Manic Sunday - The Art Life

With a global shortage of Fuji's Instax Wide 300 instant camera I was forced to hunt down a used one which was very difficult too. Profiteers on Ebay were asking as much as three times the regular retail price but a local camera shop hooked me up with one and a pack of B&W film for far less than the normal price. I'm going to experiment for a while because I'm still not sure if B&W or color film will be my preference.

Hell, I might use both but the B&W film is very hard to come by. My goal is to put together a sizable portfolio of one of a kind single edition photos. In a world today of endless copies I want to treat instant photography like a painting where only one of each exists.

Going for a walk in my neighborhood with some black and white film loaded in the camera I was looking for light and shadow but not finding much of it. Since the test pack of film I was using expired in 2019 and I wasn't sure what to expect.

After taking a few photos I can say that this film loves bright light or close up flash. Flat light produces flat photos. I think it's a great film for more abstract or heavy contrast scenes and all the rest should be left to the color film which I'll be giving a try soon.

It seems artistic vision, creativity and individuality has been replaced by art market following, academic style, and a form of sameness known as zombieism. It’s become rare to find an artist today who’s not copying the trends in the art market, social turmoil or making art of famous people because it’s trendy, sellable and requires no thought. To add insult to injury you have art publications, book publishers, grant institutions, art galleries and museums further provoking this. I won’t even go into the pure stupidity of the NFT. In short this has everything to do with money and nothing to do with art. What breaks my heart is watching artists I respect fall into this vortex with only a couple realizing their mistake before too much damage was done.

If you’re creating art purely for the sake of money, copying to enhance sales and riding the trends you are not creating art, you’re creating merchandise for the sake of gain. This is causing a disconnection between an artist and subject when they’re making something they have no experience or connection to. Have you been to a group exhibition lately where all the work looks like it was created by a single artist? Well that’s part of what I’m talking about.

You have to see the difference, even with the same subject. As an artist you’re supposed to challenge yourself and not give in to conformity.

Without realizing it the rooftop water tower has been a subject across almost every medium I’ve used. The towers themselves were a part of my daily life and at one point there were a dozen in my neighborhood. I watched them get systematically removed until there was none. 

In New York City I walked on the rooftops around and under them, watched them get tagged with graffiti and sometimes fall to pieces. Even the nightclub I worked in for 5 years had one on the roof. I have a personal connection to them that goes beyond nostalgia but I never see them the same when I switch mediums and nothing outside of my own mind influences how I create them. But I’ve been told by more than one artist that I’m wasting my time because the art world no longer exists, there’s only now the art market.

                                                            Pencil on paper 2015

Photograph 2008

Mixed Media Painting 2021

Digital drawing 2021

Watercolor on paper 2022

Mixed media on canvas

Spent a few days this week at Devil's Pool without any issues so far. The light coming through the trees this time was very stark which only increased the contrast. The increased light and shadow made it more difficult to get the photos I'm after by limiting different angles but it did allow me to use faster shutter speeds to freeze motion.


Right now my preference is a mostly cloudy day which allows me to photograph from the entire perimeter. While I have to use a slower shutter speed on cloudy days I can use flash for portraits.

While I'm on the subject of Devil's Pool; I'm keeping a diary of thoughts, notes, ideas and reminders during a project. My memory isn't as good as it used to be so I thought this was a good idea. I gave thought to doing the recordings digitally on my tablet, making cassette tapes, and video recordings on my computer but in the end I wanted something both physical and visual. After all, visual artists should be visual. I ended up using a large drawing tablet with a page or two dedicated to each day I go to Devil's Pool with a couple of photos I took during that day.


My only regret is that I didn't begin making diaries 20 years ago.