Saturday, December 13, 2008

December


David
Main Street
Binghamton, NY
December 2008

I figured it would be harder to find people on Main Street as it got colder and grayer in December, and I was right. I spent four days driving and listening to the radio and drinking coffee and searching for something almost elusive.

I was frustrated, naturally, and wrote to my friend and pen pal and mentor, a writer in Minnesota, and told him what I was up to.

He wrote back: There is a certain male beauty that's very transient, and I think that's because most men become unnecessarily hard too fast. The beauty is in the mixture of vulnerability and strength, and in most men it doesn't last much after adolescence. (Charles Baxter)

David was the only guy in Binghamton who moved me in four days. I know an overly sensitive person when I see one, and these are the kind of people who make sense to me right off the bat.

David told me he was from Philly and somehow, he ended up in Binghamton. He said he hated Binghamton. He didn't have any friends, and there was nothing to do.

I asked him if he had a job, and he said he was a cook at a school down the street. I asked him if he had a dream, and he said he wanted to start an outreach program for kids on the street, since he had been on the street himself. He said he had done enough bad things in his life and he wanted to do something good.

I thought that was a pretty important thing to figure out about yourself at nineteen years old and I was glad he was so smart.

I am leaving in the morning to travel and to visit my family and I'm checking off the blog for while, so happy holidays to all and stop by again in the new year.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Eponymy



A great new store has recently opened in Brooklyn selling designer clothes, jewelry, antiques and small gifts, as well as contemporary art. The store's owner, Andrea Miller, curated an exhibition of work by emerging artists with the help of Jon Feinstein from Humble Arts Foundation.

You can read more about it in the Daily Candy: Eponomy Boutique Opens

Andrea Miller is quite possibly the nicest human being in New York City and radiates positive energy all over the place, so it is worth stopping by if you simply need some cheering up.

I even found a super soft gray t-shirt that is currently my favorite article of clothing.

And you can find a print of my White Horse on the back wall ...

Eponymy
466 Bergen Street between Flatbush and 5th
Brooklyn

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Justin James Reed


Idaho Springs, Colorado
copyright Justin James Reed

Like a lot of people right now, I am struggling in a major way with getting enough work and figuring out how to pay the rent and coming up with creative solutions for Christmas presents this year. Being a freelance artist and photographer in Gotham City post market crash feels pretty anxious and scary a whole lot of the time ... but lest I add to the doom and gloom we hear on the radio just about every day, I will say, I scraped up $20 plus shipping for my favorite cause: emerging artists.

Last year, around this time just before I left for Texas - a trip I am making again on Sunday thanks to credit cards - I bought a small print of Eric Graham's Unleaded, Unleaded, Premium Unleaded from Jen Bekman's 20x200 project. This year, I fell for Justin James Reed's Idaho Springs, Colorado image, which is jam packed with just about everything I love: snow, space, a motel, a diner, mountains, a big sky, gorgeous light and a sense of what makes the American West so irresistibly romantic and sublime. It's on my wall next to Eric's gas station, and the two make a perfect pair.

And Justin James Reed ... what a cool name ... like a pioneer or a president or an outlaw, and he even lived in Minnesota.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Critical Mass

The finalists of Photolucida's Critical Mass Book Award were announced today, and I was selected as one of the Top 50 photographers, along with friends Cara Philips, Sarah Small, Sarah Sudhoff and Alison Malone. The complete list of fifty photographers, along with the six finalists can be found here: Photolucida Blog

Friday, December 5, 2008

Big, Big Bangs/ Small, Small Bucks


I was happy to have the opportunity to send prints of two images I shot in the dead of a Minnesota winter in 2003 back to the Midwest for an exhibition opening tonight at Dean Jenson Gallery in Milwaukee. The gallery's largest show ever consists of 100 works by forty artists all priced under $750.

I am also happy that I am just weeks away from a trip home to Michigan, as I love Midwestern winters even more than I hate them.

Works included in the exhibition can be found here: Big, Big Bangs/ Small, Small Bucks

Big, Big Bangs/ Small, Small Bucks
Dean Jensen Gallery
759 Water Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
December 5th - January 24th