I studied Art History a lot in undergraduate and graduate school. I learned all the isms, all the movements and all the major participants. But some people never fit into a movement or an ism. Sometimes I liked their work anyway, other times they didn’t do much for me and they fell by the wayside. Marisol was in that group. She did blocky wooden sculptures of people that for some reason just didn’t engender any curiosity for me. I never knew more than just her greatest hits that would be in art history books or magazines and even those I perused with indifference.
But when there was going to be a major retrospective of her work at the Dallas Museum of Art I felt there was no reason for me not to check it out. At worst I would have a great day at the museum and among the food trucks next door and create some good sketchbook drawings.
I was more than pleasantly surprised. I found the work of an incredible artist who is profoundly creative, courageous, original and persistent in pursuing her vision. I had no idea of the breadth and depth of her work. This is why I go to exhibitions, because seeing what an art historian writes up in a book about an artist is no different than reading a music review of an album instead of actually listening to the album. One must experience creativity first hand to really feel it.
Here are some highlights from my visit.
Three Women with Umbrella – 1966 –
Three white women elegantly dressed up juxtaposed with a terrified young Vietnamese child holding a teddy bear. The working title for this was simply ‘Vietnam’. It is this type of sly commentary about social and political issues that made Marisol so unique.
Graphite and paint on wood with plexiglas, found plastic umbrella and stuffed bird
Three Women with Umbrella – close up
Three Women with Umbrella – close up
The Jazz Wall – 1963 – wood, found objects, paper and paint on wood
The Jazz Wall – close up
The Jazz Wall – close up
Marisol used her own face for the castings of the trumpet and piano players.
Illustration for Paris Review – 1967 – Ink on paper, Silkscreen – artist’s proof
Doll – various fabrics – 1955-63
Marisol was sometimes trivialized by the press as making toy-like art and dolls. She did make many dolls, often as part of larger sculptures but also as stand alone pieces. Her inspiration stemmed from an older artist in Venezuela, Armando Reverón, who did the same thing.
Baby Boy – 1962-1963 – Painted wood and mixed media
Another covert commentary in guise of a something benign. The baby boy is monstrously big and is seemingly manhandling the doll (with a photo of Marisol’s face). The clothing is a partial white star, a blue sleeve and red stripes. At the time someone paying attention would have understood the messaging that the US is a big toddler bully, only partially aware of the damage it is causing.
Baby Boy – close upSelf-Portrait – 1961-1962 – Wood, plaster, marker, paint, graphite, human teeth, gold and plastic
Self Portrait – close up
Ruth – 1962 – carved wood and mixed media
This is a portrait of Marisol’s good friend Ruth Kligman, a big personality in New York art world of the 50s and 60s who had an affair with Jackson Pollack and was injured in the car wreck that killed him in 1956.
There are multiple portraits in the round with cast hands (Marisol’s) and cast bell peppers as breasts.
Ruth – close up
Tea for Three – 1960 – Wood, acrylic, found objects
This sculpture shows one of the first times Marisol used her own body. The casts of mouth, nose and hands are hers.
The colors represent the Venezuelan flag, her heritage.
Tea for Three – close upThe Party – 1965-1966 – Assemblage of 15 freestanding, life-size figures and three wall panels
The Party, close up
The Party, close up
Marisol was a well-known celebrity in the mid 60s, often found in the pages of fashion magazines alongside her creations as well as at well documented parties among the cognoscenti of the time.. This ambitious piece recreates that world from the most to the least celebrated. Each figure is endowed with the artist’s own face, thus making a statement not just about society but about herself.
Swimming in a New Direction
At the height of her fame in 1968 she disappeared. She took off for points unknown to most of the art world, divorcing herself from that society for a period of time. What she did with that time was to travel and specifically to travel underwater. She learned to scuba dive and spent years taking photos and film underwater. Five years later, in 1973, she started to show the creative results of that exploration.
The large figure looks much like the famous Greek Kouros. Both the odd creature at the fishman’s feet and the fish he is holding have faces that are casts of Marisol’s face.
Pescado – 1970 – cast acrylic – edition of 75
Barracuda – 1971 – wood, varnish, plastic
An interesting side note – All the fish she sculpted were given the names of US warships of the time. She was once again creating art and making political statements, however obliquely, at the same time.
Untitled – 1972 – watercolor and ballpoint pen on paper
St Maarten – 1972 – Gouache, watercolor and graphite on paper
While she was on her travels she painted extensively in her sketchbooks and on larger pieces.
Diptych – 1971 – Lithograph
Marisol also experimented extensively with printmaking. In this instance she was inspired by the Japanese technique of Gyotaku printing, pressing a fish against paper to document prize catches. Instead of fish she used her own oiled and nude body pressed on to two lithography stones that she then worked and printed.
You can see in the close up the cartoon heart pierced by and arrow and the wound in her side surrounded by teeth.
This using of a technique that is used to celebrate catches of meat on her own body instead is a courageous statement of the objectifying sexism of her day.
Diptych – close upi Did My Future – 1974 – colored pencil and graphite on paper
Marisol never shied away from speaking her mind about the abstract violence of war and the very real violence against women and others right around her in New York and beyond.
Here she uses a friend’s body that has been laid out on paper that she then outlines with randomly chosen colored pencils. Combining the blood tinged body outline with dark guns, anonymous sexually grabbing hands and a realistic rendering of the model’s infant child is a great example of the power of artistic creativity to send a profound message.
Horace Poolaw – 1993 – wood, paint, graphite, plaster and metal wheeled base
This was Marisol’s contribution to an exhibition celebrating the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage to the new world.
She created a portrait of an indigenous person set on a police barricade cart that says ‘Police Line Do Not Cross’.
The Funeral – 1996 – Paint, crayon, and oil on wood
Marisol’s social commentary sometimes went into pathos and despair as can be seen in this sculpture of JFK Jr. saluting at his father’s funeral.
Picasso – 1977 – Painted Bronze
Untitled – 2006 – graphite and colored pencil on paper
As Marisol aged she lost her memory but not her ability or desire to create. She did numerous drawings of her caregivers, friends and self-portraits. Her techniques and subject matter remained constant throughout her life even as her materials were reduced to just colored pencils.
Hopefully you come away from seeing this collection with either a new or expanded appreciation for an artist who never wavered in her intense desire for freedom of creativity and an insightful and heartfelt response to what in her mind was a grossly unfair and hurtful world. She did not pursue fame and fortune but rather substance and meaning. In that she succeeded.
After I got home from France I was inspired to continue to create when out and about as much as possible. This includes, as usual, drawing in church. But I also drew on the train, in a park and in a museum. And, as is often the case, I also drew images that I just made up in my head. I also painted a drawing I started while in France.
Mèlanie a Hotel Demeure, Paris
Once I painted the image I made sure to contact Mélanie at the hotel and send her the finished image. She was happy to see it and made a point to welcome us to stay there again if we came back.
TheSinger WaitingDistracted PrayerListening to the Sermon About the TongueLunch at the Kimbell Museum, Fort Worth, TXKatie with the DrawingEating at Klyde Warren Park, Dallas, TXWaiting for Food at Klyde Warren Park, Dallas, TXReading a Book About Women on DARTReading Her Phone on DARTThe Sermon Was About FireThe Butterfly and the VolcanoSpirals
I went to the Pantheon in Paris in the spring of 2025. I had no idea what to expect beyond there were certain famous french people entombed there. What I found was an amazing architectural space with huge paintings depicting the lives of many of France’s most famous founders, saints and martyrs, monumental sculptures depicting moments from French history and the tombs of some of the greats like Rousseau and Voltaire. going solo allowed me to soak in the space, the art and the history without time constraints.
All of it was a new discovery but one element took me completely by surprise and that was an exhibition by Anselm Keifer, the illustrious German artist. I have been aware of his work most of my adult life but had probably only seen one or two of his massive paintings in the flesh.
The exhibition is six large see-through steel and glass boxes known as vitrines in the middle of the Pantheon space. They seem invisible at first since you could see through them and the color scheme throughout the pieces was somewhat muted and not in high contrast to the surroundings. However, once I started to look at them I was mesmerized. He’s known as an artist who taps into history, especially German history of the World War Two era. His images are evocative and hint at the catastrophes of that era.
But these images were not about World War Two, instead they referenced World War One. In many ways, it had an even more profound effect on all of Europe than its successor because the needless and horrendous wasteful slaughter and the profound changes societally and politically that happened as a result. These are the things he was addressing in these images along with memory and hope.
The Women of 14 – The Men of 14 – Anselm Kieffer, 2020
The Women of 14 – The Men of 14 – Anselm Kieffer – detail, 2020
What Are We? – Anselm Kieffer, 2020
What Are We? (detail) – Anselm Kieffer – detail, 2020
Poppies and Memories – Anselm Kieffer, 2020
Poppies and Memories (detail) – Anselm Kieffer – detail, 2020
What I love most about these is because of their transparency in the larger setting of the Pantheon you see not just the powerful and creative WW1 story you also see French history, architecture, and culture within, behind, around and reflected in the image, giving it a much more profound story telling power. They are some of the most effective art pieces I have ever seen.
I like my large sketchbook because the paper is very high quality and takes the ink very well. I got it at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas a couple of years back. While in France this one came out most mornings at breakfast and a few other times when I was alone and/or had plenty of time.
En Attente de Voler Vers la France
I loved this scene because of the juxtaposition between partners. One in a tshirt and shorts, the other in a big puffy winter coat. We all do what we need to do when we fly, right?
En Attendant le Train à Grande Vityesse
We had a long layover at Charles de Gaulle Airport before our bullet train to the Loire Valley. This young woman was also waiting so I took the opportunity to draw her. The space was beautiful, all windows, giant beams and guide wires supporting the roof while in the foreground there was a huge plant taking up the entire left side of my field of vision. It made for a very active background and foreground.
Petit-déjeuner à AmboisePetit-dejeuner à VersaillesHommes d’affaires au petit-déjeunerEmployé d’hôtel à Caen
Every morning I got up early and either went for a run or sat and drew during breakfast or in the lobby. Most days there was someone in the restaurant to draw but one morning there was no one so I went into the lounge and drew the hotel employee behind the desk, which also was a coffee bar.
Dejeuner au café ‘Hoct and Loct’ à Paris
My Brother-in-law Steve and I were on our own after returning the rental car so we took a stroll around Paris. We found a great little cafe for lunch and I was thinking I wish I was alone so I could just sit and draw for as long as I wanted when something surprising occurred. Steve brought out a small sketchbook and said, ‘Marty, teach me to draw.’ He had bought a sketchbook and pencils just to take on the trip. So I gave him some pointers, mostly just about not trying to worry about accuracy and not trying to make it look like a photograph and off we went. We probably spent an hour just eating our lunch and drawing and it was a lot of fun! He did really well and it made my day that he made the effort to connect with me in that way on vacation.
Le Pendule de Foucault avec le Monument à Diderot en Arriére-plan
The next day I was on my own in Paris. I was planning to go see the David Hockney exhibition at the Foundation Louis Vuitton but it was sold out so I pivoted to the Pantheon. I wanted all of us to go but I couldn’t convince the others it was worth it so I went solo. It was worth it. An AMAZING space with incredible history, paintings and sculptures. I will post more about it in the future when I continue my ‘Art I Love’ series. While I was there I spent a substantial amount of time doing this drawing. It’s hard to draw a pendulum because it is always moving but besides that it’s pretty much invisible. You have to draw the background to give it some space in which to live. I was able to find a bench facing the monument to Diderot so that became my background so to speak.
While I was drawing I saw a young girl sort of hovering around me. She was obviously watching me draw but was too shy to come up and talk to me. Eventually her mother came alongside her and they moved forward just a bit. I stopped drawing and gestured for them to come over. They were from England and I was able to speak to them. I showed her the drawing, explained to her what I was working on in the drawing and why. I told the young girl she could do the same thing with practice. The mother asked if it was possible to see the other drawing in the sketchbook so I turned a number of pages and showed them the completed drawings from days earlier and some I had done back home. They were very appreciative and left feeling like they had seen a genuine Parisian moment of an artist drawing, even if I wasn’t French!
Melanie à Hôtel Demeure, Paris
The last day we were in Paris there was no one yet in the breakfast area of the hotel so I meandered over to the front desk area and asked the clerk, Melanie, if I could draw her. She was amenable. We had a nice time talking about Paris and I was happy to get one final drawing in before we left for the states.
and this is what it became once I got home and painted it.
On this trip I took two sketchbooks to France, one small, one large.
I brought out the small sketchbook for when I felt like I had just a few moments to draw or I had limited room, like on the airplane. Here are the drawings from that sketchbook with any photos I took of the scene I was drawing.
Small Sketchbook
à l’extérieur du Café du Château, Amboise, France
We flew into Paris but immediately took a train down to the Loire Valley to meet Linda’s sister and brother-in-law. While we waited for our dinner reservations I drew this scene at a nearby café.
Le Paon Blanc au Jardin de Leonardo da Vinci, France
I know this is a pretty pathetic drawing of a peacock but you try drawing a moving bird!
Petit Déjeuner à l’hôtel à Caen
Each morning I tried to get in either a run or a drawing. Our hotels weren’t in urban areas until we were in Paris so I didn’t find little cafes to go and sit at. But each hotel had a breakfast (petit-dejeuner) area so I settled in and drew there.
Concert à Notre Dame
We got tickets to go to a concert in Notre Dame the first evening we were in Paris. It was a selection of sacred music, mostly about Mary, the mother of Jesus. Before it started I drew the scene, including the very large head of a man right in front of me.
Constance en Cour de la Maison de Delacroix
I had a whole day to myself while in Paris. I went to the Pantheon (see the ‘large drawings’ for a drawing I did there) and then to the Delacroix Museum. It is a very small museum located in an apartment he lived in at one point. I thought I was exiting when I discovered I was being led to a beautiful courtyard garden. While I was in the courtyard I noticed a young woman reading. I decided to draw her and luckily she stayed for quite a long time. When I was done I showed the drawing to her and she was very happy about it. It turns out that her name is Constance, which is also the name of one of my daughters. We had a nice conversation about art, books and Paris before I left.
Un Femme de Profil en Paris
As much as Paris is fantastic one thing my wife found was that the tea left something to be desired. So that meant she was very excited to see a Starbucks and went in to get her favorite Matcha tea. I stayed outside and drew this woman who was beside me. She seemed to also be waiting for someone.
Jeune Femme Assise au Mussée du Louvre
Going to the Louvre is always an adventure. So many people, so many ways to get lost in the crowd. I was waiting for my compatriots to come back from the bathrooms and saw this young woman sitting all by herself, deep into her phone with her hair obscuring almost all of her face. I knew I would have to work fast so I did a minimalist portrait that I think captures her perfectly.
Le Coureur Avant la Course en Paris
While up early drinking coffee downstair in the hotel I met a couple from Iowa. They were both dressed as runners so I struck up a conversation with them as they were ready to head out for their first run in Paris. I saw them the next morning as well but both mornings I either didn’t run or ran earlier. It would have been fun to run with them. I drew the woman of the couple as she sat drinking her coffee before the run.
Julie Dans l’avion Pour Londres
We met this woman, Julie, and her family as we were headed home. We had a change over in London and met them at the British Air desk before we checked in. They went on their way and we thought we were about to do the same but there was a hiccup. My ticket had me as ‘Marty’ but my passport had me as ‘Martin’. They would not allow me to board with that egregious infraction, even though I had already made it to Europe, so I had to spend and hour and a half with reps from BA and American Airlines to hassle it out. It took quite a while but it was resolved and we ended up just one seat back from Julie and her family. I drew her as she watched a movie.
Ana Endormie au Dessus de l’océan
Our second leg of the trip home had me in a middle seat. A young woman, Ana, with a healthy bit of sun on her cheeks sat down next to me. We talked for quite a while about her student trip to Greece and our vacation. Because she was right next to me I wasn’t thinking I would draw her but when she nested with a blanket, ear buds, a neck pillow AND a sleep mask I felt like I could safely draw her without bothering anyone.
I only did two drawings in color. Both were started by referencing photos I took and were not drawn live.
Une Femme Dans la Boutique de Souvenirs à Versailles
This drawing started from a photograph I took in the souvenir shop at Versailles. I happen to catch this woman in passing and liked the splash of red on her lips. Later that night in my hotel room I drew and colored her. It was the only time I brought out my markers on the trip. Next time I would leave them at home.
Protéger l’investissement
This was another started from a photo. This person I photographed on purpose because of how quintessentially Parisian she looked while browsing in the Louvre bookstore. She had something in her hand that I could not discern so I turned it into an umbrella. The angle of it made me think about her protecting her purchase so that’s the direction I went.
In May of 2025 we spent 10 days traveling around France. We We met up with Linda’s sister and brother-in-law in the town of Amboise in the Loire Valley, drove through Caen, Bayeaux, and Giverny in the Normandy region, then on to Versailles and Paris.
In past travels I carried a DSLR camera but this time I used my iphone exclusively. Sometimes I wished I had a full camera but on balance I felt I got most everything I wanted without the hassle. All the images here were converted to BW from color. The color added a lot to some of the images but overall I like the mood and feel the BW images give so decided to be uniform in imagery.
I have been scanning my sketchbooks of the past 54 years. Some were line drawings I knew I wanted to paint but never got around to them. This is especially true of a large black sketchbook I drew in from 2008-2010.
Here is a selection of the drawings from that sketchbook that I painted this year, 15+ years later.
Here is one of my first loves. I got this image as a postcard so far back I don’t even remember. I think it was in High School but it might have been during college. All I know is I had it taped up on my wall, my computer, my closet door, and every other place I ever lived for decades and decades. I am pretty sure I still have it in a box in the attic.
George Luks, Girl from Madrid, oil on canvas, 1925
I fell in love with the painting, the woman and the artist the moment I saw the image. Something about the painterly style, the red lips, dark eyes, the glass of water, the shadow under her chin, the pose. Every single thing about it mesmerized me and still does to this day. It led me on a journey into George Luks’ work and the work of his fellow artists who formed the Ashcan school, so called because they painted from the real gritty of life with a lot of muted colors. Of course this painting has plenty of color but in spite of that it still feels dark and moody with its intensely dark background and harsh shadows.
For the most part the realism of the Ashcan artists is about more than just a realistic depiction of something or someone. It is about the real world of everyday struggles for the working class inhabitants of New York (and elsewhere). It is also about gritty urban landscapes far removed from the genteel beauty of manicured lawn and tennis parties. The people aren’t overly idealized, even when they are traditionally beautiful or socially high up. There is a tone and mood that tamps down the beauty and ups the emotional complexity of the sitter.
We often think of the Europeans working in Cubism, Fauvism and other isms as being the artistic rebels of the time but the Americans were equally so. The Ashcan artists actually had 16 pieces in the famous 1913 Armory show in New York that exposed the new paintings of Europe and America to an American audience for the first time.
I’ve collected a number of images from each of the 5 members of the Ashcan School; George Luks, Robert Henri, John Sloan, Everett Shinn and William Glackens. Here they are.
George Luks
Luks started his career as a newspaper illustrator in Philadelphia where he met the other men who would come to make up the Ashcan School. Their goals were influenced by Henri, who wanted artists to focus on the real world around them, the people and places dismissed and forgotten by high society and the artists that catered to that class. Luks soon moved to New York, continuing to illustrate for newspapers and adding comic strip artist to his resume. Eventually he started to focus on serious painting and became a chronicler of Manhattan’s lower east side.
George Luks, Mining Village No. 3, watercolor, 1923
George Luks, Lady with a White Hat, oil on canvas, undated
George Luks, A Clown, oil on canvas, 1929
George Luks, Holiday on the Hudson, oil on canvas, 1912
George Luks, Girl from Madrid, oil on canvas, 1925
George Luks, Portrait of a Girl, oil on canvas
George Luks, Girl in Green, oil on canvas, 1925
George Luks – Sketches
George Luks
Robert Henri
Henri was the leader and probably the most famous of the Ashcan artists. Henri was quite a bit older than the other artists in his group and as such was a mentor and artistic leader for them. He focused his artistic attention on everyday life rather than the poised and posh upper society imagery that his contemporaries were creating. His work often depicted gritty and earthy elements of society. Even when he painted society portraits, his colors and mood, as with all the Ashcan School, were muted and subtle. the circle of artists who surrounded him came to believe this emphasis on ‘real life’ was the way forward for American art and followed him down that path.
Robert Henri, Snow in New York, oil on canvas, 1902, National Gallery of Art
Robert Henri, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, oil on canvas, 1916, Whitney Museum of American Art
Robert Henri, Storm Tide, 1903, oil on canvas, Whitney Museum of American Art
Robert Henri, Tam Gan (and close up), oil on canvas, 1915, Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Robert Henri, West Coast of Ireland, Oil on canvas, 1913, private collection
Robert Henri, Portrait of Marjorie Henri (wife), oil on canvas, 1914, San Diego Museum of Art
Robert Henri, Reader in the Forest, pastel on paper, 1918, private collection
Robert Henri, Miss Kaji Waki, oil on canvas, 1909, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Robert Henri, Irish Lass, oil on canvas, 1913, private collection
Robert Henri, Betalo Nude, oil on canvas, 1916, Milwaukee Art Museum
Robert Henri, George Luks Playing baseball, ink on paper, 1904
Robert Henri, Two Women on a Couch, Pen, Ink and wash, Brooklyn Museum
Robert Henri, photographic portrait
John Sloan
As was many of the Ashcan artists, Sloane was a newspaper illustrator for much of his life and is where most of his income came from. He was a prolific painter and quite well known but he was not commercially successful for quite a while.
John Sloan, McSorley’s Bar, oil on canvas, 1912
John Sloan, Turning Out the Light (from New York City Life series), etching, 1905
John Sloan, Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair, oil on canvas, 1912
John Sloan, Dust Storm, Fifth Avenue, oil on canvas, 1906, Metropolitan Museum of Art
John Sloane, The City from Greenwich Village, oil on canvas, 1922
John Sloan, Chinese Restaurant, oil on canvas, 190, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester
John Sloan, After the War a Medal and Maybe a Job, drawing, 1914
John Sloan, Sunbathers on the Roof, etching, 1941
John Sloan, Nude, wash and ink on paper, undated
Everett Shinn and William Glackens
Shinn and Glackens are lesser known members of the Ashcan school but their work is no less powerful. Neither exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show but Glackens welcomed the new, innovate art from Europe while Shinn showed nothing but disdain for it then and until the end of his life. If you’ve ever been to the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia, one of the preeminent museums showing modern art from the 20th century, it will be interesting for you to know that it was Glackens who went to Europe on Barne’s behalf to look for a purchase many of the new and exciting paintings of that era for Barnes. Those paintings became the foundation for Barnes’s massive collection.
Everett Shinn, Girl on Stage, oil on canvas, 1906
Everett Shinn, The White Ballet, oil on canvas, 1904, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Everett Shinn, Woman on a Staircase, oil on canvas, 1935, private collection
Everett, Shinn, A Nude, oil on canvas, undated, private collection
William Glackens, Collier’s Cover, 1910
William Glackens, On Broadway Near 8th, crayon and chalk, 1913, Delaware Art Museum
William Glackens, Armenian Girl, oil on canvas, 1916, The Barnes Collection
William Glackens, La Peritif, oil on canvas, 1926, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
William Glackens, Young Woman in Green, oil on canvas, 1915, St. Louis Art Museum
Back in the 2000s and 2010s I took a lot of road trips. We went through Texas, Colorado and New Mexico on a regular basis. We went through a lot of roadside convenience stores and tourist stops and somewhere along the way I thought it would be fun to design postcards of what I was seeing, sort of like tourist postcards, but of the every day small realities of my travels outside of tourist attractions.
Here is a selection of the cards.
Colorado Post Cards
‘It Was All About The Light Where We Were’ Colorado‘We Saw Beautiful’ Colorado‘We Should Take A Little Hike’ Colorado‘A Vacation Day @ the Outlet Mall’ Colorado‘Our 5th Day Was the Fourth’ Colorado
New Mexico Post Cards
‘Stay on the Trail It Said And We Obeyed’ New Mexico‘Extra Hot Post Card’ New Mexico
Texas Post Cards
‘We Blew Into Texas’ Texas‘Our First Day Was A Blur’ Texas‘We Went Shopping in the Lone Star State’ Texas‘We Saw Dallas From the American Car’ Texas“I Drove Through the Panhandle and Saw This and This and This and Her’ TexasShe Served Us Breakfast in Texas’ Texas
Slide Show
It Was All About the Light Where We Were
We Saw Beautiful
A Vacation Day @ the Outlet Mall
We Should Take A Little Hike
Our 5th Day Was the Fourth
Stay On The Trail It Said and We Obeyed
Extra Hot Post Card
We Blew Into Texas
The First Day Was A Blur
We Went Shopping In The Lone Star State
We Saw Dallas From the American Car
I Drove Through the Panhandle and Saw This and This and This and Her
Back in 2009 I got a bit of local attention in Tulsa, Oklahoma for my napkin drawings. This resulted in me being interviewed by numerous print and TV reporters over the course of a few years. I was doing extensive photography work at the time as well as drawing the napkins so I jokingly proposed to the first reporter that they could photograph and interview me if they allowed me to photograph and interview them. Surprisingly the first person agreed so I continued asking and they kept saying yes.
This led to me asking them if they thought anyone else in their newsroom would be interested in this sort of project and that in turn led me to photographing a number of reporters and anchors who did not interview me but just liked the concept. And here was the concept – how different their public life was from their private life. I felt that if I could zone in on more that just the public face I could capture a bit of that dichotomy.
Finding the Private – To do that I not only photographed the person but also their environment. In particular I looked for things the public would not see on air or be told about in their writing. This included hidden tattoos, coffee cups, jewelry, makeup bags, shoes, the contents of car trunks and purses, even intimate apparel that was hanging to dry on a bathroom door knob in one case (photographed with permission).
I tried to move beyond the polished public image when photographing their face, perhaps to show the reality of what a lot of makeup looks like close up or to show what no makeup look likes, to what a face does when it shows emotion or responding to outside stimulation like sun or wind.
I chose the titles based on what I felt that person exhibited, either with me in person or my general feeling about their reporting and/or their personal life.
Here is a selection of those collages. Let me know what you think.
In Finite – In Public In Private #1 Kristen Dickerson – AnchorIn Tangible – In Public In Private #2 Janna Clark – TV ReporterIn Credible – In Public In Private #3 Lori Fulbright – Anchor / Crime ReporterIn Theater – In Public In Private #4 Sharon Phillips – TV ReporterIn Sight – In Public In Private #5 Emily Sinovic – TV ReporterIn Between – In Public In Private #6 Abby Alford – TV ReporterIn Utero – In Public In Private #7 Carrie Netherton Salce – TV ReporterIn Trepid – In Public In Private #8 Holly Wall – Investigative Reporter – PrintIn Tuition – In Public In Private #9 Natasha Ball = Investigative Reporter – PrintIn Voluntary – In Public In Private #10 Teri Hood – TV AnchorIn Vocation – In Public In Private #11 Chera Kimiko – TV AnchorIn Consequential – In Public In Private #12 Michelle Lowry – TV Reporter
Slide Show
In Finite – In Public/In Private #1
Kristen Dickerson
In Tangible – In Public/In Private #2Janna Clark
In Credible – In Public/In Private #3
Lori Fulbright
In Theater – In Public/In Private #4Sharon Phillips
In Sight – In Public/In Private #5
Emily Sinovic
In Between – In Public/In Private #6
Abbie Alford
In Utero – In Public/In Private #7
Carrie Netherton Salce
In Trepid – In Public/In Private #8
Holly Wall
In Tuition – In Public/In Private #9
Natasha Ball
In Voluntary – In Public/In Private #10
Teri Hood
In Vocation – In Public/In Private #11
Chera Kimiko
In Consequential – In Public/In Private #12Michelle Lowry
