Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Crikey!
That took longer than the 54 bus to Ludmilla. I thought you guys were doing a criminal check on me just to let me in. (that old biddy I mugged! She hit me first).
Now I'm in I don't know where to start. The list of options is longer than my wife's 'to do' list.
And I read some of the comments. Gee! There are some pretty smart people here.
You will take it easy on me, won't you? I'm old and have a weak ticker.
I know! I'll start with a picture of myself taken by my 8 year old grand daughter. I stole her bear and she was recording the event to dob on me to her grumpy grandmother. Boy, did I get a pasting. The bears name is Scraggs, by the way and I'll knock the stuffing out of it next time I find it swimming in the toilet bowl.
This is a picture that can serve as a prototype for the concept of seeing. Of course, Tom didn't take this picture. I'd strongly assert, however, that his own father did. That's the puzzle you have to unravel! As it is, the picture is just fine. It does not "need" to be cropped or to have contrast change to make it pop. But why do I say this? That's an insight for you to discover and experience on your own.
It would be a mistake to think of this as just a treasured family memento. Yes, it's that of course, but far more. This picture tells so much of the man, intimacy, humor, confidence, not taking himself too seriously, even poking fun at himself, for he selected just this to be his formal introduction.
The image shows so much and is important. Don't say it's just a lucky snap by a child. Also, this is not merely "found art" picking up a chance snap like driftwood fortuitously discovered in the sand. This picture, instead, appears to be the result of living a life of enjoyment, trust and example and living in a world of "seeing".
That, you have to explore further in Tom's other pictures. Look and you will be rewarded. My own belief is that you will find a body of work that has its own signature and is worthy of recognition. My purpose in putting this in the Art Theory forum is to allow you to see not just this picture again, but also to look at the very subject of "seeing" in one family and it's impact on making a body of pictures worthy of saving.
I'd venture, that with earphones on, youth of today, are in inner bubbles of delusion and are less able to see the world passing before them. For that, quiet observation is needed. Shshhh!
Asher