of a partial scholarship for the Our World Portfolio Reviews via Photo Alliance last weekend at San Francisco's Art Institute. It caught me by storm- I was suddenly printing and looking for a decent box to put my stubbornly overly-sized images in. I had some wonderful conversations; getting to talk with people one-on-one about the work was really helpful and often gratifying. The whole event had a general good feeling about it. Almost everyone that I met was there to share, and to support - and the location is almost angelic.
Excitedly, I already seem to have made a good connection from the weekend, with Rebecca Horne, a photo-editor for the Wall Street Journal. She just put up a great review of my new work on her Blog
The photo above is the latest in the new series. Shot in Benicia under the bridge - it's amazing down there.
In a desire for fun, and for adding another dynamic to my photo show at Traywick, we had a freeway-intersection screen-printing event last week. Similar to the non-mart event a few years past, people were welcome to bring their own shirt or to buy a nice-new-organic one to be printed on. I baked some blueberry-corn muffins the night before, and a good time was had by all. I really enjoy the interactive aspect of making the shirts this way, its a fun way to get the art off the walls and to enjoy the process together.
Writing, Under Hwy. 24, Oakland, CA (32" x 30" Digital C-print)
Good news - I am excited to be a part of the SNAP: A Juried National Photo Exhibition at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. The curators for the show are both pretty amazing - Sandra Phillips, head photo curator at SF MoMA and Drew Johnson, photo curator at the OMCA. They chose two of my new photos to include - hot of the presses and just ready to share. The show opens December 8th, from 6-8pm, and stays up through the new year until February 19th.
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| I-880 & Hwy. 238 San Leandro, CA; I-280 & Hwy. 101, San Jose, CA; I-880, I-580 & I-80, Oakland, CA, 14" x 14" |
Frolic and play, the eskimo way...
