GRIDLOCK

CARMAGEDDON/LA 405 is upon us. The freeway, a major N/S route through the Los Angeles basin is closed for the weekend to provide for the demolition of one side of a major bridge, the same closure to be repeated in six months for the demolition of the other side. All to improve traffic flow in my city.... or so they say.

I will be out photographing on the 405 today/tomorrow in connection with my long-term project, GRIDLOCK, a project that is very much about being a Californian, about being in a car, about being stuck in traffic. It was first exhibited in 2010 MOPLA Pro'ject LA 160 Photographers Photograph Los Angeles.

From my website: "I am photographing from my driver's window, mainly with my viewfinder-less Leica D-Lux3/now D-Lux5. Stopped. Crawling. Trapped. Riding on the clutch as I stay in 1st should the flow move on. Immobile in a place of presumed mobility. Hoping to catch that elusive abstraction even while those behind me glower and gently nudge my car along."

Due to a knee injury last summer I recently had to abandon my 5-speed standard shift car and in so doing, although I have continued the series, a major element of the chance and risk of the project has lessened and it feels like the project may be coming to an end. So.... I have decided that Carmageddon seems like a good time, the possible ultimate GRIDLOCK.

Thus today and/or Sunday, I plan to try to be somewhere in my car on the freeways or highways, probably on the 405 south of the 10, to experience and document what is happening in the same manner as I have conducted the series. Again, it is always about chance and as is seen so far, it could be a Y2K bust or, I may never get off.

So far, traffic seems to be light but I'll see firsthand in a couple of hours. http://www.405la.com


I will post some photographs during the weekend!

FINDING CHINATOWN: The Exhibition Catalogue

It's out and available at Craig Krull Gallery, even before the show (Opening Saturday July 30th)!
info@craigkrullgallery.com

See more at FINDING CHINATOWN blog.

On Photography Projects & Books

photo from Schilt Publishing Catalogue 2011
I picked this up on the FB Flak Photography Book page. I had met Donald Weber at a FotoFest review and have been a fan of his work. That said, his clarity about his intentions and the actual process of creation of his new book/project INTERROGATIONS on the linked interview from dvafoto and his book website http://interrogationbook.com/ is instructive.

I've written about editing before. As a writer and photographer I, like Donald, understand the symbiotic nature of both, even when a book is not the ultimate goal.

747 WingHouse on the Architect's Newspaper Blog

Featured by Sam Lubell in their "Sneak Peek" last week: some of my photographs from the Wing House. It's getting there!

747 House Sneak Peek
http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/18210#more-18210

Here are several new ones that I really like as well:

Working Dogs in the Garden When I'm Working

Here's the thing about working dogs: They want to work but they don't want you to, unless you're working for them. Here's also the thing about the cats: They too could care less if you put the basil in the proper pot.

Black Rothko. The Chapel. David Novros

Christopher Knight, Art Critic for the Los Angeles Times, shared this talk delivered by the artist, David Novros, on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the De Menil-commissioned Rothko Chapel in Houston, TX.

Painted Places and Patronage by David NovrosROTHKO CHAPEL, HOUSTON, TEXAS | FEB. 12, 2011

The Rothko Chapel is one of my favorite places to be silent and absorb contemplative emotive work. Dark. Pulsating. Powerful. Spiritual.

A second collection of paintings from this era sits at in the Rothko Room at the Tate Modern. Originally commissioned for New York's Four Seasons Restaurant, the paintings became overly dark and moody and Rothko withdrew from the commission and gave them to the Tate. The tale of this adventure fits nicely into Novros' discussion of place, patronage and the oft sterility of museum exhibition and purpose. http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2002/dec/07/artsfeatures

In a year of death and loss some years ago, while at the opening of Art Basel, I turned a corner at Basel's Kunsthalle and encountered a black Rothko. Its effect on me was stunning and I sat in front of it and wrote a cathartic poem, releasing the guarded emotion of time passing.

Published in an anthology, Strangers To Us All, it is below.

Novros' talk concerns artistic vision, the importance of place intertwined with vision and the benefits of patronage and what that means. Whether the Chapel or the sad discussions presently concerning the Barnes Collection, the relationship between art, its creators and the public/private inspiration is intriguing.

That said, the powerful black Rothko's for me elicit response wherever.

AsianPacific Heritage Month

May, just passed, is Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs published a terrific cultural guide and calendar. Three of my downtown Los Angeles Chinatown images from FINDING CHINATOWN are in there.






Looking forward to my summer show at Craig Krull Gallery in Los Angeles (Bergamot Station, Santa Monica), opening on Saturday, 30 July.