Brutal Reality, Part 2

My wife has a sign in her therapy office that says, "Oh no, not another learning experience!" I would say that is the motto for this afternoon.

My apple cart has been turned over. My paradigm has been shifted. I have had one of those review experiences that may have profound implications for what happens next.

Harris Fogel was my top choice for a reviewer, and I finally had a session with him today. He is the director of the Sol Mednick Gallery at the University of the Arts in Pennsylvania. It has for decades been one of the most prestigious institutions for exhibiting work in the country. Harris knows his stuff. He can instantly assess the core meaning of work in an intelligent, articulate way. What he said confirms what numerous reviewers over the years have said, but that I haven’t been able to hear until now.

I am operating in a safe box. I do so very competently, but without much challenge to myself. There is not a great deal revealed about myself in the work. I am too respectful of traditional bounds, in both content and technique. I know what I know how to do, and that what is most evident when you see my photographs. And when I see a span of them across decades, it is alarming how little change has occurred. You would think I would have grown and expanded. Amazingly, this was news to me. But true.

I have always considered my personal work to be the font of creativity for my commercial life as a photographer. But I had never considered the backflow. Making photographs for a living means a solution is mandatory every time. That can be an extremely limiting parameter, and it has been a highly unconscious one across all the imagemaking I do. It sure inhibits risk-taking.

I have been baffled by the lukewarm response to my new Venice work. What Harris showed me is how bound in a traditional and safe way of seeing is the bulk of that work. The only reviewers excited about it are those operating in a commercial realm, the book and calendar people—it’s mature, competent work, interesting in its own way. But not new. I am treading deeply familiar ground.

Barbara Tannenbaum from Akron Art Museum has been seeing me at reviews for years, and I saw her immediately after Harris. She saw a shaken photographer, with a lot of questions and uncertainty. From my notes of my past encounters with her, she has been suggesting some of the same issues that Harris raised, but not so bluntly. Sometimes a whack with a 2x4 is called for. She asked where I appeared in my work. I did not have a good answer in the affirmative.

This is the kind of revelation that calls for a considered, reflective response. My life and my work is not going to radically change tomorrow. I want this to seep in, over time. I am as curious as anyone about what I am going to show here in two years.

Comments

[Robin]

Thanks for sharing your process! It's illuminating.

[Martin Stabler]

Doug, it was been a treat to "shadow" you as you have your encounters with various reviewers. As Robin mentioned, it is illuminating.

I also appreciate your openness and and willingness to share your learnings, especially the painful ones.

I think your last posting--about treading the familiar territory--will resonate with many folks. Thanks. -Martin

[Harris Fogel]

Hi Doug!

Thank you for the kind words on your blog. One tiny correction though. You wrote : "He is the director of the Soldnick Gallery at the University of the Arts in Pennsylvania."

The actual name is the Sol Mednick Gallery, at The University of the Arts.

Sol Mednick, btw, was the founder of the Photography Program, and the gallery was created in his honor by Ray Metzker.

I look forward to seeing your work in the future.

Sincerely,

Harris Fogel

[Doug Plummer]

Harris,

That's an embarrassing mistake, Harris, I'm so sorry. I've corrected it now, so that anyone Googling your institution will now have my blog show up.