Nearby Café Home > Art & Photography > Photocritic International

Get new posts by email:

Cabin Fever 2018: Bits & Pieces (b)

Among the enduring mysteries of my professional life (e.g., How do you make a decent living at this? and Who’s the good critic?) I have counted what seemed to me the adamant refusal of French scholars to use my chosen nom de plume, substituting instead my first and sometimes second names, one or another of them (or both) possibly misspelled. […]

Birthday Musings 12/19/17

According to the stats provided by my gym, over these past two years I have lifted more than 600,000 pounds, which equates to 76 elephants. This year I’m taking those pachyderms as symbolic of the Republic Party’s crushing weight on democracy; so, to quote Allen Ginsberg, “America, I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.” […]

The Origins of the Wall Accessory (2)

These artifacts are not intended to engage the discourse of art or creativity on any level whatsoever. No meaningful gauge can be applied to them; since they take no risks by which they could be considered failures, it is impossible for them to succeed. […]

The Origins of the Wall Accessory (1)

There was an official designation for the entire object (image plus mat plus backing board plus frame) which I held in my hands, and the appropriate nomenclature was right there in big letters on a white label pasted to the back. “WALL ACCESSORY,” it said, just like that, and in a flash I knew that I had found not just a bargain but a metaphor. […]

Autumn Leaves: Bits and Pieces

I rarely find myself returning to a news photograph for its nuances. But Saul Loeb’s image of Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner from a Cabinet Meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, October 16, 2017, proves an exception. […]