LAWRENCE RUSS, Photographer: Soul, Art, and Society
The soul, spiritual matters, social justice, photography and the other arts, and the reality in which they are all joined.
What follows is the preface of a book that I’ve just had printed, featuring a fifteen-image photographic poem of mine, The Arcane Machine. The book is 10×10″, 34-pages long, including this preface, the … Continue Reading THE ARCANE MACHINE – new book of photographs by L. Russ
I don’t know how many “favorite” photographs I have, but I know that one of the frames in my sanctum of photographic love holds Imogen Cunningham’s “The Unmade Bed.” It’s clicheish to … Continue Reading The Heroines’ Unpinned Hair
Irony: don’t let yourself be controlled by it, particularly when you are not actually writing. In the moments when you are are, try to use it as one more means … Continue Reading Irony and Fashion
Mr. Grundberg has credentials to burn, including years of writing reviews for The New York Times and various awards, including the prestigious Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography. … Continue Reading The Terror of the Naked Critic – Part 2 of 2
The comic bit, on which there’ve been many variations,goes something like this: A Hollywood pitchman addresses a group of studio execs, exhorting them, “I’m tellin’ you this project is box … Continue Reading The Terror of the Naked Critic – Part 1 of 2
Ever since caveman-times, no doubt, people have tended to huddle around communal fires for warmth, for mutual comfort, for survival. We would all like the support and good will of … Continue Reading The Frailty of Judges and Critics
Okay, forgive me. I’ve “borrowed” and recast this title from the short poem that W.B. Yeats wrote for his tombstone: “Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. / … Continue Reading Cast a Cold Eye on Acceptance, on Rejection. Artist, Pass By!
Society works to make us believe that we’re small, insufficient, that we have to run on the fumes of worldly ambition, that we’ll be doomed if we don’t buy what … Continue Reading Summoning the Genie’s Power – Post 3
Shadows or darkness, fog or cloud, curving shapes, blurred or fantastical objects. Why should photographs with elements like these help to bring on that state of deep calm and heightened … Continue Reading Summoning the Genie’s Power – Post 2
At the end of my last post, I promised you testimony to a particular power of art. The photo of mine above has a title relevant to my purpose: “The … Continue Reading Summoning the Genie’s Power – Post 1
“Mushrooms & Trees 5” by Van Chu Post 2 of 2: The Tradition, The brief artist statement on Van Chu’s website, http://vanchuart.com confirmed my initial impression that his photograph reflects … Continue Reading A Story of Creation – Post 2 of 2
“Mushrooms & Trees 5” by Van Chu Post 1 of 2: The Photograph, From time to time in these posts, I’ll write about an image that has caught me in … Continue Reading A Story of Creation – Post 1 of 2
For those of you who may not know it already, I took the phrase “the unknown friend” from Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote in one of his journals in the Spring … Continue Reading “To the Unknown Friend”
What I’m about to say to you is, in a sense, simple, though its ramifications are not. This will be an essential foundation for much that I’ll have to say … Continue Reading Art as Experience
Although this first post is addressed mainly to my fellow artists, I hope that this site will interest anyone who loves art, anyone interested in the topics that I take up here, and anyone whose … Continue Reading Welcome to Artists, Lovers of Art, and Unknown Friends
LAWRENCE RUSS, Photographer: Soul, Art, and Society 