Groove 11 is mounting a salon series called What Matters Now, with an Opening Reception on August 18, 6-8 p.m. in our San Rafael office. What Matters Now is an exploration of ideas that inspire thinking in new directions, and touches on a wide variety of issues from the environment to human rights, community to healthcare, among others. The series is also a chance to support dialog amongst artists, business, and the larger creative community.
Seven artists are participating in our first show,. We spoke with each one about their work. Our next interview is with Michael ten Pas.
Photography by Michael ten Pas
Photography by Michael ten Pas
The theme of the show is What Matters Now. In what way did that strike a chord with you?
For me, what matters now is connecting with the physical landscape around me. Today, so much life is spent in motion and in virtual spaces that our immediate surroundings are made insignificant due to our fleeting experience with them. For example, the suburban landscapes in the photographs I have in this show, are places designed to get you in and out quickly so you can get to the next place – whatever that is. While I can’t break out of the fast pace of everyday life all of the time, photography allows me to do so some of the time. It is this experience that puts me in a unique situation to learn something about the world around me that I would not have learned otherwise.
With that, I will share an artist statement that goes with the series of photographs I have in the show:
Somehow Familiar
I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. It is one of America’s fastest growing regions. After I moved away from my hometown, I made these photographs during my trips back to visit friends and family. Most of them were taken within a ten-minute car ride from my childhood home. Because of the population growth, the old places I had remembered received new faces and the unoccupied space became filled with new things: strip malls, rows of houses, parks and other elements of the vernacular suburban landscape. The photographs are about the development and construction that took place in the time I was away. They are about being home, but not recognizing home.
What interests you as an artist?
The main thing that interests me as an artist is humor. A sense of humor is a powerful thing, so it is important to use it. I find that it doesn’t exclude you from forming an opinion about the world around you, but at the same time, it opens you up to see things from different perspectives.
What inspires you?
Photographically speaking, the work of Luigi Ghirri and Kenneth Josephson I find inspiring. It is smart, witty, and deeply invested in looking very closely. Their work, made in the “pre-Photoshop days” of the 1960s through 1980s, has an optical illusion quality to it while referring to things from everyday life. When it comes to their photographs, a quick glance doesn’t do it justice, which is the case with everything in the world around us.
What new projects are you working on now?
Right now, I’m in the middle of a “just-photograph-everything” stage. I don’t usually start with a specific project in mind. The real project is editing. After spending some time making thousands of pictures of whatever captures my interest, certain meanings and ideas emerge from my photographic responses to the world. During the editing stage, I ask myself, “What am I learning from the photographs?” Then I present the work in a way that communicates the answer to that question.
Is your work currently on exhibit anywhere else?
I just closed a show July 30 called Glimpses in Time 2010 at the Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oakland, CA.
What upcoming shows do you have?
Present Tense – Photo Center Northwest; Seattle, WA (August 6 – September 17)
Art of Photography – Lyceum Theatre Gallery; San Diego, CA (August 28 – November 7)
For more information on Michael, and to see more of his work, visit his website. And come to Groove 11 on August 18 for the Opening Reception for What Matters Now.