One sheet of paper

I have been interested and posting in a Facebook group, Minimalist Photography lately.  The most recent challenge was food for some creative work today.  The challenge was to photograph one sheet of plain paper, keeping it simple.  How to do that and keep the subject of paper without gimmicks or artifice, in the Miksang way was my own added twist.  Here are some of the results.  Let me know what you think of them.

What makes a compelling photograph?

 Recently I have been pondering what makes a compelling photograph.  Perhaps it is because I have been rummaging through the more than 10,000 images on my hard drive for a select few to submit to shows, realizing that while occasionally a few may resonate with me, so many fall short.
Or maybe it is because of the many more images I see regularly by my digital photography students or on contemplative photography forums that this has arisen. As a final exam exercise, I randomly selected images from my files and had my students rank, edit and make a slideshow of them.   I included a wide variety of both "good" and "bad" images for them to consider.  I found their selections to be quite enlightening.  In some cases, students rejected what I considered my "best" and chose to rank highly images that I found pedantic, even boring.  Taste truly is subjective, but perhaps there are some key factors to consider, particularly in a time period when we are overly exposed to digital photos.

This top image stopped me in my tracks after a compelling day of mahamudra meditation (a practice of looking at the mind and sense perceptions with inquisitiveness about the direct experience.)  It is called "Emptiness/Luminosity", which are terms used to describe the fleeting yet vivid experience of the mind in the moment.  This image is compelling to me because it relates directly to my state of mind and remains as a postcard of that experience.  But does it translate to others?  This is always the open question for the artist.

 This image was one I included in the final exam exercise and the student rejected it as uninteresting, perhaps because the original was a much more neutral gray.  I find it compelling because it places man as a small entity encased in concrete with a vibrant foreground of nature.  Yet not much is happening beyond the contrast of organic and linear order.  The compelling aspect is in the contrast.  Does the image need to have a narrative?  And who supplies it?  The artist or the viewer?

Perhaps an image needs a punchline or maybe two, like this image.  To make a statement on society, or just make us laugh.  Evoking an emotion or mood can cause us to connect with an image like the quiet, abandoned feel of the image below.  I continue to consider my work in this light, with no solid answers, just more questions.  Duchamp said “What art is in reality is this missing link, not the links which exist. It’s not what you see that is art, art is the gap.” That gap happens between the work and the viewer and artist. What makes an image compelling to you?

Confronting the Impact of Profiling with Art

Frat Brother - 1994 by Rebekah Younger
acrylic and mirror on plywood

Do you feel threatened by this image?  If so, why? This weekend I was showing my work as part of Bath Artwalk's Open Studios.  Part of my display was placing my painted cutout figures in the hallway to draw attention to the entrance to my exhibit.  As I stated in my last post, these images are about how we judge people because of their appearance.  In the wake of the Trayvon Martin verdict this past week, racial profiling is making headlines, though it has been something I have been aware of my whole life, having been raised in the African American community as a white person.  These figures I painted nearly 20 years ago, but their message is as important today.  Each figure has a faceless person, with a mirror where the face should be to remind the viewer that they are both witnessing their own judgements and projections of other, as well as, asking them to put themselves in the other person's shoes. The back side of the figure is my interpretation of their spiritual body or soul.

"Frat Brother" provided me with a teaching moment today, when a neighboring artist came by and asked me to remove the figures from the hall because they were creating "negative energy."  With further conversation the woman said she didn't want her guests to feel intimidated and that the figure made her feel like she would be attacked. She claimed that she didn't notice that it was a black male figure, but how could she not?  I explained the meaning behind the work and that it was my intention to show them in this location through the weekend. She was clearly unsettled, not even aware of her programmed prejudice, a clear example of not so subtle racism. Time to confront the bias, the ignorance and the pain and suffering it causes. The figures stayed in the hall for the rest of the weekend.  I only wish that more people had the opportunity to encounter them and in turn themselves.

The Painted Figure - Inner & Outer

What does it mean to be human?  To live both the inner and outer life?  The spiritual and secular?  Through my paintings and drawings I explore this subject.  "Soul Painter" (above) is a life size cutout in plywood, painted with acrylic.  One side expresses how we define ourselves by our clothing, our consumerism, putting on an identity like paper dolls.  As observers, we make judgements about others based on their attire. The face is replaced with a mirror to remind us that though we make assumptions based on appearances, ultimately what we think of others is a reflection of ourselves and unrelated to the actual person.  The reverse side of the figure depicts an expression of the soul or spiritual body, a more universal expression.  Both may be true, relative and absolute.  But who are we really?

This piece is part of a group of works being shown in Brunswick next weekend at Greenhut Studios at the Fort Andross Mill for Friday Art Walk, July 12, 5-8 pm.  You can see more of my explorations into the nature of the human experience, both individual and social that have been created over the last 25 years at the show, along with bronze sculpture by Marji Greenhut and poured glass by Angela Antolewicz & Ryan Helean. 

Contemplating Water

Aryaloka Buddhist Center, Newmarket, NH

The Earth, Water, Fire Exhibit of my contemplative photography is on display at Aryaloka Buddhist Center from Oct. 5 - Nov. 14, 2012.   I will be speaking about my work at the center on Nov. 11 at 6 pm.  This post is part of a series of musings on the elements as I have expressed them in my art.

Ripple - 2007

The element water has always been a fascination of mine, possibly because I am a Scorpio, which astrologically is a fixed water sign. In the Buddhist mandala of elements, I identify with the clarity of the Vajra family, which is connected with water.   People often comment about my clarity of expression and I am known to get angry and self-righteous when I get too solid in my opinions.  Both are qualities of this family.

Fall Reflection - 2012

 
Yet water offers a wealth of other qualities.  It is the most adaptable of elements taking the shape of whatever contains it.  It can be as solid as ice or ethereal as mist, capable of great destruction in minutes as a tsunami or slow penetration as drops cutting through stone over eons.  Water cleanses and binds together solids, while keeping them flexible. Water as saliva makes taste possible.  Our body mass is 80% water, as blood and other bodily fluids.  Water energy is what facilitates communication as we speak of the flow of ideas, commerce or emotions. 

Snow,Drop,Mist - 2011

I have been fascinated with documenting the many faces of water as a photographer and videographer.  With so many moods, I find myself mesmerized by its ever changing nature.  We live near a creek and less than a half hour from the ocean, which gives me plenty of opportunity to explore natural bodies of water visually.  My husband loves to go canoeing and I will often bring my camera on our excursions.  "Loon" is an example of a single take video created from the canoe.  Guy smoothly paddled while I shot the footage.  A fellow grad student, Brian deAngelo composed the soundtrack.

The exhibit at Aryaloka shows just a small sample of the hundreds of images I have taken of water over the years.  You can see more at: www.rebekahyounger.com 

Contemplating earth

Yellow Triangle - c. 2006

 I awoke this morning musing on the elemental qualities of earth. To skillfully work with this world a clear understanding of the elements and how they work helps. 
So it is not surprising that so many contemplatives have spent time observing and reflecting on the qualities of earth, water, fire, wind and space.  Indeed cultures as diverse as Chinese, Celtic, Native American and more have some system of understanding life based on these elements. 
In a world where we are less in touch with our place in nature and move at a fast pace with no time to ponder these things, it is possible to lose touch with this wisdom.

I have been studying the Tibetan Buddhist system of the Five Elements.  In that system, the elements are a mandala working on three levels of existence, the coarse or physical level; the subtle or emotional/mental/non-physical level; and the secret or awakened wisdom level.

Earth is the most solid of these forces.  Indeed it is what provides ground, solidity and structure to everything. We speak of "feeling grounded", of someone as being "down to earth" or having an earthy nature when they manifest some solidity and a sense of genuine presence.  

Life & Death - c. 2012

 There is also a quality of abundance and generosity in the bounty of earth.  Everything comes from the earth, and returns to it as in "dust to dust." Chogyam Trungpa in his book, True Perception, describes earth as like a rotten log, falling apart that has become a haven for creatures and from it sprouts new trees and mushrooms. A sense of richness and fecundity are evoked in this image of the cycle of life & death.

In our bodies, the earth quality is our bones and muscles, socially it is organizational structures.  Without these structures we could not be functional either personally or as a society. Indeed it is the structures that define the functionality of the form.  Unchanneled wind/action or water/emotion or fire/passion can be ineffective, or worse, destructive without the support and structure of earth.  Resting on earth and trusting its stability allows us to build and create what is needed from the bounty it provides. When earth is out of balance, greed or rigidity can manifest.

Ultimately the awakened quality of earth is a sense of equanimity, that everything can be borne, as the earth supports everything on its surface without discrimination.

A Delicate Balance - c. 2012

These qualities are what emerge in the images I have prepared for the upcoming exhibit, Earth, Water, Fire at Aryaloka Buddhist Center, Oct. 5-Nov. 14. 
 
How do you see the element of earth manifesting in the world around you?  I'd love to read your comments.

My next post will be on the element of Water.

Upcoming Earth, Water and Fire Exhibit

Exhibit at Aryaloka Buddhist Center

October 5 - November 14, 2012

I will be exhibiting a series of photographic prints on paper and canvas, centered around the theme of earth, water and fire. Most of these were taken as part of my graduate work in 2006-2007.  My masters portfolio centered on contemplative arts practices, and more specifically photography as a tool for contemplative looking.

Earth, Fire, Water - photo montage

My art is grounded in a practice of looking, an active engagement with the phenomenal world; to look at a leaf, light on a lake or litter on a city street… to look at life; all this is part of my contemplative art practice. To look, really look, I don’t mean just glance, for “to really see takes time,” as Georgia O’Keeffe once said, “like to have a friend takes time.” It requires slowing down, opening up a non-judgmental space where genuine contact can be made. It is as Robert Irwin’s biography title states, “Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees.” It is seeing with all the senses, a process of synchronizing mind and body.

Clouds on Water - c. 2006

 My photography is integrated into the larger context of years of meditative practice as a Shambhala Buddhist.  The teachings on art and meditation of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, founder of Shambhala Buddhism; a poet and interdisciplinary artist in his own right, are at the core of my practice as an artist and teacher.  His book of collected teachings on art & meditation, True Perception have been influential in my approach to this work.
These images are part of a larger inquiry into the nature of the Five Great Elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Space), as part of my study of Vajrayana Buddhist philosophy. The entire manifested universe is composed of these elements.  They form a mandala of energetic qualities that manifest on the coarse, subtle and secret levels in all aspects of life; physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  Understanding their nature we can more skillfully work with the world as it is.

I will follow this post with more on the elements in the coming days.  

For more information on Robert Irwin, I highly recommend his biography. 

Light Moves - new work

Light Moves 2315

Light Moves 2322

Light Moves 2434

Light Moves 2605

I am fascinated by the capacity of photography to capture light in motion. There is something so evocative of unseen forces and energy alive in our world that these images express to me.  From the start, several people have commented that my approach to this medium is more as a painter than a photographer.  These are indeed paintings in light and color. 

I have been working with light and movement in photographs for several years now.  This particular series came out of a middle of the night inspiration.  I awoke in the wee hours one morning with a hunger to create.  Rather than lying in bed mulling over the process, I got up, picked up my camera and began photographing in the dark the many nightlights we have around the house, while moving the camera.  The long exposure times allowed for quite a range of movement to be captured.  These are a sampling of the 100's of images that were formed over more than 2 hours of shooting.  I was lost in the timeless world of the creative process.  Energized and exhausted I finally had to stop because the sky was lightening. 

These would be powerful as large backlit images or mounted on aluminum without frames, to feature the luminosity and bold graphic lines, reminiscent of Motherwell or Franz Kline's large canvases.  The deep black space is equally as important as the flow of line, expressing the power of open space.  Emptiness and luminosity expressed.  To see more of the Light Moves series, visit my website gallery, Photographs/Light Moves at www.rebekahyounger.com

Self Portrait for the New Year

In the realm of space which is unborn, unobstructed mind
Forms arise through the dynamic play of creativity;
Though these may come and go with the passage of time,
To join in the artistic dance is magic unceasing!

From Gega Lama; great thangka parinter (1931-1996)
Darjeeling, India
September, 1981

May your year be filled with the dance of creation! 

This image was created from a variety of photographic images including the background which is a photograph from a series I call "Light Moves." 

As I referred to in my latest Contemplative Design blog post, Georgia O'Keeffe once said,

 "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for."

Color and shape can be so eloquent.  Who needs words?

A Glut of Images

It's tough being an artist these days.  Everyone is an artist, we all have access to cameras, software that paints for us and new imagery is uploaded by the millions to personal computers and the internet daily.  Why would anyone invest in another's artwork when we are so inundated with free imagery?  It's particularly tough for those of us who are making digital photographic images.  Flickr is loaded with images, not to mention Picasa, PhotoBucket, etc.  Etsy sellers list their images for $2.50 for an artist card to $8.00 for an 8x10 (what one would expect a drugstore re-print to sell for.)  Let's face it some of those images are actually nice, but who can make a living with those prices?  And the web offers images of anything you can imagine free for viewing and downloading 24/7.  No wonder, while camera sales are soaring, photography galleries are closing.

One might look at this as the democratization of art, but could it also be the Wal-martization of art?  And are we getting better art or merely more schlock?  While anyone can buy the equipment and software to make images, what isn't happening is the training of the eye, the hand and the person to cultivate the disciplines and skills that make for an arts professional.  This makes creating an image of quality and power a hit or miss thing.

But the biggest casualty in this deluge of imagery is our ability both individually and as a culture to discern what is truly worthy of our attention and appreciation as art.  I'm not speaking of the snobbish attitude of High art versus Low art, or Art with a capitol A, but knowing the fact that visual imagery has power in and of itself as a form of communication.  And when we are barraged by a cacophony of visual imagery on a daily basis, at some point we stop looking, particularly at the subtle and possibly more refined messages as the grosser, louder or more obvious messages crowd them out. The image becomes de-valued and the image maker does too.  Not all images are worth making or viewing.  But in our gluttonous society, we want to acquire them all and just as quickly discard them for the next new thing.

What we lose in this "all images are equal" and "everyone is an artist" is respect for the work of art created by a master artist as shaman, who understands the potent forces they are working with in the phenomenal world.  One who goes beyond the noise of mental chatter to call up imagery that speaks to things that cannot be thought or spoken of in mere words.  One who has developed a relationship with the material world and mastery of their tools, cultivating an intimate connection with them, so that deeper truths can be accessed and skillfully articulated both for himself and the viewer.  But this type of work takes time and patience to cultivate, it's not about just talent, but also dedication and sacrifice.  It comes from a deeper calling to create as an act of service to something larger than one's own self-expression.  It is less about documenting and capturing what is seen as it is about giving expression to the unseen and intangible reality beyond concept.  When we experience a work of that potency we are changed by it.  Those images are rare even among the works of masters, for they are more than adornment for our ego or cataloguing of our lives through images.  They are messages from the collective unconscious calling us to wake up to the magic within our world and within us.

The Onli Influence

I've been thinking a bit about lineage and how interactions with specific people can shape and change the course of our lives and art.  One such connection has been instrumental in shaping my life on so many levels that it bears long overdue acknowledgment.

30 years ago through the doors of my frame shop in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood came the artist, Turtel Onli.  Onli had recently returned from living in Paris.  He brought along a series of drawings, his "Rhythmistic Safari", for an upcoming gallery exhibit, to frame.  These were fine pencil drawings full of energy and motion, beautifully rendered.  In seeing them I understood how he'd won the  prestigious Concours du Dessin while in France.  Thus began what is arguably one of the most complex and profoundly influential collaborative friendships of my life. One that has touched every aspect of my creative life, leading me to become a gallery owner, wearable artist, and a recent MFA graduate in Interdisciplinary Arts.  In short, the artist that I am today would not have happened without Onli's influence.
   While our friendship started as a business arrangement between artist and framer, soon we were discussing my plans to set up a gallery in the backroom of my frame shop.  The Hyde Park Art Center was next door, the center of the Imagist movement, but closed to the emerging talent present on Chicago's Southside.  It was 1980 when the Younger Gallery became the first truly alternative artist space on Chicago's Southside.   Turtel brought his experience and contacts in organizing shows from his years with B.A.G. (Black Artist's Guild), a group he'd organized in 1970.  He contributed his expertise as gallery manager, curator, exhibitor and collaborative partner for the next 6 years until the back room space was lost due to a lease re-negotiation.  In those years, Younger Gallery hosted monthly exhibits showcasing the original work of both local and international emerging artists, praised by local press, despite the undercurrent of hostility from the small minded and provincial Hyde Park "art elite."

Besides the gallery collaboration, I represented Turtel's wearable artwork at ArtExpo NYC and we worked together on several publishing ventures.  Turtel always saw what we were doing as part of the overall global art scene. His vision has always been greater than those around him which is a persistent challenge for him.  For me, he set the standard to strive for, continuing to be an inspiration and a reality check for my own creative ambitions.

It was with his prodding that I grew from being a tentative BFA graduate to a fulltime arts professional.  He was the one who badgered me to complete a painting (above) that sat on an easel in my living room for nearly 3 years unfinished.  My procrastination, doubt and hesitation could easily have been my downfall as an artist.   He taught me what it means to live your art, to live your life as an artist in all things.  With his coaching, that painting was finished and more work was done.  I learned that I worked best with a deadline.   I set up regular solo shows of my work at Younger Gallery and began networking  for more opportunities.  Through Turtel's representation one of my paintings was sold to the Urban League Collection.  In turn, I would sell his work to collectors through Younger Gallery until I sold the business in 1988.

   Selling the business was influenced, in part, by Turtel's insight into my creative process.  He observed that I would spend more time obsessively knitting than painting. So he suggested I put my art into my knits.  I had never even designed my own patterns before this, but he commissioned my first design.  From this start, I began designing individual art to wear sweaters and eventually a full line of knits.  I sold my frame shop and moved to the SF Bay Area to be part of the active fiber arts scene in 1988.  From this seed grew 21 years of Younger Knits, a business that has provided a successful living for me in the arts, selling thousands of my garments nationwide in galleries and  fine craft shows. 

Turtel visited my booth at the One of a Kind Show - Chicago in early December 2009, where I said "thank you" for suggesting this path so many years ago.  This was the first time I'd shown Younger Knits in person in Chicago though I'd been doing shows for years, so it was his first chance to see the full fruition of his suggestion.  It meant a great deal to me to have him there.

This is just a sampling of the influences and collaborations we have benefited from over the years.  More recently he was instrumental in my returning to school to complete my MFA, writing a recommendation for my application.  This was years after he'd encouraged me to do it.  If I'd done so earlier I'd be in a lot less debt today!

As an innovative creator whose vision has always been ahead of the times, much of his imagery and ideas are only now gaining mass appeal through the work of others.  These ideas were developed in his future-primitif style of "Rhythmism" in the 1970's and 80's. With this in mind, collectors would do well to add his work to their collection for the far-reaching prescient vision he expresses.  I have several of his earlier works, like "Dancer's Eye" (below) in my collection that are as fresh and meaningful today as they were avant-garde when I bought them in the 1980's.

Having worked as an illustrator for clients like the Rolling Stones, Playboy magazine and Mode Avant Garde, to name but a few, Turtel always saw his illustrative work as part of his broader vision that links high art and low art as balanced equals in the expression of the artist.

He was a pioneering independent Black comics publisher in 1980 with his book, "Nog, Protector of the Pyramides."  Since the 90's he has been committed to growing the Black Age of Comics movement.  Recognized as the "Father of the Black Age of Comics", Onli organizes an annual Comics Convention, now in its 13th year in Hyde Park that has spawned successful offshoots in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Detroit .

 He has revived the publication "Future Funk" as a fanzine of this movement, a publication he started back in the 80's, to an enthusiastic new readership.  His Onli Studios is dedicated to building a distribution network for diverse independent graphic novels created by comics artists of all races. Through this movement he is influencing the next generation of creators.

I was also lucky enough to have witnessed Turtel's work with the youth of Chicago's Southside.  Understanding the therapeutic power of art, he earned both a BFA and MAAT in Art Therapy from the Art Institute of Chicago.  While his skills would have been effective in any environment, his opportunities led to positions within the Black community.  His contributions to the lives of Black youth, in particular, have been life-changing for many.  Turtel brought innovative arts programming to the at risk and hard-core youth populations of Robert P. Taylor Homes in the 80's through the Black on Black Love program.  In that highly volatile and destructive environment, he provided models of behavior and therapeutic activities that challenged the youth to rise to their positive potential.  The results were lower crime rates and a stronger sense of community amongst those who participated in the programs.  Had he been given the full support of the funders of the project, many more would have benefited from his coaching and clear understanding of the factors at work in their lives. This was done while he also was the creative director of Akiboards, a female house techno-band, and developed his own line of wearable art.
Turtel still provides strong mentoring of youth as a Chicago high school art teacher.  He speaks regularly at Black literacy programs and carries his messages of responsibility, racial pride and anti-crime through his comix too.

In 2007, he had the opportunity to design a globe for the large scale public art Cool Globes project to be displayed along Chicago's lakefront.  This was a public art project using pre-formed globes that each artist would embellish with art designed to heighten awareness of global warming issues and what each person can do to minimize its effects.  Turtel, ever the collaborative artist, brought in high school students to help paint his design.  His creation has since been shown in San Francisco and now Copenhagen.  It has been featured by the press with color images in the New York Times and most recently in The International Times London when reporting on this project and the conference in Copenhagen.

Onli's artistic vision has always been about more than his own work, seeking creative equals to realize its full scope. While many have benefited from this, few have returned the favor.    I tell my story not because my experience with his generosity and dedication to art and artists is unique but because it has been true for so many other artists who have yet to acknowledge his impact on their careers; painters, fiber artists, musicians, dancers and more.  If we all did so, it would be clear who deserves the credit for so much of the art that has been born of Chicago's Southside since 1970, Turtel Onli. 

Flash of Perception - Preview of my upcoming book

Here is a teaser of my upcoming book called, "Flash of Perception."  The book features my photographs and mixed media artwork from the past 3 years, divided into five sections relating to the elemental energies of Water, Earth, Fire, Wind and Space.

These energies are active archetypal forces at work in all aspects of life and can be manifested in our own behaviors as either enlightened or neurotic forms.  The traditional Vajrayana Buddhist symbolism ties these forces with certain primary colors, so I have been experimenting with these saturated hues to see what impact they might have on viewers.  Can the colors actually invoke the energy?

This book is intended as an experiential artwork, a catalogue of work for sale and an object for contemplation.  If you enjoy these pages, I'll be posting ordering information here within a month so you can purchase your own copy of this book in either soft or hardcover.