Surprised
To see Ray Charles go. At Detour in Manhattan last night, they played some
of his music between sets by the Brooklyn Boogaloo Breakout. It was an understated
and fitting tribute. He was an original, and his music was special.
:::
Finding Art
“Art is still not where you think
You're going to find it.
Patrick Mimran”
Spotted this billboard in Chelsea the other day. I was skulking around the
De Koonings. Gagosian Gallery. See them.
Last night, we went to the Jack The Pelican gallery for an opening. Naomi
Harris' exhibit “American Swinger: Born to be Free” was fascinating
and provocative. Naomi attended a swinger's gathering wearing nothing but a
pair of panties
and her Contax. She was granted extraordinary access to photograph these people
in – well – full swing. The results are portraits that are humorous,
calm, and surprisingly not titillating.
The subjects were ordinary people having fun and sharing pleasure. The images
seemed as if they could have been taken at a 4th of July picnic, except for
the overt
sexual
activity going on. One shot features a plate full of BBQ ribs, and another
shows depicts an onlooker brushing her teeth. It's real life. It's what people
do.
It was a bit funny to watch the response
of the visitors. One guy walked around the room and said several times “That's
not art!” I'm pretty sure he looked at every single picture. I mentioned
to one of the visitors that I thought the images were not particularly erotic,
and he disagreed. I think we're working from different definitions of the word.
Fascinating in a completely different way, was Jack Balas' “The Fun Of.” His
oil paintings are masterful and multi-layered. They are full of allusion, and
you don't mind that the allusions are not explained. There is a cohesiveness
to the work, but the pieces never fall into repetition.
Don't
follow this link if pictures of sex scare you: Jack The Pelican
Presents
:::
:::
SVA, Week2
We worked with a Profoto ring light and strobe, mixing them with tungsten lights:
a big Arri and some Lowell Omnilights. I partnered up with Johann, who's from
South Africa. Not only is he fascinating to listen to, he makes great faces.
Since there were only two of us, we got to shoot a lot. I had a problem with
a mysterious shadow on my first round of shooting. Something seemed to be in
front of the flash, but I couldn't find it. Johann shot for a while, and when
I put the ring light back on my camera, the shadow was gone. No matter, it
added an interesting bit of mystery and an added dimension to some of my shots.
Of
course, in others, it was just a nuisance – like a fly you can't swat.
I got to work with Anna again. She was great, and versatile.
After Ken saw this shot, he said he didn't need to see any more.
Ken has told us more than once that he'll get us started with the expensive
gadgets that we're using at SVA, but the point is to get creative results.
He doesn't over explain, he lets us figure it out.
:::
The annual Puerto-Rican Day parade is coming. Folks are getting ready.
:::
The noise machine has been mourning Reagan for a week now. I paid very little
attention. On Tuesday, Denise heard somebody say “I'm Reagan-ed Out.” Someone
replied “Me, too. I've been that way since Saturday.”
