Monday, November 23, 2009

"You Know What You Should Do?"

(I don't know who took this image. I think the photographer is unknown.)

(OK. I'm an idiot. The photo is by Jindřich Štyrský. He died in 1942, so I can't ask permission. But oh how I wish to take photos like this. The only one I know who could do it is Jan Bernhardtz.)

I've been getting a lot of advice and criticism lately. It is what happens, I am finding, when people actually look at what you are doing.

"I don't know if you want to hear this, but I think that if you really want to help your blog, you shouldn't post every day. You should only post when you REALLY have something to say."

That was the advice of someone I know. It is good advice, really. I have said so myself. But hearing it from someone else just when the blog's visitor count has doubled is. . . well, something difficult.

I've gotten lots of help lately, from everywhere. I've gotten criticism from the people with whom I'm in an art show.

"You can take my stuff down. I don't care. I was happy just to be included in the show. Take my work and tape it to the sidewalk. I don't care. After we're done with mine, though, let's talk about yours."

Me. That is my M.O. The people in the show, though, don't want to talk about that.

"That woman who comments on your blog really doesn't like nipples."

Yea, but my blog has recently had a lot more hits.

"Sure, now that you're showing tits."

I don't think about it. Everybody loves titties. They are the stuff of life. Penises are dangerous.

"Yea, you've said that three times on your blog."

CC is to blame. He told me to post what I wanted. The work would find an audience.

"You got me to do this," I said. "You told me. . . but you didn't tell me about the other."

"What!? The critics? You wouldn't have posted if I had."

I guess you can't have one thing without the other.

But some of it is a surprise.

9 comments:

  1. I think you should keep posting everyday 'cause I love to visit the Cafe and as I've told you before it is all about me.

    Great post but how about showing a few of those dangerous penises. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Harrrumph.

    I love nipples. Ask my lover he has a very sensitive pair. :P

    I'm with Rhonda. The Cafe is part of my morning now -- like Mike and Mike in the Morning and Chai. And if it isn't about Rhonda it is obviously about me.


    I have to write a poem. I am going to write one called "Frankie DeStefano" -- Hannah and three girlfriends slept over this weekend and they were up till 3AM discussing their other friend Megan who is going out with Frankie DeStefano (never just Frankie) and how she is a Christian and though they've been going out for 5 whole months -- they haven't kissed. And how Megan is obsessed (with Frankie DeStefano) and writes his name on her wall along with John 3:16.

    One would think the subject would have been entirely exhausted by 2 AM...

    that Frankie.

    I would blame C.C. Definitely. Ask him if he has big shoulders. I could use someone to blame. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. when i see photos of nudes or of T&A i always wish the photographer had reciprocated...and had posed nude for the model to photograph her or him.
    your work is in a category that i don't understand...after a lifetime of looking at photos. Is it National Geographic? exploitive? fine art? I would be the last to know. Penises, dangerous? a prudish exaggeration. ha

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like the every day approach. Very human. You provide good food for thought, which is a rarity. Keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Much to respond to. Good. I think I'd like to turn all this into a posting, though.

    R, You know I appreciate your support. But I didn't know this! You want to see penises? I have never photographed a naked man, but if I can find one who wants to do it, I will do it for you. Hell, it may send me in an entirely new direction.

    L, ibid on the support thing. Even though you give fodder to my detractors. I am crazy about your Hannah, of course, and jealous of all the mysteries to which you are privy. Frankie is of little importance in all of this, but you KNOW what will happen to Megan. And you can blame CC, I'm sure. He just laughs.

    Anonyme, You are beautiful.

    B, This one is problematic and deserves a good, long response. But that has been a problem for me, all the trying to explain, to convince, to justify and rationalize. All I can say is that the "Postcards" series is a script and all the people are actors. It is awful and wrong by contemporary standards. I shouldn't do it. But one thing--penises ARE DANGEROUS! Tell the kids.

    Jan, You are my hero. I want to make photographs like you make.

    Ed, You are my hero. I want to make photographs like you make.

    And thank you all for taking the time to read and respond. But you are going to create a monster : )

    ReplyDelete
  7. A painter once told me there are artists who get things done and there are artists who don't. The one who don't spend more time at openings and less time getting things done. I once saw Truman Capote on a bus, he rode them frequently. For YEARS he was living a lie telling people his greatest work was being written, but he was drinking away his time alone or drinking his way with other glam posers. I say consistency is a way of working, and every good artist should use consistency as any other tool. Post everyday. Make something every day. My two cents (sense)

    ReplyDelete