Truthful Fictions
The camera cannot miss the words that are destined to arrive. Intoxicated by a hint of the fantastical,
and the voices of seminal artists, I placed my camera in a space of time. I discovered the demands of connecting dates and places within a revolution of continuous art history. How remiss would the camera have been to not advance, frame after frame, like a reconnaissance sniper in the naked woods.
My camera hears secrets. Thousands have posed before and will after this day.
Artists of various generations have been influenced by many; in a similar manner, many have been influenced by those generations. I was never photographing just one person. I was attempting to photograph every voice associated with the entire DNA of modern art in a single frame.
It was like a witch’s brew—a promise that night will follow day, and the morning will become night. When I visit the studios of most artists I am invariably invited to see more than I previously knew.
The artist Ellsworth Kelly welcomed me into his home, then, with great care, took me by the arm. He turned me around and we walked the land like two characters out of Rølvaag’s Giants in the Earth.
The artists’ hands pointed the way, and touched the wind. I followed this aged man ageless stroller across his grounds, and property in silence. He shared a few words before we paused in our reflections…
For a brief glimpse over the artist’s shoulder I saw two men in a mirror (the shape of his works,) the artist, and the man with the camera. I knew we would make a visual memory with the mere shutter heard.
Entering his house and studio reminds me of a visual marriage between the movie Ex Machina with
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tome “The House of the Seven Gables”. It was like an exploration of minimalist darkness— eerie and alone, with sounds and ideas lurking behind corners. I was not scared, but a bit frightened of the unknown.
Kelly the artist was like a single thread amidst the tapestry of art history. His work has become part of the fabric of contemporary art history. If you stare long enough into his canvases you will see the life of a planet; your dreams can carry you wherever you need them to be. You might meet head-on the way we decipher the history of who we are. His vibrant geometrical shapes, spoke to you if you listened.
