Factor X 05

In getting from nothing to something, you travel through else,and else, and else again. How do you do this; how difficult is the travel; are some travels easier? A conjecture of success, by which I mean, being as known as you wish.

Can you get someone interested enough to sustain their interest?

Determining the Contrast

Natural ability makes doing X easier. The factor I’m considering isn’t physical, rather it is

You can’t teach someone to be 7 foot, but you can improve being 7 foot. 

some other set – an X set. Let’s use Steve Jobs as an example of it — he is a 5, the top end of the scale. Most people are 0 on this scale. They aren’t even certain there is such a thing. They mistake X for something else rather than the cluster it is. The 5’s, on the other hand don’t understand why everyone doesn’t know how to do X, and are infuriated when their surrounding 3 & 4’s don’t get more results. This X set is psychological ability. 

In order to succeed at having others assist you, you will share characteristics of the con man. People will be wary of this. But the nature of X is such that you have resilience without being destructive. Many think this means being competitive. It is not. This ability sets out similarities not differences. Successful others will be trustful of you, rather than being wary.

In asking you are giving – not giving in;  not giving up – Those who have will share because they know they aren’t being tricked. You are prepared to give and share, not give and take.

It Goes Wrong

The followup fails because you failed to start off correctly. Further, you can’t correct your actions. You don’t have resilience that is reliable. It isn’t the asking, it is the follow up. Your follow up, not theirs.

Trade Show Effect

I am a reticent attendee of trade shows. In my far past, I attended for training, and, for a few years, I attended to sell. This was my retouching equipment and supplies. It was never easy, but it was the cheapest way to demonstrate to the novice, to convert the mis-informed. Mostly it was to connect with existing customers. Maintain their allegiance. Follow up was key to new accounts. That was the hardest part — who, in what way, with what frequency. When to stop spending this follow up time with this prospect.

The Difficulty:

Determining those people who occupy your time to their selfish ends. Those people who are just killing time, yours and theirs.

I was aware of that caution, so, along with my innate self reliance, I’d find reasons to ‘move on’ to other prospects. One such case, I’d presented to a regional director. Seemed promising, but after a few months I put his card into the ‘annual’ file. But my persistence hadn’t been offensive, just not productive. He remembered and contacted me. In those 6 years he had left _company_, opened a paper box maker, then an outdoor advertising company. He wanted my coating system in that operation, but I’d closed up, moving on to other things. He had persisted. He had remembered. I hadn’t.


 

The prompt for this post was forum activity over the upcoming Fotofest in Houston.

next: Origin Of This Post

Blackfork Bestiary

Short: not worth the drive. No matter how short it is. Enjoy the space, and other work on display.

Openings

His opening phrase: where he starts; who is the ‘other’ of his world. Who am I to him?

introPhrase
how you open sets the reader’s first steps

First words raise the curtain, introductory speech defines the author; sometimes openings are a starting point, sometimes they set out the limitation of the artist.

The setup: in which Robert Langham categorizes the other as lacking knowledge: classified as first not understanding, therefor lacking something that he has, and values. This is a rejectionist stance. He characterizes me, an unknowing reader, so that as he ends her story by having her say: “how do you know?” he and she fall silent.

The conversation ends, falling off the page to a darkening room. Warm tones but cold words.

Can we judge the work by our expectation? Certainly, since that is what we all do. Some expectations are lower, even naive, as others are formed by formulations based upon viewing and interacting with increased variety of art worlds. However, seeing other work shouldn’t blind you to seeing any current work in view. You may miss something in expecting that, when what you have is a this.

Within A World

His world is Wet Texas — Tyler to Houston.

Is this a this, or a that? What does it miss, or mistake? Why are the contents placed into frame? Since these are studio shots, done with view camera, all elements must play well alone and together. They seem built using the ready available, without aesthetic requirement or note. An airspace – use part of a clothespin. Light. Use the umbrella from the school senior shoot. Good enough. We’re saved because of details; we are using big film, so we’re automatically in art territory.

The art space as if a bar. Any gathering place bears resemblance to, and can be likened to, another. Art serves multiple functions. Its public function is as social point of contact, by which it is located and compared. It is presented to a public by gallery. Sometimes with an opening; with placards, catalogue sheets, along with other ephemera.

Video of installation at: https://youtu.be/XQAa3PjNujE

Gallery Time

I passed through the show 3 times over a 45 minute time. During my visit, there were 5 other visitors in the OJAC. It was Saturday morning, opening day. Sitting on the bench to take notes, I was able to overhear some conversation. Mostly just remarks about the paintings just seen, but this: “dingy,” made me listen. One of the people talking was from Portugal and was talking about bestiaries. He had thought there would be surface adornment or gilding, because of the titles. Only that group spoke, otherwise the room was quiet; meditative.

On The Surface

Dingy? I had already written: “compressed, confined tonality” — The work is not an exploration of surface, certainly not if compared with work just a few steps away. Painters have to build a surface, so they, over time, have a mature approach to building up an image. Studio photography has similar history, but not in this presented work. The tonality is a monotone – if you were to see these online (no reason not to ) they may remind you of tintypes.

Since the work has accumulated over a protracted period, this printing must be by choice. What isn’t present is use of this chosen grammar. I am tempted to provide one, but won’t.

Within The Place

The Old Jail Art Center

Upon leaving a studio the work will be compared to other work present in the gallery. The OJAC has a fine set of work. Not major, but certainly adequate for a small town to feel proud.

The Larger v. The Local

Artists acquire skill from those they engage. Some of this is formal, most of it is informal. The internet has provided, it is proclaimed, an enlarged world for the small town isolated artist. That isn’t the case for most photographers, since most photographers gather in tech specific forums. In those forums they must conform to a founders limitations which are reinforced by indoctrinated, accepting advocates. Robert Langham frequents these spaces, probably without benefit. Purposeful inbreeding isn’t an option for increased growth capacity.