Flowers
are ubiquitous and appeal to almost everyone
for a plethora of reasons, reasons almost as
varied as the shapes, sizes, and color of flowers
themselves. Yet, how many times do we walk by
a flowerbed awash in color and merely remark,
“how pretty”? Some are drawn to
flowers because of color, others because of
shape, still others to their scent. Flowers,
especially large massings, provide rest for
the eye and the soul. Our own extensive gardens
(where I created eight of the present images)
lie along a semi-public path and passersby seldom
fail to comment on how much they enjoy walking
past.
Flowers
have become on of my favorite subjects, yet I
largely avoid the kind of documentary photography
that characterizes horticultural catalogs. Instead,
I concentrate my mind, and by extension the camera
lens, on small sections – a single petal
or the edge separating two different parts of
the flower, or subtle changes in hue and tone.
I am more interested in meanings and emotional
impact than with literal truth, whatever that
is. My goal is to look beyond the obvious, seeking
the interplay of color, line, edge, and pattern
in unexpected ways. It is the unforeseen that
catches the eye and delights the spirit. Sometimes
I place flower upon flower, other times I superimpose
a group of flowers on top of a nearby building
or a statue, almost in a fusion of the natural
and the constructed, or create washes of colors
similar in concept to Impressionist painting.
Not satisfied merely with flowers, my eye sometimes
catches on the leaves and engages them playfully
or seriously.
One
may talk about the meaning in art and you, gentle
viewer, may well ask what meaning there is in
these images. I challenge you to find your own.
Although I personally have titles for some of
these images, they relate more to my personal
history, and so for this exhibition I have deliberately
chosen not to supply them in an endeavor to free
you from the limitations of my vision and vocabulary.
Engage these images, dream with them, establish
your own rapport, and some of them may speak to
you.
Yet,
we are used to titles, and since one may have
need to identify a specific image, numbers seeming
too trite, I have borrowed an idea from the composer
Edward Elgar and assigned each image the initials
of a fellow photographer, mentor, or friend who,
in some way, has been influential in my creative
work. One’s work is essentially a collaborative
process, with influences by artists from distant
locations or of previous generations whom one
has never met, influences from one’s own
teachers, influences from colleagues and fellow
artists, and influences from friends in their
personal responses to one’s work. I could
not possibly hold an exhibition large enough to
honor all those who, over a long life and from
a multiplicity of mediums, have something to say
here (interpreted through my own vision). In the
same way that the theme of this exhibition is
very selective, I have been similarly selective
in the choice of image names. Some have already
seen their initials, and some individuals have
guessed correctly at a few of the others. I doubt
that there is anyone who could deduce them all,
though I have provided some hints.
In
this day of digital imagery and the ready availability
of image processing programs such as Photoshop,
I find it necessary to say that every image in
this exhibition was captured on film in just the
way that you see them before you and there has
been no manipulation of any image once the film
came out of the camera. Although these are all
digital prints, there has been no digital manipulation
of the original film images.
Namasté
Wichita, 2005
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