More Still

And further work with objects. From September 9 2010.

Still

Using light painting with objects- still life- is different from making a portrait. People move. That can look really interesting. Dealing with the non moving, concrete "things" and all the surroundings is a good way of thinking about form, composition and shape.  In still life, several artists influenced me very much as an art student, Cezanne, Morandi, Leger and Marsden Hartley especially. Here are some works made in my senior year.  Still life -charcoal on paper from 1979.

When I make a still life with light painting, usually I selectively move some parts around nudging some object a little to distort its ordinariness- fishing around for some hoped for visual impact.

Below are some older light paintings.

12 14 2010 #2

Guanajuato 2010

 

Above: Guanajuato Series # 251, 246, 85 and 264

 

Above;  Guanajuato Series 2010, #228, and #227

 

Above: Guanajuato Series 2010 #114, #251, and #261

Guanajuato, Mexico Summer 2010: Context of the Work.

This post isn't so much about "photography" as it is about the "photographer". I want to give more of a context to the upcoming series of light paintings I'll post. The work soon to be shown, stands apart, but the story of my visit is equally a part of that time and place. Though words and not photographs, the background  remains imprinted in the foreground.

Guanjuato, Mexico is a very old Spanish Colonial city once prized for its silver mines, now emptied of their glitter. Its situated at a light headed altitude north west of Mexico City in the Central Mexican highlands.

The city climbs up an undulating bowl shaped valley. Lofty mountains, massive sentinels, encircle Guanjuato neatly, like a crater rim. The ancient narrow streets are very steep. Sidewalks and roads alike frequently disappear under higher parts through 40 miles of damp, dripping tunnels. The Mummy Museum is here and the Museum of the Mexican Inquisition. I've been to neither. I think those mummies stay preserved in the soil because there's a high content of metal. Guanajuato was the epicenter of immense social and political forces, and a palpable, indefinable presence lies about, and infuses the colorful city. But this essential quality I speak of, is neither historical or political in nature. Even in the brightest sunshine this sense of mystery - inert, primal and raw -remains. "A street map is like a plate of spaghetti" a smiling local school teacher told me over dinner.

Box Portrait of Jason 9.14.10

Solar Series

Jessica Jones

Revisiting

During the fall have been working on light paintings using my old art pieces. Am in the process of getting rid of some things, trying to make things easier as my sight worsens and worsens. I have to force myself to confront this, so by physically sorting, trashing, papers, sketchbooks, journals, doodles, letters, paperbacks, clippings, notes, video tapes,negatives, I can start to grasp the reality. My art books I just cant let go of-never. The shelves of "Art in America", I have to say goodbye to.
I'm fortunate in that I have time. Some blind people, like Victorine, lost her sight very rapidly and weren't prepared.
In this Revisit series, painted images, monotype prints and sculpture are united with real objects and settings, all blended by the flashlight into a new whole. These revisitings are a good way to make something more out of some neglected, half forgotten art work, I'll have a bon fire one day with most of this, but these light paintings, hopefully, will retain an echo. More soon.
Above,Objects 9 9 2010 #15 , Revisit #1

Russian Esquire

Russian Esquire has a series of Seeing With Photography's images online - Sept 20 2010. I've been going through the pages there, and its a very impressive collection. Really high quality art work. I especially like  John Delany's images of Asian nomads. I guess the print issue must be out now too, am just too excited. Our group has 12 images, am grateful to be included in their selection.

With Jacques Montel, 9 11 10

Five artists from SWPC

Turning the camera off for the night.

As soon as darkness arrived last night I did some more work on a series called, Revisit. Old paintings, prints and sculpture are being lit by the flashlight into a new blend of real objects and two dimensional, painted vistas.These canvases are spilling out of closets and leaning around and am tripping all over.

These light paintings will be posted here at a later point, because I'd like to get more up to date with other recent images from the summer of '10. But, thing is, I'm very excited about whats coming up on the big 3 inch viewfinder.

I got my first follower today. Thanks Joeknows.