I love photography. I love paintings too, but I am much more comfortable approaching photographs. With paintings, I always feel like there's something I don't know -- I feel separated from them by a wedge of intimidation. Plus there's something about the documentary impulse of photography that makes it even more poignant - like, this is the world, look how magic.
It's a big month here in New York for picture fans. From Magnum in May:
"MAGNUM IN MAY is a photographic and cultural event taking place throughout New York City in May 2004. Twenty-one museums, galleries and cultural institutions will be participating, mounting exhibitions of work by Magnum photographers."
For example, the Howard Greenberg Gallery is featuring the work of my man, HCB! (who?):
AND my man, BD! (Bruce Davidson, who took the most evocative subway
shots ever):
Those photos are wonderful. Very intimate. Intimacy seems to be out of vogue among painters these days. The last few art shows I've seen have been very technical and inhuman. Maybe this is obvious, but I've noticed that when admiring paintings, it is often the artist and his/her life and process which is more interesting than the subject of the paintings. But in photography, the artist is more invisible. I think photographers consider themselves conduits for sharing world, mute witnesses, while painters are a bit more interested in themselves and their own reaction to what they see, which can certainly be interesting, but unless they are really good, can be alienating.
Posted by: ratzlow | May 11, 2004 at 11:59 AM