Category Archives: Art

Scenes of decay

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I’ve posted this image before, but it deserves another look. I love acquired texture, the patina of life. This parking lot was once a busy scene of commerce: businesses were thriving and serving customers, until a fire wiped out most of it. Now it’s a field of rubble, but amazingly, there are a few buildings still standing, and commerce is still going on, in different forms.

But unfortunately, I don’t think this area will ever thrive again, and in my head I hear an anthem for rural American, the center of industrialism that nourished communities, that are gone and will probably relocate someplace else, and maybe provide jobs for other people who probably deserve it. But, one can feel the grief of this bygone age.

 

Snowed In

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This image is from Liminal. We had our once-annual snowstorm here (Asheville, NC) in December, and my yard buddha statue was up to its neck in snow. (It is about 36 inches high which gives you an idea how much this storm produced.)

Since there was nothing else too do, being snowed in, I wandered around the yard taking pictures, and spotted this, half in shadow and half in sun. it seemed so serene and totally representing what Zen means to me: not one thing or the other, not dark nor light but both at once – hey, that’s exactly what Liminal is all about.

This image was produced with my Sony RX100III, and cropped and curve-adjusted in Photoshop.

 

Matter and Anti-Matter

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 This is a page that didn’t make it into Liminal, although it defines the concept of the book. these are some of the transitional states that I explore, themes of not being quite one thing or another. And also, the page gave me a chance to play with typography, which is one of my favorite ways to spend time. I can take one phrase, a word even, and get lost for hours framing it in different ways, designing it in such a way that it conveys meaning or evokes some particular feeling.

Art Tunnel

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 This is one of my favorite images from Liminal (see previous post for announcement and link). The original inspiration was the door of a painter’s studio in the River Arts District, which was layered with paint, comics, playing cards, and general wear. There is something about texture that is just fascinating to me. I took a picture of the door, and layered it with a picture of another favorite subject, a tunnel. (This was one of the tunnels on the Blue Ridge Parkway, that goes under a part of the mountain. When the Parkway closed because of a storm, I hiked up and took pictures.)

After layering the images, it was a matter of applying filters and adjusting blend modes and opacity until I got the effect I was after. Aside from the visual, it appeals deeply to me because it gives me a feeling of glimpsing down into a creative space. That’s exactly why I created this image for Liminal – doors are in between one room and another, and tunnels provide access through otherwise impenetrable areas. Together, this is magic.

My book is finally out!

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So far, “iPhoneography – where reality intersects with imagination” is only available on Blurb.  But far more exciting is the fact that it is DONE and published and available.

Blurb link here:  http://www.blurb.com/b?ebook=673004

Amazon link to follow, which will include the print version.

Just wanted to give you all a heads up that it is on its way.  This volume includes my favorite photos from TheDailyGrunge, as well as a few newer works that have never made it onto the blog.  A few of the flash fictions are also included.

Calling of the Faithful

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I have a fascination with stone angels, and religious art of all kinds.  it’s not the religion itself that I’m fascinated with, it’s the naked humanity of the artist that shines through in this type of work.  There are patterns and symbols that reappear frequently, but sometimes you see something askew from the  expected ones.  Some religiously themed art works strive to evoke reverence, or a certain morality; or a confluence of culture and the structure of institutions that perpetuate a theology.  Sometimes a work of art expresses outright spirituality and the joy of being human and facing a deity.  (Andres Serrano’s “Piss Christ” is a good example.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ).

I was struck by a photo appearing in the national media of a chapel in South Africa, whose colors evoked the Piss Christ photo, and inspired the collage below.  From a prowling in a cemetery, I captured an image of an angel summoning the faithful with a trumpet.  Using a subtractive filter, I was able to add both texture and some new color interpretations of the scene.

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