Statement on work in “Meditations in an Emergency”

The ever-generous Jen Bekman has been kind enough to ask me to participate in her latest group show, the theme of which is reaction to and interpretation of the Frank O’Hara poem “Meditations in an Emergency“.

The show opens Tuesday 6/20, 6-8 PM at the gallery at 6 Spring St. in Nolita. Many good artists are included, and based on what I’ve seen, the show is well worth checking out sometime during its run (through 8/4).

In light of previous discussion on this website, here is the statement attached to the three photos (1, 2, 3) I have in the show. It uses circular logic and is thus largely meaningless.

I don’t like Mr. O’Hara’s poem. Its flowery and ornate voice convinces me more of the author’s narcissism than of his loss. I’d probably dump him too.

My lack of enthusiasm makes the idea of responding to the poem in photographs a little confusing. My first inclination was to address one of the few concrete visual images in the poem - that of blue eyes. I photographed several people with pale and delicate eyes in an effort to find something in their slightly eerie gazes that connected with the work. Through no fault of my generous volunteers, this was not a successful exercise. In light of the poem, the photos were literal and forced.

Instead, I have tried to address the theme of loss and aloneness in the context of photography from life. However, I accept that the indirect and uncertain narratives to which these photos hopefully evoke may be in their way equally baroque as the poem I’m disparaging.

So despite my dislike of the poem’s voice, the fact that I had to adopt a similar one in order to respond to it is itself my most interesting response to the poem.