From: Darryl Baird (dbaird@umflint.edu)
Date: 09/21/03-07:05:29 PM Z
Ok, ok, I have a few spare moments here on a fine Sunday evening. What
the heck, here goes.
I do know JP Witkin's work and have loathed-then-loved it. I went to
hear him speak about two years ago. I had a 1.5 hour drive to a nice
Catholic University in S. Michigan, Sienna Heights University. I sat in
a packed crowd waiting for someone resembling Vincent Price to appear,
but instead found a middle aged man of moderate voice and stature on
stage in a nice black leather jacket and a turtleneck. Looks a bit like
Paul Mazursky.
What I wasn't prepared for though was his rationale for making such
(arguably) shocking work. He wants us all to consider our mortality and
also how lucky we are to be whole, or blessed with definitive (?) sexual
organs and feelings (unlike a transvestite), or with a normal body, etc.
etc. He is a bloody humanist. He also is a person of some ability when
it comes to persuading people to perform. He's had years of practice,
first with co-workers in the Albuquerque restaurant where he worked
while finishing a grad degree at UNM, later with Hollywood trannys, and
just about every "DIFFERENT" lifestyle we can imagine (some maybe we
can't?). He never uses a corpse of someone who isn't "unclaimed" at the
morgue, ... which were in Mexico. He has both a huge interest in art
history and allegory and is ruthless with his processes to get the look
we all must admit is incredible.
He had a heart attack about three years ago and has since slowed down. I
haven't seen any new work, but I know he really cut back on the work.
As a little contrast -- I also drove a great deal of distance to hear
Andres Serrano and found him completely lacking as a human. He seemed
utterly comfortable with shock and the allure of big bucks. I was really
bummed, but Witkin really lifted my spirits. It is nice to have his work
"out on the edge" opening up new territory to explore. At least is is
something different from landscapes, still lifes and nudes and the rest
of the last century's oeuvre which dominates so many photo galleries.
Darryl
Loris Medici wrote:
>1) "Limits in imagination" ?! ... This is a pure oxymoron.
>
>2) Dahmer - Witkin analogy ?! ... A very shallow one.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: ARTHURWG@aol.com
>To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
>Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 12:41 AM
>Subject: Re: PS About Witkin Re: Diane Arbu s
>
>
>Yes, I know Witkin is immensely popular-- as well as financially successful.
>But if he's a genius I think "evil" must be the operative adjective. Yes,
>perhaps it's only his imagination that's "psychopathic," and that in every
>other regard he's a solid citizen. But I doubt it. Yes, it's only
>"shadows," as someone put it. But there are limits, don't you think? Perhaps
>Jeffery Dhamer was a Witkin fan. I remember that when the cops opened his
>fridge and saw those silver painted severed heads, Dhamer told them they
>were artworks. And the cops believed him. ...... Arthur
>
>
>
>
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