Jurying at Lightworks

A few weeks back, I was invited to do some jurying for Lightwork in Syracuse, NY. It was an honor to be involved with Lightwork in the process of giving away money/support to artists. I juried with artist in residence Cristina Fraire, from Argentina, and John Clark Mayden, from Baltimore, MD. The process was insightful, both for me as an artist and a professional. Christina and John were great jurors, and I enjoyed working with them. The whole experience allowed me insight into the challenges of being a juror and also the high standards that Lightwork maintains in its professionalism of selecting artist. The process also gave me insight into my own subjectivity. For example, I was quite surprised by some of the work I was advocating for, and it was interesting to gain insights into my own biases and predilictions.

If you get a chance, make sure to check out Blake Fitch's show, Expectations of Adolescence, currently up in the Lightwork gallery.

King of the World

While I was working on my newest body of work over the summer of 2007, I took this photo in the attic of our apartment. I was excited when I first took the picture, though eventually it ended up on the cutting room floor for a number of reasons.

Dennis DeHart, Pigment Print, 2007

While personally I am not much of a boxing fan, my long time friend Amy Bower loves it. She has been obsessed with boxing as long as I have known her and is particularly big fan of Muhammed Ali. She gave me a book a few year s back entitled "King of the World: Muhammed Ali and the Rise of an American Hero," by David Remnick. Even if you are not interested in boxing, read this book. It will forever change the way you see boxing and Ali.

"King of the World: Muhammed Ali and the Rise of an American Hero," by David Remnick.

______Keep Going

v.e. these days you allow yourself to be sentimental?

r.f. Yes, grand old man. But I don't want to take pictures of the tree in spring and in the fall like Steichen did. I just sit here and observe light. You know, photographs immediately make everything old.

-from In conversation with Robert Frank, From the book, Hold Still___Keep Going

Robert Frank, 7 Bleecker Street NYC, 1993

Winter time innately is a reflective time. Come about the middle of March in Buffalo, with a foot of fresh snow, my memory wanders back through all sorts of nooks and crannies. Yesterday I noticed a Robert Frank book on my book shelf and started flipping through it. Looking at Franks' work made me think of John Mann, who is a big Frank fan. I just happened to be e-mailing with John last week so he was fresh on my mind and I remembered the Frank show we saw together in 2003 at the Austin Museum of arts entitled "Robert Frank Photographs: Selections From the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston."

John Manns' work and ideas influenced me in grad school. For better or worse, I was like a sponge and absorbed a lot of influence from my peers. John now teaches at Florida State in Tallahassee, and as would be expected, is making fabulous work. You can view his website: www.rockpapercloud.com

John Mann, from the series, Folded Into Place, 2007

From time to time, I like to take a peek at Johns' website and see what he is up to. I am always delighted by the photographs he makes. His work is modest in form, contemplative in ideas, complex in meaning, and consistently beautiful. His work always manages to leaves an impression on me and somehow finds a way to seep into my own work. I feel a connection with Johns' work visually, emotionally, and conceptually, and that is perhaps why it has power on me. I particularly respond to Johns' work in respect to travel, mapping, paths, journeys, memory, and pleasure of making photographs. I am happy to see John getting some good recognition for his work including an upcoming three person show at Newspace in Portland, Oregon and a residency in Visual Studies Workshop this coming fall, 08.