Me N Mare

Please forgive if this blog post seems a bit too sentimental/brief/whatever (or too little... this type of thing isn't my forte).

If you've seen our third issue, you may know that Mariel and I are very influenced by California Minimalism, and specifically James Turrell.  The photograph on the right below is a picture my father took of me at the LACMA.  I had gone to see an exhibition of California art from the 60s an 70s.  One of the artists whose work was on display there was Turrell.  I instantly fell in love with his use of light and color, and I see that show as having greatly shifted my ideas about aesthetic.  At one of the peak moments of the show for me, I sat alone in a room lit only by a neon blue rectangle (courtesy of Turrell).  I simply sat alone there and meditated on my views on art, aesthetic, life, everything.  The experience was so calming and crystallizing, it was perfect.  While I was sitting there, my father, another strong influence on my work, took this photo.  I had showed it to Mariel some time ago, not going too deeply into the personal meaning it had for me, and then more or less forgot about it.

Fast forward to this weekend: Mariel and I took a trip to the met to see the show Photography After Dark.  After viewing the exhibit, we decided to walk around.  One of the places we went was my personal favorite part of the museum, the contemporary art.  Near the exit, we saw this neon square and began to look at it together.  Without any prompting, Mariel sat in front of the piece and asked me to take the photo as an homage to the aforementioned piece.  I was so pleased that she remembered this image, and even more so that she was interested in recreating it with me. So yeah, I'll shut up now, sorry for the wall of sappy text.  Here are the two images side by side.