Hi all:
My weekend is shaping up to be a bit on the full-side, so I thought I would throw you off by doing an early AM blog entry today. I'm feeling like I got the first decent night of sleep in weeks - so this should be at least as coherent as my normal ramblings - maybe even more so!
Blogging music today is Longwave - "The Strangest Things." Besides this being one of my all time favorite albums, it is the perfect choice right now. The melancholy feel matches the rainy day outside - but it isn't pessimistic. The energy is pure rock, which is a great wake-up call in the AM, but it has elements that are very chill- which means you don't have a headache before you finish your first cup of English Breakfast Tea.
So, this week has been a weird one my friends. As the title indicates, there's been some offending going on. The odd thing is that there is a plethora of offenders - myself included. Let's start with that. Remember how I mentioned in my last entry that dropping in to see my scanning guru Tom unannounced might have been a bad idea? Well, turns out I was right - I emailed him to apologize and got a reply that was fairly pleasant by anyone else's standard of outrage, but for him, it was clear he was massively pissed-off. You know how there are certain people in this world you both want and need to keep happy? Your hairstylist/barber, auto mechanic, bike mechanic and plumber are folks that come to mind. Well, in my situation, Tom also falls into this category. Could I go out, spend a bunch of money on a very hi-res scanner and do this myself? Sure. Do I want to? Definitely not. Plus, he's got mad retouching skills - I consider mine solid, but his are on a completely different level. And with what he's charging me, it is really worth having him handle this crucial part of the process for me. So, Tom, if for some odd reason you're reading this, once again, my bad!
Next offender - Flatfile Gallery. Now, you might ask - how can they possibly offend if they are no longer open? Well, remember that the gallery decided to fulfill its obligations and honor the rest of their exhibition schedule for the year - the shows are just being installed at other spaces and Flatfile's former director is guest curating.
Well, I happen to fall into the category of artists who had a show on the books when the gallery closed. It's a group show, and the way we left it was that the director would let me know once a decision was made on which work she wanted to include. I wasn't given a date for the show, but assumed that was still being worked out. Anyway, a couple of days ago, I popped onto the Flatfile website and noticed the show opens on June 19th. But, I figured that had to be a mistake. My name is on the site as being a part of the show, but I hadn't been notified as to which work the curator wanted or when it was due. It was probably just an old date from before the gallery closed and things were finalized, right? Wrong.
One of my friends coincidentally happens to be in the show as well, and yesterday I got an e-mail from her announcing her participation. When I responded saying that I hadn't been contacted, she said "that's funny, because your name is on the promo card/invite that went out." Here's a copy of it:
Now, ladies and gentleman, I've been doing this for a long time now - but never in my entire career has a promo card gone out with my name on it for a show I'm not participating in. I'm kinda torn between being completely outraged and laughing my ass off. The reason for being completely outraged is pretty obvious I'm guessing. But, the reason I find this so humorous is that it is the perfect end to my imperfect relationship with this gallery. It just feels very fitting somehow that my swan song with this place involves a complete cluster fuck and total lack of respect. I thought about e-mailing the director, but you know what? This makes the break even cleaner. Screw 'em - onto better things. However, I may send an e-mail to my list letting everyone know that I am not participating, just in case they saw the promo. The best part is that I'm sure she'll turn this around somehow and make it out to be my fault.
Now, if that wasn't enough offense for the week, I happened upon another article in Aperture Magazine that really rubbed me the wrong way. The only solace in it is that this guy probably offended a huge percentage of the photography world as well. The article was an interview with Philip Jones Griffiths - a reportage photographer who is a long-standing member of Magnum and whose photos of the Vietnam War are perhaps some of the most well-known images from that conflict. A supremely talented guy, but completely narrow-minded and ignorant as well.
In this interview, Griffiths speaks about how he began shooting and that to him, photojournalism is the only worthwhile pursuit within the medium. He in fact states that when he first started out, he realized that "...to be doing anything else with a camera would have been an insult to photography." He further goes on to state that "...by my standards, photojournalists can be great artists, whereas those generally referred to as 'art photographers' cannot," and "...by my definition, 'art photography' fails to make the grade because it lacks content." He even had the gaul to state that "...art photography is more often a private pursuit by con men." Well, they say the best offense is a good defense, so here we go.
Now, I know that this guy has been shooting for decades and has seen more of the world than 99% of us have. And I know that, as many of us get further on in our careers, we bear witness to drastic changes in the world and our chosen professions, many of which we perceive as bad - in some cases because it's true and in others because change is simply scary for those who are set in their ways. But, I find it completely prejudiced, self-important, and even irresponsible for someone so respected in the photographic community to say "what I do matters, and everyone else is insignificant." Mr. Griffiths, you claim that art photography isn't democratic - but the views you presented are the least inclusive of all. Forget my work for a second, which is art photography in a very pure sense (and I feel has plenty of content, but I'm a little biased). How about people like Stieglitz, Adams, Crewdson, Parada - I could go on forever! I guess this just goes to show that even some of our best image makers don't really understand art.
So, I offended and was offended - such is a week in the life of an artist. Maybe I got my year's allotment out of the way all in one week. Time will tell. In the meantime, we brush it off our shoulders and move on. We all have our pursuits in life, and one of mine is creating imagery. I feel it to be a worthwhile one.
Have a good weekend everyone - and play nice if you can.
-Marc
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