I Met a Unicorn

Unicorn
Austin, Texas
copyright Barry Stone

Since I couldn't make it to Texas (and I'm just about over that now), I'm happy to report that Texas is coming to me. Well, not just me. Good friend and photographer Barry Stone is exhibiting seven photographs in his third solo exhibition at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery opening Friday March 26th. Originally from Texas, Barry spent some years in New York teaching at the ICP. He currently lives in Austin near my favorite place to swim, Barton Springs, and teaches at Texas State University in San Marcos. Barry is also the author of a beautiful photo blog, YES YES YES, as well as a new blog specifically devoted to images of Texas, O EMPIRE WIDE AND GLORIOUS.

According to the press release for this upcoming exhibition of his recent work:

Barry Stone employs a wide variety of practices as a means of generating singular images. His approach includes "straight" photography, rephotographing, computer-rendering, and manually reworking, and does not value one method above another. Instead, Stone takes an egalitarian view of image-making. At a time when an explosion of photographic imagery can seem to dilute the medium to an infinite stream of information, Stone displays a considered selection which exemplifies his varied approaches. Through the seven photographs, he has slowed the eye to focus on points within his photographic practice.

In two photographs—one of a "unicorn" at a children's party, the other of a woman pointing her digital camera at a sunset—the conceptual focus of the image is enclosed in the framing of a scene observed by Stone through the lens of his camera. Another work in the show is a rephotographed image of an oil painting, an image within an image. In a third piece, Stone employs the conceit of the self-referential image again by spray-painting an arc on a photograph of a corner space and rephotographing, collapsing the pictorial space back into abstract elements.

The image Alan Greenspan as a Rainbow in Washington D.C. on October 23, 2009, 12.20.2009 was created by sampling the colors of a Washington Post press photograph of Greenspan testifying in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and creating a gradient rainbow from those colors, a nod to the connection between photography and currency, neither of which is tied to a gold standard that delineates a definitive value.

Stone's photographs deal with the problems of description in photography, and can reflect our perceptions of reality as we acknowledge the factors which inform their production and interpretation.His aesthetic in this regard is as indebted to the language of painting as it is to the language of advertising as it is to capitalist production.

I Met a Unicorn
Barry Stone

Klaus Von Nitchtssagend Gallery
438 Union Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

March 26 - April 25
opening reception Friday, March 26, 7 - 9pm

Dreamers

Frye
Dreamers Adult Video Store
Austin, TX
Christmas Day, 2009

I stopped to take photographs in the parking lot of Dreamers, and it felt serendipitous that Frye got out of his car and happily agreed to step into the picture. Thank you for making my Christmas Day. Frye told me that he was a DJ in a strip club in Dallas and he was in Austin for the night. He was as spontaneous and likable as they come and tried on different outfits that he pulled from his car. It felt like we could be friends - like we were friends.

Frye is the first person I have photographed to invite me to be his friend on facebook. Welcome to my neurotic world of facebook, Frye. Is yours as compulsive, voyeuristic, riddled with temptation and torture as mine? Who and what do you spy on? What landmines lie in your past and present, occupying this single space?

Until we meet again in Texas, let's stay in touch here. Let's be less alone together. Let's hope each other's dreams come true. Let's take care of each other when they don't.

Leaving for Austin

Mustang Jewelry & Pawn Shop
Austin, TX
July 2009

Whatever Was Splendid

I have recently wrapped up the printing stage for the next show on my horizon - Whatever Was Splendid - a group exhibition curated by photographer and director/editor of SeeSaw Magazine, Aaron Schuman, exploring the legacy and influence of Walker Evans on contemporary American photography. The exhibition opens at the Fotofest Biennal 2010 in Houston on March 12 and also includes work by Will Steacy, Micheal Schmelling, Greg Stimac, Jason Lazarus, Jane Tam, Richard Mosse, Craig Mammano, Todd Hido, Hank Willis Thomas, and RJ Shaughnessy.

The broader theme of this year's Fotofest is Contemporary U.S. Photography and there are four additional exhibitions at the festival. Assembly: Eight Emerging Photographers from Southern California, curated by Charlotte Cotton, examines the region's place in the American mythos. Medianation, curated by Gilbert Vicario, explores the interrelationship between the digital image and notions of process and performance in contemporary art. Discoveries of the Meeting Place showcases ten artists discovered at last year's Fofofest Biennial portfolio review. And Road to Nowhere, curated by Natasha Egan, addresses issues of politics, surveillance, race, war, and economic insecurity in the United States. This show includes work by one of my favorite contemporary photographers, Victoria Samubunaris, who is currently making road trips in West Texas to shoot new images of the American landscape.

More information about Fotofest can be found on their website: Fotofest 2010 Biennial

Jose

Jose
Barton Springs
Austin, TX
June 2009

Alberto and Jessica

Alberto and Jessica
Barton Creek
Austin, TX
June 2009

April and Raleigh

April and Raleigh
Barton Creek
Austin, TX
June 2009

Barton Creek

George
Barton Creek
Austin, TX
June 2009

In August of 2007, my brother took me to Barton Springs in Austin because he knows how much I like to swim. The calm water of this spring-fed swimming hole was surprisingly cold at first despite the summer heat. I fell in love with the springs at once and found a Jesus Boy amongst the nymphs at the water's edge. Now whenever I go back to Austin, it is the first place that I go.

Barton Springs was described in The Unforeseen, a documentary film about development that threatened to contaminate the springs, as the "spiritual center" of Austin, and it's hard not to feel that on some level. Sometimes in the summer, there are hundreds of bodies lying on the grass, floating in the water, and walking along the trails.

The pool is surrounded by a fence, and it costs a few dollars to get inside. Two distinct communities are separated by the fence: those who can pay to swim and to tan on the lawn, and those who congregate at the edges where the water from the springs spills into the creek. The division is obvious - the right and wrong side of the tracks, so to speak.

The wrong side of the tracks is comprised of teenage boys and girls, pot-smokers, beer-drinkers, hippies, runaways, war veterans, dreamers, lost souls, ex-cons, low income families, young couples and more than a few pit bulls. Some of the regulars could be found there every day, and the economy and joblessness seemed to create even more of a haven for drifters from all parts of the country who found refuge in Austin.

I never anticipated my growing collection of tattooed male chests ... which were everywhere near the creek. Encountering George along the trail brought to mind Jacob on Main Street in Binghamton. They were both walkers and loners whose bodies were covered with cryptic messages and rippling muscles. Both were almost startling in their beauty and their rebel vulnerability. Both were so open and sincere and glad to be noticed. Perhaps it is the same picture in another time and place.

Found in Austin

arthouse

Yesterday afternpon, I stopped by my favorite art space in Austin, The Arthouse at the Jones Center, to take a look at the current exhibition, New American Talent: The Twenty-fourth Exhibition curated by Hamza Walker. I first discovered the Arthouse during the summer of 2007 and wrote about that year's New American Talent show on my blog.

I didn't find as much good photography in this year's show, though I did like some black and white images of families shot by Amy Grappell accompanying a video piece. The other two photo series on exhibit involved considerably more stylization, campiness and staging. Amy's work is straightforward and curious - evoking early work by Bill Owens of families in suburbia.

Besides showing work by emerging artists, one of the coolest things about the Arthouse is the architecture of the space itself and its history. In the 1920's, the Arthouse was a thriving movie theatre on Congress Avenue, the Queen Theatre, which then became a Lerner's department store in the 1950's. Now a sleek contemporary art space, the Arthouse is currently undergoing a major expansion which will include three new galleries, two artists' studios, a 90-seat community/screening room, and a 5,500 square foot rooftop with a movie screen. Enough to make even Minneapolis and New York jealous.

The Arthouse also has a blog, THE ARTHOUSE BLOG, which is now listed in the Artist Resources section of Culturehall's homepage.

Pictured above:

"Space Suit Form with a Burden of Platonic Solid Talismans," 2009, Garland Felder

"The Kings of Hearts," 2008, Stephanie Bernstein

Texas State University

Damn - it is HOT down here. I drove out to Texas State University in San Marcos this morning with photographers and photo professors, Barry Stone and Ben Ruggerio, to give a talk about my work to a group of photo classes and to participate in a critique for Barry's summer intensive course.

As someone who is trying to shoot work in Texas, it was interesting for me to get an idea of what kinds of things Texans are photographing in their own region. At one point, we looked a work by a young woman who is shooting drag queens alongside work by a young man who is shooting Mormon missionaries. Both are hoping to portray their subjects in a sympathetic light. We also looked at interiors of a Baptist church, southern landscapes reminiscent of Walker Evans and William Eggleston, and a series of male nudes in lingerie quite unlike anything my green eyes have seen before.

Took an afternoon siesta in the A/C ... now I'm going swimming.

The latest from TX ...

I might have the swine flu. Or malaria. I definitely have poison ivy. I'm covered with itchy bug bites. I'm running high fevers and coughing and sniffling. My muscles are killing me. I stayed in bed for nearly two days.

I am flying to Minneapolis tomorrow - yay!

Snow's

Thirty-six hours after my flight was originally scheduled to leave LGA, I finally touched down in Austin last night with lighting bolts in the summer sky and one hundred degree heat and humidity.

My brother drove us to Snows's BBQ in Lexington to kick things off Texas-style bright and early this morning. Snow's is only open on Saturdays, and ever since the Texas Monthly and then The New Yorker exposed this little shack as the best BBQ in Texas, the brisket disappears by 10am.

Hershey above cooked the meat, and we put away several pounds of beef brisket, pork ribs and chicken. Afterwards, I watched my nephew snuggle with a baby calf in Snow's backyard, and I just might stick to smoothies for the rest of the month.

Lamar Blvd.

Damian
Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX
December 2008

Waco

Waco, TX
December 2008

Crawford

Jean
Parking lot of the Coffee Station
Crawford, TX
2008


Mary, Perri and Kendall
Crawford, TX
2008

Crawford, Texas is home to George Bush's ranch, where Cindy Sheehan camped out for twenty-six days in 2005 seeking an explanation from the President of the "noble cause" for which her son, Casey, died in the war in Iraq.

The New Yorker ran a story this past October, Exile on Main Street, describing the waning popularity of the (almost former) president in Crawford. Seven gifts shops selling Bush souvenirs have dwindled to two that keep regular hours.

I got directions to Crawford from the tourist information center in Waco and drove about twenty miles west on small highways. The clerk at the information center circled Bush's ranch on a map and highlighted the Coffee Station where the President eats his hamburgers. She told me if you drive on Prairie Chapel Road towards the ranch, you reach a point where you get stopped by secret service men and you can't take any photographs. I never made it quite that far down Prairie Chapel Road, where I drove alone past fields and ranches until a pick-up truck made me a little nervous.

I did stop at the Coffee Station and ordered a BLT instead of a hamburger, and the waitress gave me an extra free pink lemonade when I paid the bill, as people so often are either exceptionally friendly or exceptionally suspicious when you have a camera. I will also venture to say that Texan hospitality goes a long way, and there is something to be said for manners and friendliness.

The Coffee Station was nearly empty, and a cheap cardboard stand-up of President Bush was leaning in a corner. I took a photograph of Jean in the parking lot outside, where she was taking a cigarette-break. Jean, who moved to Crawford from Waco to be with her partner, still seemed proud of the fact that Bush gave Crawford a claim to fame, and she had seen him on more than one occasion. She said this is not how she dresses when the President is around.

These young women - Mary, Perri and Kendall - also talked about their experiences with the President and said they had been photographed with him on more than one occasion.

Lately, I have been taking more photographs of people, and I am curious about what people think about where they are at this moment in time, and what makes that place different or the same as anywhere else.

Anyone with ideas of where I might find editorial assignments along these lines, please don't hesitate to write ...