Andy's Daily Diary

This broken traffic sign was a marker for some mental cloudiness about a decision I have to make. My method of dealing with my lack of clarity it is to walk, taking photographs and letting my subconscious attack the problem. Last night my conscious brain was thinking Andy Warhol and his daily Tri-X diary. He shot at least a roll of Tri-X a day, not surprising since his work has a photographic base, but interesting in that what he shot was truly a visual diary. There were celebrity pix, interesting objects, ideas for paintings, people having sex and more. You can see the descendants of these ideas in the work of Nan Goldin, or David Hockney. I enjoy the freedom and randomness of the shots I take and the diaristic freedom that attaches no particular individual value to the imaging stream. I enjoy the jokes too, e.g. the limited palette abstract of the crumpled wrapper that states "quarter pounder no cheese." Perhaps a visual diary adds clarity in retrospect. I sincerely hope it does.

Showing your true colors

Personas is a new software experiment on MIT's site. What it does is look for references to your name on the internet and then builds a color profile/persona of who you are based on those references. There were 29 Susan Shaws. I am the first two here. My doppelgangers run the gamut from writer to scientist, from republican to beauty queen, from CEO to social worker. Maybe I should re-write Felix Krull... Maybe we should put on a show...

New paintings...'nuf said.

Shepard Fairey Yet Again

I am becoming almost paranoid about Shepard Fairey. His art is interlaced throughout our culture and my life.

Four recent examples:
1. Andre the Giant seen on an abandoned building in the new art district in Miami.
2. A spoof (of Fairey and Obama) on the cover of The Advocate.
3. A recent holiday gift to me, the Shepard Fairey Acme Obey Card Case for business cards. Let's hope the clients get the message...
4. An actual Shepard Fairey recent Obama critical poster.

Serial Folk

Photographers like to work in series. It creates a depth of investigation. Saul Robbins gave a very good talk about his work recently at B&H Photo. His series Initial Intake is a series of photographs of psychotherapists' chairs seen from their clients' perspective. It was written up in The New York Times and is a very New York idea. His other series are very interesting as well, my personal favorite is "Where's my Happy Ending?," oblique views of domestic life.








Kurt and I like to work in serials as well, for example we've been documenting the Mermaid Parade for several years, and continue to go to Louisiana to document the wildlife. And, of course, right now the Metropolitan Museum's recent showing of Robert Frank's The Americans which can still be seen online.

The Golden Gate: an opera in two acts 2

Hurray! Here is the delightful New York Times review of Conrad's opera.

The Golden Gate: an opera in two acts

For the last several weeks I have been working with Kurt creating digital projections for THE GOLDEN GATE, an opera in two acts. Hosted By American Opera Projects and LivelyWorks, it has music by Conrad Cummings and a libretto from the novel-in-verse by Vikram Seth. It is going to be sung by baritone David Adam Moore, tenor Keith Jameson, mezzo Hai-Ting Chinn, bass Kevin Burdette, and soprano Katrina Thurman with Steven Osgood conducting and John Henry Davis directing. Am I excited? You bet I am! And if not exhausted from all the name dropping, at this point I would be exhorting you all to get tickets. But sorry, they are all sold out. To console you, here is a preview of some of the digital scenery I created for The Golden Gate.






If you want to sample Conrad's music. Just click on the links below. These are two of my favorite pieces. And here's a link to Vikram Seth as well.