| MOTEL STORIES Just because we sometimes find ourselves in sleazy, dangerous or precarious situations, that does not necessarily mean we are soiled. Nor does it mean that we’re at fault. Things can be misinterpreted. The universe hurls us into perilous and confounding situations that may get our souls trampled and battered. We are thrust into the maelstrom of the strange and the damaged. Motel Stories is a glimpse inside this underbelly of the universe. Desperation, joy, hidden yearnings and fears seduce my imagination. I created this visual landscape and language to expel my demons and amuse the art gods. This work reflects contemporary society’s insatiable appetite for voyeuristic entertainment and diversion. We live in a reality TV world, and this series is a photographic version of that world. As such, it takes you to places that the ordinary viewer claims that they do not want to go, but in fact do so very much. It’s a sexy world that is simultaneously revolting. I open the motel doors, which are a metaphor for society’s morbid curiosity and empty obsessions. The series is both discomforting and liberating. My motivation is to provoke, disturb, and purge, and then to burn off the final supply of creative fuel. Yet I also want to provide the cathartic as well as to inspire, entertain and confront the unresolved. For this series, I decided to shoot with more than just a digital SLR. I chose to use two 4x5 Sinar film bodies and lenses because these cameras capture the special mystique of classic film quality. Motel Stories was captured in hard light without diffusion. That light is less about perfection and more about grabbing the mercurial shining of intimate moments. There are hopes and fantasies, dreams and fears. The subjects are real people and fake people, family members, friends, and clients past and future. They are lovers, ex-wives, nefarious strangers, sundry riff raff, hoodlums, and future movie stars. They are both heroic and fraudulent, and they are all, in their own way, caught in a cosmic fantasy of eternal purgatory. Enter. |