An Introduction to my latest series; a work-in-progress.
I have been making art seriously since 1970. Whether working in photography, painting, drawings, prints or video, the efforts are always done as a series. Though I was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease in the late 1990s, this did not affect my methods for another twenty years. Then, slowly, betrayal. With increasing visual impairment, my approach to making art required change.
First, my central vision became distorted, then slowly “whited out.” Dr. Tsang, my opthamologist, said it was progressive, but I would never go blind. I would always have peripheral vision. “What about driving? And reading? Drawing?” I asked. He didn’t answer.
Accepting this, in 2017, I stopped doing commercial work to concentrate solely on my art, and began making plans to leave New York City. In the two plus years it took to sell, move, rent, buy, and move in, I stopped painting. I continued writing, but I knew that my next efforts would focus on how to express myself with diminishing visual skills.
To that end, in 2019, I began a new series: I call it INSIGHT. I cannot replicate my vision for you (nor do I want to) only convey my experience; that is, my frustration and my vulnerability – but also my joy while finding a method for making meaningful images. My creative journey IS the destination. INSIGHT is my paper trail.
First efforts were prints; a combination of free verse and past paintings or photos. I bound replicas in a softcover volume. Three months later, I republished it with additional explorations. Available here.
Desiring a larger format, a year later I published a limited edition broadsheet INSIGHT 3: LEMONADE.
Nine months later, I followed that with INSIGHT 4: EXPRESS. I have found a direction. These are my strongest images. In the published tabloid, they are accompanied with a running narrative. If INSIGHT 1, 2 and 3 are day trips, EXPRESS is a long term encampment. Available here.
In the Fall o 2022, I began INSIGHT 5. I am calling it HOPE. I write about it in the post EUREKA!
(This post and the next are sticky posts that introduce this site. After that begin my posts in chronological order.)