Steps and staircases are suggestive invitations, and here the walk up appears especially interesting. Are we going to the sky or blocked out by the metal picket fence? Nothing is clear but ambiguity. On the one hand, it says come on up, and on the other, it says, why bother.
I decided to include this now since I've been dipping back into some classic black and white material lately. It reminds me of the man who attended my artist talk in Connecticut this past September. He was a freakishly tan man of about 65. He wore shorts and white bucks and reminded me of Larry David. After my PowerPoint lecture, he was the first to raise his hand. "Your black and white work seems profound, but the color work is just ordinary."
Not knowing whether to be complimented or insulted, I smiled, or hope I did, and moved on to the next hand-raiser, a homeless man in the way back who, an administrator told me earlier, always came to eat the snacks and drink the lemonade. "How'd you get time off to come to Connecticut," he asked.
I thought about explaining the grant/fellowship process, but decided to laugh instead. Isn't it always the better option?
Those experiences (with the questions & comments at your talk) so perfectly depict the world of an artist. Often we explore ideas that are questionable and put ourselves at risk. Then we expose those choices and ourselves to the world. Once the exposure occurs we completely lose control and become subject to others with different sensibilities, who may not question or take risks (except perhaps with overexposure to UVB...). In a way your photo is a metaphor for that very experience - rising from the steps you might be exposed or threatened or you might rise to a height never imagined. Is uncertainty part of thrill of artistic expression?
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