Final Project

Artist’s Statement
(Color Photo – Burnt Negative Series)

My grounding and perspective as a painter taking pictures has recently led me to investigate the abstraction of photography. In certain painting styles there is a sense of action conveyed with a dance of brushstrokes, paint splatter, and drips co-mingling together to create atmosphere and feeling often devoid of content. It is my intention with this series of printed negatives, which have been intentionally damaged by fire, to emulate this kind of painting and strip away the representational aspect that is so ingrained with the medium of photography. It is my hope that these photos in a larger scale will draw in the viewer to look at and examine the loss of information and be affected by the empty and open atmosphere. It is my contention that we are often overloaded with visual data and the inserted messages or meaning of the reality captured by most photographs. This series offers an escape from this and allows the viewer openness for a more personal meaning or relevance.

The meaning and content that can be derived from this series is ambiguous, yet is meant to allude to a connection between the micro and macro worlds. This lack of clarity allows the viewer to select what world or atmosphere they are peering into, ranging from the microscopic level, perhaps a deep sea environment, to looking at some nebulous celestial body in outer space. Also, the process of transforming an image of reality via fire and the resulting cavernous holes symbolize the true nature of our world. Our perceptions of the world as being stable and concrete are, in fact, not a scientific model. This model tells us other dimensions exist around us and that everything at a fundamental level is in a state of change. There are holes in reality and these are the windows offering a glimpse beyond the veil.

My approach when I am creating is usually a process of examining things that would normally be overlooked or discarded. The uselessness of something that has been destroyed is put on a pedestal which allows flaw and damage to elevate a perceived ugliness and to expose a true, intrinsic, and sublime nature. For me, this process is tied to a fascination with theoretical physics and ideas of hidden dimensions or realities. I have a strong desire to find that which is veiled or hidden and to decode the symbolic or mysterious in everything around us. I am expecting that the viewer will be more examining of reality and walk away with a better ability to see beauty, especially with that which has not been deemed worthy of being labeled as such, yet is inherently beautiful.

Recreating a piece of art through Photography

Pretty straight forward. I love classical paintings and have traveled to many places in Europe and Italy including the Sistine Chapel. I chose to reproduce Michaelangelo's image of God reaching out to touch Adam's hand which is one of the main pieces on the Chapel ceiling. I originally wanted to use my wife's hand reaching out to my son, but he is a toddler and did not participate easily so i ended up using my hand as Adam. I had wanted to play on the whole life giving Mother thing and a female image of God and Goddess idea but i couldn't. The background is a watercolor painting i made to simulate the cracks in the original.

My Attempt

Michaelangelo's

God was a little irritated that Her hand cramped up

Art About a Compelling Life Issue

Ed is a friend of the family who recently became homeless after his stepfather died last year. Ed lived with my parents for a while during this past winter. We are certain Ed has some mental and social/communication issues, but he is a harmless person. He is very quiet and we all came to suspect he is a high functioning autistic adult who had never been diagnosed. From what we can gather he was also abused by his mother at a young age. He has never worked nor would he really be able to. I am not even sure that he understands the situation he is in - he sort of has friends and people he knows and he will just show up for a 'visit' and wanders around town this way. He is not hard to find and many family members drive around between YSU campus the hospital and the rescue mission to spot Ed walking and give him food or money. My parents can no longer let him stay at their home, but he does stop occasionally for food and a shower. We have tried everything to find him programs or anything to get him help for his situation. Everything is a dead end. He is not a drunk, a drug addict, nor is he insane. He is actually quite intelligent when you get him talking and or if he talks about chess moves.
When I started thinking of what I could do for a project that shows a compelling life issue I thought of Ed and his situation and how he has fallen through the cracks. Autism is big news today and everyone (including myself) immediately thinks of young children when the subject comes up. I began to wonder about these children as the grow up and what eventually becomes of them. It is a sad statistic that many fall out of the system and no longer recieve any government help after turning eighteen, and even worse, a very high percentage of autistic children end up on the streets. These are very powerful images to me because i have a two year old son and the thought of him being homeless is unimaginable and devastating. My son shows no signs of being autistic and in fact displays the total opposite personallity of a very bright, communicative, and interactive toddler. I thank god or whatever it is that is greater than myself everyday for the blessing of having a perfect son. Anyway this project is a story series. First the subject is presented, then my son with little people lined up and portrayed as the autistic child. Next I skip to Ed, and finally the little people toys again that represent those individuals that just 'fall through the cracks'.

Truth

This project is about the learning process of using a medium format camera for the first time. Exploring any new medium (no pun intended) is always interesting to me and so I decided to couple this with the exploration of a totally foriegn environment as the subject matter. Searching for found objects and places is always fun to me and working in pouring freezing rain with a malfunctioning camera turned out to be my truth aspect of the project. When I devoloped my very first roll of 120 film I had 5 negatives - the rest were blank - the exact number of prints required of me. I enjoy finding abandoned, run down, desolate places and pulling from the resources available the items I deem worthy of a closer inspection. This is what i am presenting. Many responses to this project included feelings akin to an M. Knight Shyamalan movie and/or a creepy serial killer witching ground atmosphere. This couldn't be further from the mundane truth I was trying to capture. I was mainly interested in the passage of time, the why and how of the formation of the 'clump' of grass I found, and what natural forces made this 'mini crop circle' come into being etc. This clump was surely something we would normally be unware of and overlooked - and that to me made it become even more meaningful.

My colorful Turtle from Belize

On a recent cruise vacation I had the wonderful oppurtunity to visit the ancient mayan city of Xunantunich which is in Belize. I was also fortunate enough to visit Chichen Itza, but while in Belize I picked up this colorful turtle and some worry dolls. Likely to me that they are mass produced in China, but supposedly authentic and hand made by local mayan decendants. Either way I think they are beautiful, so here are some different ways i decided to photograph them.