Month: November 2011

I have a renewed appreciation for kindness and generosity thanks to all of the people who helped Brad Zellar pay off his medical bills. I dont have an exact amount to announce but I can say that what we raised helped tremendously. Last night Brad posted Hold Out Hope: An Old Pep Talk. Hold Out Hope: An Old Pep Talk is a beautiful story that brings a smile to my face. I hope it does the same for you.

Elliott Erwitt once said that the thing he likes about photographing dogs is that they don’t ask for prints. But this isn’t always the case. The picture above was made for a collector (that’s a million dollar Ad Reinhardt above the fireplace). This guy loves his dog. And I love dogs too. I also really love photographing dogs.

I mention this because I will happily photograph your dog if you are the winning bidder of a portrait session on our eBay Auction page. Keep in mind that the collector above paid well over triple the amount of the current high bid. Also keep in mind that all proceeds go toward Brad Zellar’s mountain of medical bills.

Brad Zellar is himself a lover of dogs. Check out his sweet tribute: A Man Who Wins The Dog Lottery Is a Lucky Man.

So if you feel lucky too, go bid on a portrait session on our eBay Auction page.

Woof,

PS. Sorry, I don’t photograph cats.

I want to thank everyone who came to the Brad Zellar fundraiser/birthday party last night. It was a great night. I also want to remind people that there are a few more days to bid on a portrait session. The auction ends on November 25th at 4:26pm Eastern Time.  Check out our eBay auction page for more details.

 

 

Stacey, South Plains, Texas

Earlier this year we released a book entitled Conductors of the Moving World by Brad Zellar. Brad’s book raised $10,000 for Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief. Since then, Brad has suffered a number of setbacks. After multiple unexplained dizzy spells, Brad fell down a flight of stairs and was left unconscious for a full day. He then spent weeks in the hospital and months undergoing neurological tests. As a consequence, Brad is drowning in medical bills.

To help Brad, I’m offering the opportunity to purchase a portrait commission on our eBay auction page. Winning bidders may book a session for themselves or give the portrait session as a gift. The picture can be made in my studio in Minnesota or I can travel to you (as long as my expenses are covered). From this session the sitter and I will select an image to produce as a large scale print (up to 40×50 inches).

Over the years I’ve done a handful of these commissions. The picture above was commissioned in 2004 and has been exhibited all over the world. (See other commission examples on our eBay auction page). Whomever purchases this portrait, I aim to make a serious piece of work for a friend who is seriously in need.

If you are unable to purchase the portrait session, you can still help. On Sunday November 20th there will be a fundraiser at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St. Paul. Otherwise, you can donate cash directly via PayPal here.

So check out our eBay auction page, and if you have any questions (or just want to send a check), please email carrie@alecsoth.com

Thank you,

Last Friday I gave a lecture in Syracuse about my desire for narrative in photobooks. The reason behind this desire, I explained, was a feeling of saturation in the era of Google Images, Flickr and so on. But I neglected the more fundamental reason: stories are entertaining.

I like to say that there are three levels of artmaking.

1) Entertainment: This, for me, is essential. If the work doesn’t pull me in, I’ll go elsewhere. And doing this and this alone is one hell of a challenge.

2) Education: After being entertained, maybe I can learn something too. While watching The Social Network, maybe I’ll learn something about Facebook or frat boys. But before this learning takes place, I want to be entertained.

3) Change: After being educated and entertained, once in a while a story changes your life. But as an artist, this isn’t something you can shoot for. Otherwise you’d just write self-help books and advice columns.

The day after my lecture, I went to hear John Gossage speak. As some of you might know, John and I recently worked on a project in New Zealand together (more on The Auckland Project soon). I learned so much from John and consider him one of my great teachers. So I was taken aback when he said this in the lecture (I’m paraphrasing):

“Entertainers try to please their audience – artists do what they do and the audience comes to them. I don’t think about my audience whatsoever.”

Suddenly I felt like a cheap carnival hawker. Not only do I consider the audience for my work, I confess that I aim to entertain. Is this pathetic? I guess it depends on the definition of entertainment. In his essay The Pleasure Principal, Michael Chabon investigates this definition and aims to expand it:

I read for entertainment, and I write to entertain. Period. Oh, I could decoct a brew of other, more impressive motivations and explanations. I could uncork some stuff about reader response theory, or the Lacanian parole. I could go on about the storytelling impulse and the need to make sense of experience through story. A spritz of Jung might scent the air. I could adduce Kafka’s formula: “A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul.” I could go down to the cafe at the local mega-bookstore and take some wise words of Abelard or Koestler about the power of literature off a mug. But in the end — here’s my point — it would still all boil down to entertainment, and its suave henchman, pleasure. Because when the axe bites the ice, you feel an answering throb of delight all the way from your hands to your shoulders, and the blade tolls like a bell for miles. Therefore I would like to propose expanding our definition of entertainment to encompass everything pleasurable that arises from the encounter of an attentive mind with a page of literature.

Here’s the thing, I find John Gossage’s work entertaining. I get great pleasure from The Pond. The narrative that propels that book carries me in a way that ‘entertaining’ photographers like David LaChapelle never can. Nonetheless, there is no disputing the fact that Gossage doesn’t aim to entertain. Are artists better off forgetting about their audience?

What do you think? Should artists be entertainers?