Soth obviously knows how to talk about his work. I don't think I've ever seen a "statement" from him per se, though. There's always this:http://alecsothblog.wordpress.com

And I think that is pretty much fine. If "Sleeping" had just magically appeared one day without any context and no author, it would still be pretty damn strong.

This all just goes to emphasize that one of the things I appreciate most about art is ambiguity. I don't necessarily want to understand everything to the nth degree. David Lynch's films are good *because* they're weird. If I ever heard him say that the Lady in the radiator represented his long-lost auntie Mabel or some such thing, I would probably puke.

Camden: I'm really busy today, I will do my best to get back to your latest reply when I can.

"If you want to play the art game, you have to be able to justify everything you do."

Camden, I think this is a "follow the herd" mentality. It may be a recipe for middling success within the system but it's useless unless it somehow helps you creatively.

If you were to say "I believe that a strong conceptual framework helps me create art that I feel is successful and then communicate the meaning of that work to the world", then I would believe you, and I would agree. But that is not what I read in your post.

To respond to your follow up question: yes, I do believe that a work has more value when there are clear intentions behind it. I am not necessarily concerned with those intentions, however: I am concerned with the work itself. More often than not an artist's attempts to justify their work just fucks it up with big words and vague concepts that don't actually mean anything. In most cases I would rather take the work for what it is and form my own opinions.

If the work connects with me on some level, whether it's a positive or negative connection, I will often take the next step to engage with the artist in whatever way I can. I might look at more of their work, I might read more about the artist, I might read whatever criticism is available. But that is always, always secondary to the work itself for me, and not a prerequisite for understanding or enjoying it.

David,
Thanks again for including me in the current issue. I really love the work you've chosen, it's an honor! And I was incredibly happy to wake up to discover one of my photos on the front page!

Thanks for the feedback, Simen. I appreciate your take on things.

Just for contrast, if it's an artist I care about, I would much rather see a complete series than a collection of greatest hits. Greatest hits often lack rhythm and cohesion to me; there is no chance to breathe and enjoy the quiet moments between all of the high points.

I can see your point about this particular set of images lacking in high points. The way it worked out, they are a little out of context with regards to the larger series. I am finishing up some scans and will be putting up a different edit in the next couple of weeks. I think a lot of how a work is perceived comes down to the final edit, and I'm years away from that. This is just a sliver of a slice of a project that is far from complete.

Ultimately, though, I can't predict whether the work is going to resonate with anyone else or not. I'm just responding to what I see and what makes sense to me. It's interesting to me that of the few photos you singled out, none of them are my favorites!

Thanks, Wes! I'm glad to hear that you've found it useful. I am hoping to scan in some essays from out of print work at some point too. That's the kind of stuff that really needs to get out into the world.

True, I have been drawn to a very specific and limited color palette on this project, but I feel that the few colors that manage to make their way through are important. The second image, for example, has a luminosity when seen in color that wouldn't exist in black and white. I also have a strong feeling that these will look different in print — jpeg is not a kind medium and a certain amount of subtlety is lost.

The other thing to add is that this is a work in progress and I will be shooting throughout the seasons. These images are from December-March, which are naturally quite gray months. Already I have noticed more colors making their way in to my more recent photographs. It will difficult to shoot year-round because the kind of diffused light I am looking for is uncommon here as the days get longer, but I do expect there will be some images in the series that make stronger use of color.

I am curious - do you like the series?

Thanks, Gustaf. Yes, this photo was definitely an homage to Adams!

http://www.pbs.org/art21/slideshow/?slide=1334&am...

James - is this the sort of thing you're looking for?

http://joereynoldsphotography.com/projects/chatta...

Thanks Brandon! I'm really happy with the response to the film grant myself, and very happy that I managed to match up some film with a photographer who needs it.

Oh yeah, without a doubt, plugins are great. It's so easy to add a contact page, mailing list, search engine optimization, analytics, etc. I have a whole bunch of them going.