It\u2019s a truism that part of the mission of art is to bring us more vibrant life by making us see and feel things as though for the first time. Art should help us to see that what we experience doesn\u2019t need to be named or explained \u2013 and in truth can\u2019t really be named or explained anyway — in order to move or delight us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it possible that despite our discoveries and advances, despite our culture, religion, and science, we have remained on the surface of life? Is it possible that even this surface, which might still have been something, has been covered with an incredibly tedious material, which makes it look like living-room furniture during the summer vacation?<\/em><\/p>Yes, it is possible.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nfrom Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge<\/em> by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Stephen Mitchell<\/p>\n\n\n\nStill, there is a more elusive, rarely-noted miracle to deeper works of art: the ability of our \u201cother,\u201d greater self to see and portray with love rather than with hate or oversimplification, to retain a clear sight of the regrettable, but without complete revulsion. Dickens was a master in this regard, and when I\u2019ve attended meetings with unpleasant, sometimes aggressively dishonest and unpleasant people, I\u2019ve thought of the way that he portrayed his characters, so that either some finer aspect of their personality, or some fineness in the artfulness of his descriptions, complicates our feeling about them, adds something attractive to the mix. I think of one lawyer that I encountered any number of times, who was as determined and resourceful in his lying as you might be in your photography. But something in me was able, though not nearly all<\/em> the time, to hold him at arm\u2019s length, to see him as he might been portrayed by Dickens, and not only show him respect, but even feel some unexpected affection for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI hope that there\u2019s something of that way of seeing in these works, something of the beauty in what would not commonly be considered beautiful, but is a part of what R.H. Blyth called the precious and unique \u201cisness\u201d of each particular thing in this world. The portfolio begins at this page: https:\/\/lawrenceruss.com\/index\/C0000HrILmRgUq4A\/G00006u.ylVUGZC4\/I0000fX7RgMX9Z34<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I want to introduce you to a new portfolio of mine: \u201cTowers and Devices of an Alien Race.\u201d But I don\u2019t, don\u2019t want to squeeze it into an ill-fitting box of conceptions or drown it in chat about techniques or influence. Still, I want to tell you a few of the thoughts and feelings that I had in making these works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8,9],"tags":[22,31,34,75,117,227,240,277,304,359,481],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Towers and Devices of an Alien Race - Lawrence Russ Photography<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n