A Review of Celia Sanchez’ Exhibition, “Saints”

Way back on Cinco de Mayo, we dropped in on SPACE Gallery & Records in Claremont.  I wanted to have a look at Celia Sanchez’ work, “SAINTS”.  And I wanted to say hi to Christina Franco, the gallerist, whom I had not seen since the Pomona days.  Well, we ended up chatting it up for a bit and I basically ran out of time and we had to go.  I did manage to have a look at the Ms. Sanchez’ work and it’s really good.  But I did not have the minutes to meet her.  That I regretted.  Ms. Sanchez is a professional photographer and artist who has had her work featured in a few places.  Check out her website and Instagram to learn more – that’s what I did.  And after going to her website I really regretted not meeting her.  The body of work she presents on her site is incredible.  I was drawn in initially trying to find out more about her project “Saints” but I discovered this very thought provoking project, “Devoted”.  It begins as portraits of #tattooed women.  I won’t spoil it for you as to how it changes along the way.  It is truly great understanding of how we misjudge people every day.  I really enjoyed all of her work though, especially “Abandoned”, as I too work with abandoned structures too.  Ms. Sanchez’ take on the subject is a powerful journey in story telling though – really remarkable work.  I believe “Saints” is still showing at the Space Gallery but don’t know for sure.  But I know Celia Sanchez’ website is fully operational.

Brick and Mortar

So, I know where I’m going but I can’t work on it at the moment.  I’m on another mission at this time.  But that’s ok – I can still share with you these images from my Victor Valley Project.

The Journey

A goal is starting to take shape – there is a destination.  I’m that kind of person, I thrive on seizing objectives.  Does that sound a little Army like?  Yeah, I guess that’s what you get when you spend most of your adult life as soldier.  Thus I display snippets of a past life here again today.  But that’s neither here nor there, the point is there is a goal – things are starting to take focus.  And I realize it is a two pronged approach that I’m after.  To begin with, I have to breathe some life back into TEAM TEN Tops & Tees and get that to bring in the initial funding for the photo project.  The project is another iteration of the Objectivity Project and I think it’s going to be a compelling body of work.

Yes, the journey is all too important but I really need to know where I’m going to begin with.  Truth be told, I feel better now – I have target.

8:30am, Breakfast, Jan 23, 2004 in Iraq.  We were at our halfway point where we spent the night.

 9:00am, Preparing before we hit the road.

 3:00pm, Our destination – the team we were changing out at the 3^rd ACR’s forward operating base.

6:00pm, Dinner, before we closed out the day on another journey in Army boots.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Bishop, Boron, Bakersfield, and Barstow – where do we go from here?  Who knows.  What I do know is that we live in some daunting times and unscrupulous people are preying on the fears of the majority of the people.  You can’t live afraid though – that’s not living, that’s just existing.  Truth be told, we have lived through much worse – it just wasn’t up front and personal the way a TV and the Internet are now.  Any arm chair historian can point to many times where the taking of innocent lives was much worse than it is today – here in the USA too.  We have to make the change we want though and that requires involvement.  Being involved will require some effort in educating yourself about truths versus lies.  And it is not a difficult thing to do, just form some questions and go dig for answers.  Here’s a question: there are three things, an alcoholic beverage, a pack of cigarettes, and a box of ammo.  Which one of these things can you buy in California without a driver’s license?  See, you just have to form a question and go search for the answer.  You will start seeing the truth and what needs to be done and you can shut off the rhetoric.  The uninformed can be herded like sheep to go in whatever direction the one herding them wants them to go.  An ignorant populace is a tremendous source of power for those who do know the #truth but don’t want you to know.  Dumb people are easy to scare.  Don’t be afraid, be a source of #knowledge.

If you need help on how to do this, ask me.

Kinetic Ambiguity

So, before I had said, “I want to see more than what we see at the moment because more is going on that what is seen.”  Hey, that was kind of goofy and made little sense but my Kinetic Ambiguity Project is in line with the point I am trying to make.  I’m not after the “Jackson Pollock” photograph but this project works towards where I’m going.  I know, you want to see where I’m going with this, not where it came from.  You want to see that #image I’m alluding to.  Soon, but I need to mull over what I have done to help me focus a little more.

Oh, and I did a lot of this Kinetic Ambiguity Project in Las Vegas – love that place.

H&A International

Downtown Victorville, on 7^th Street, is where H&A International used to be.  The building is still there but a new business has moved in.  That’s a good thing.  Change in the way of the community coming back.  It’s a long way to go but it’s the right direction.  But this is not about that.  I like this #image – its symmetry, its balance that is really asymmetrical, the colors, the over saturation of the colors, the use of the negative space – I like this image because I’m not finished with it.  I thought I was but realize that I’m not.  Truth be told, I want to see more than what we see at the moment because more is going on that what is seen.  And this is #California – so very much California but not the California known by most.  There is so much to see.

A Store

A famous photographer, Andreas Gurski, created an image, "99 Cent II Diptychon", that gained fame outside of the art world because of what it sold for at auction – over 3 million dollars.  Mr. Gurski is still alive.  I have often dreamed of selling an #image for 1 million dollars.  And I have dreamed of winning the lottery too.  I have dreamed about #Halle Berry being my girlfriend.  I have dreamed about a lot of stuff – but that’s cool, dreams.  But I pretty much keep myself planted in reality – go to work, be a father, keep working on my photography.  I work on my photography in an effort to make it better.  But sometimes I just photograph things just to see what it looks like.  This is not Andreas Gursky’s "99 Cent II Diptychon".  It’s just me in the store with my phone looking at colors.  I did no post production on these, no Melisandre, the red woman, magic to make them look like this or that – just taking a picture for the sake of seeing what it looks like.  It’s a snapshot, nothing more.  But, truth be told, I wouldn’t mind it if this “piece” commanded a million dollars at one of those auspicious art events and Halle Berry was there on my arm full of admiration at what I have created.  Now that’s a dream.

The Parking Lot

So, I really need to catch up in my post production for my images. There is so much I want to do but can't until my images are ready to go.  I guess every photographer has that situation.  Oh well, this is a shot from my phone in the Target parking lot in Apple Valley, CA - where I live.  No post production, just the shot from the phone because I thought the clouds were really dramatic looking.  Truth be told, I think it is fine as is.