It was a forced effort (as every effort seems to be these days, for me).
RELEVANT POINT-
-I drove my toyota corolla 30 minutes downtown to attend this damn lecture, and accidentally parked my car wrong and got it impounded. $185 to get it back. NO LIE.
His work appears “staged”. “planned”. There is nothing remotely “unique” about any of these photographs, these pictures, except that the people in them are foreign to me. I didn’t know who they were (until now, at least). The pictures were color portrait images of the artist's parents during the stages that led to their divorce. They divorced in the late stages of their life. The divorce led to attempted suicides, accidents, and permanent HATE for one another.
I (meaning me) raised his (my) hand in the crowded audience and asked the artist a question during the Q and A session:
“Do you feel that you are walking a dangerous tightrope since you are exploring such confessional subject matter”? “I kept hearing echoes of Sylvia Plath’s poem, DADDY, when you presented your photowork, and explained your “process” of documenting your actual parents as they crumbled apart”.
DOUG DUBOIS (the acclaimed photographer that this Blog refers to) swayed/avoided answering my question (obviously affected), but maintained direct eye contact with me. He pretended to answer my question by defending his artistic subject-matter with humor by explaining to the audience that his sister, brother and his nephew all understood what he was doing by taking these pictures.
I had to ask him again, this time more emphatically…
“THAT WAS NOT MY QUESTION”. Again (and politely) I went:
“My question to you was, DO YOU, THE ARTIST, FEEL THAT YOU ARE ENTERING INTOA DANGEROUS PLACE FOR YOURSELF EMOTIONALLY BY DEALING WITH SUCH PERSONAL AND DEVASTATING MATERIAL? MATERIAL THAT YOU USE A CONFESSIONAL AESTHETIC? AND DO YOU DISCOURAGE OTHER ARTISTS TO GO IN THIS TYPE OF A DIRECTION”?
He answered carefully, and contemplating direct eye contact with me, “YES”.
RELEVANT POINT-
-I drove my toyota corolla 30 minutes downtown to attend this damn lecture, and accidentally parked my car wrong and got it impounded. $185 to get it back. NO LIE.
His work appears “staged”. “planned”. There is nothing remotely “unique” about any of these photographs, these pictures, except that the people in them are foreign to me. I didn’t know who they were (until now, at least). The pictures were color portrait images of the artist's parents during the stages that led to their divorce. They divorced in the late stages of their life. The divorce led to attempted suicides, accidents, and permanent HATE for one another.
I (meaning me) raised his (my) hand in the crowded audience and asked the artist a question during the Q and A session:
“Do you feel that you are walking a dangerous tightrope since you are exploring such confessional subject matter”? “I kept hearing echoes of Sylvia Plath’s poem, DADDY, when you presented your photowork, and explained your “process” of documenting your actual parents as they crumbled apart”.
DOUG DUBOIS (the acclaimed photographer that this Blog refers to) swayed/avoided answering my question (obviously affected), but maintained direct eye contact with me. He pretended to answer my question by defending his artistic subject-matter with humor by explaining to the audience that his sister, brother and his nephew all understood what he was doing by taking these pictures.
I had to ask him again, this time more emphatically…
“THAT WAS NOT MY QUESTION”. Again (and politely) I went:
“My question to you was, DO YOU, THE ARTIST, FEEL THAT YOU ARE ENTERING INTOA DANGEROUS PLACE FOR YOURSELF EMOTIONALLY BY DEALING WITH SUCH PERSONAL AND DEVASTATING MATERIAL? MATERIAL THAT YOU USE A CONFESSIONAL AESTHETIC? AND DO YOU DISCOURAGE OTHER ARTISTS TO GO IN THIS TYPE OF A DIRECTION”?
He answered carefully, and contemplating direct eye contact with me, “YES”.
BLOG SUMMARY
Blogger criticizes photographer for not entering into therapy.
KEY TERMS
lecture divorce
Sylvia Plath tightrope
STUDY QUESTIONS
Is confessional creativity harmful to ones health?
Is direct eye contact a prerequisite for honesty?
