Song of Williamsburg – A Slideshow
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Artist's Statement
I love this question, which I first heard in 1991 as part of my study of Aesthetic Realism: “Would you like the way you see as you draw to be the way you see all the time?” The answer was “Yes!” I am learning that the art purpose is the same as good will. According to Aesthetic Realism, good will is “the desire to make something else stronger and more beautiful, because that desire makes oneself stronger and more beautiful.” I am learning that I can have the art purpose with a stranger, a co-worker, a family member; on the street, in a recovery room, at a baseball game.
I like to walk the streets of Williamsburg, hoping to make transient things part of my memory -- a spot of sun peeping through the elevated tracks onto the face of a mannequin, or the sheer abandon of spring blossoms on Havemeyer Street. Sometimes I find a work of art in itself, like the ghost bike, a memorial that begs you to photograph it from every possible angle.
Aesthetic Realism is the great education founded the American poet and critic Eli Siegel (1902-1978). It is based on this fundamental principle: “All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.” After looking at thousands of instances, including in my own work as a photographer, I agree with this statement. Classes and consultations at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York City are based on this principle, where I study now, with increasing happiness all the time.
Click here
Artist's Statement
I love this question, which I first heard in 1991 as part of my study of Aesthetic Realism: “Would you like the way you see as you draw to be the way you see all the time?” The answer was “Yes!” I am learning that the art purpose is the same as good will. According to Aesthetic Realism, good will is “the desire to make something else stronger and more beautiful, because that desire makes oneself stronger and more beautiful.” I am learning that I can have the art purpose with a stranger, a co-worker, a family member; on the street, in a recovery room, at a baseball game. I like to walk the streets of Williamsburg, hoping to make transient things part of my memory -- a spot of sun peeping through the elevated tracks onto the face of a mannequin, or the sheer abandon of spring blossoms on Havemeyer Street. Sometimes I find a work of art in itself, like the ghost bike, a memorial that begs you to photograph it from every possible angle.
Aesthetic Realism is the great education founded the American poet and critic Eli Siegel (1902-1978). It is based on this fundamental principle: “All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.” After looking at thousands of instances, including in my own work as a photographer, I agree with this statement. Classes and consultations at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York City are based on this principle, where I study now, with increasing happiness all the time.