It dawns on me quite frequently that I have been neglecting a few projects. This one suffers greatly, as I haven't been in contact with my father as much as I used to be. (strange but true.. it was easier when he was in than it is now that he's out). We talk every few weeks... sometimes with spells of silence that stretch past that.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere... (April 20, 2007 to January 30, 2008)
The First 286 Days.



"I can't email anymore. They've asked me not to use my account for anything other than job searches. I'm afraid to do it even if it seems harmless.. cause they can ask me to take a lie detector test at any moment. Please don't send me anything from now on. I know it's a shame."

730 days straight...
I just had my two year mark with daily self portraits.
Decided to smile for the occasion.
Jan 27, 2006- Jan 27, 2007, Jan 27, 2008

Jan 18, 2008
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Day 274.

"It's been really rough lately. The holidays just passed, so there's not much work out there to get. On top of that there's the writer's strike. Most of those people are taking all the jobs. I'm going back in again tomorrow to look over the listings."

Early portrait.. that ties back in with the project "Gray". I just re-discovered it while going through and organizing my negatives.

Winter, 2004

Jumping out of my skin.

I'm beside myself...
Not wanting to brag but
excited and unable to contain myself.

A) I received a CCNY Residency runner-up award
B) I had a wonderful meeting with a wonderful gallery owner in NYC yesterday..
C) I'm heading down South in a week and a half or so... for the Faquetigue Cajun Mardi Gras Run and some photo adventures.

Here's a portrait that I shot for the Out100 OUT issue:

More from the series "Where I Found You", a project that explores the notion of long distance relationships to one's family and to what remains familiar. Having not lived in the same state as my family for over six years, this series confronts the fluctuations that exist in my absence. Everything and nothing is always the same.

First Teeth, Greenhouse














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Hollywood Backyard, Los Angeles Traffic

Attempting to start off the new year by making more work. It's insanely hard (yet the most important thing) to make time for this goal.

David, New York, NY. 2008

If you happen to be in Los Angeles, I'm happy to be a part of this unique show with William Lamson, Raphael Neal, Suellen Parker and many others, in which we had to create a self-portrait for the show, in an edition of 1. Info as follows:



(Untitled) u = ____ [a photographic group show] | january 11 - february 9, 2008.
Fette's Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.

Michele Abeles (us), Melanie Bonajo (nl), Victor Boullet (ch), François Coquerel (fr), Clayton Cubitt (us), Flavia Da Rin (ar),
Arnaud Delrue (fr), Amy Elkins (us), Roya Falahi (us), Thobias Fäldt (se), Carlee Fernandez (us), Kate Gilmore (us),
Kristian Haggblom (au), Anouk Kruithof (nl), William Lamson (us), Eva Lauterlein (ch), Zoren Gold & Minori (jp),
Raphaël Neal (fr), Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs (ch), Paul Mpagi Sepuya (us), Suellen Parker (us), Tim Sullivan (us),
Erika Svensson (se), and Deanna Templeton (us).
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This isn't in the show....
but is part of my ongoing inspection and documentation of self.

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Day 253.
(visiting with my father in CA)


"Today has been a really, really great day. It stopped raining right as I was riding my bike out for the day and didn't start back up until I came home, hours later. I've been sitting in the doorway with an umbrella just enjoying the sound of it."

Shower, 2005
From the series Gray.

So it's a new year. Our days are unfolding, evolving, thrusting and turning... and the moments falling all around us are mutating, shifting and knocking us around with it's startling unpredictability. In the midst of a deep sleep on the 1st of 2008 a phone rang with news of a new liver. My dear friend calls at 3:46am on his way to the hospital with family. This story unfolds partially within my portrait project 'Gray" but climaxes from 1300 miles away. He has been on a waiting list for nearly eight months, so the news has him and the rest of his circle of friends and family smiling. Here are photographs we've made together over the past few years. I'm sure there are many more to come.


Northern Light, 2006
From the series Gray

Navigation, 2007
From the series Gray

Movement, 2006
From the series Gray

I Was Right Behind You, 2007
From the series Gray

Resting, 2006
From the Series Gray

Above the City, 2006
From the Series Gray

Holidays remind me of New Orleans..
and this photo reminds me of a good time.
Happy New Years.
Here's to a year of recovery, restoration, peace and love.
St. Joseph's Night. New Orleans, 2002.

Repost

More from the series "Where I Found You".

Santa Monica Pier, First Visit

NY Arts Magazine has a piece on me in the January/February 2008 issue.
























Here's a snippet:
-Jimmy Moffat on Amy Elkins-

The definition of a “wallflower” in the Oxford Dictionary, is “a girl who has no one to dance with at a party.” In her series, “Wallflower,” Amy Elkins examines the sexist limits of this perception. By placing men in front of floral wallpaper, their torsos generally shirtless and cropped near the waist, she has successfully created a collection of portraits of male “wallflowers.” It is because these men are undressed and in an intimate environment that the viewer immediately confronts the stereotypes of sexual orientation. Read more here.

Miami wrap up....

I'm so exhausted and saturated with imagery that I probably won't be able to describe the events that unfolded in Miami during the recent art fair whirl wind for another month. I, like most that were down in Miami this past weekend, haven't slept in days on end. This morning started at 4am in Miami... which led to a flight over the cloudy and rainy east coast... and now back in the cold that is NY and straight back to business.

I had no idea what to expect and at some points the volume of work to look at, along with the unfamiliarity with Miami and driving in the city became fairly overwhelming. Michael Kwiecinski, a photographer friend of mine that also had work at the Aqua Wynwood fair, helped me wander the fairs and the streets and made the overall trip far more entertaining. We met up with a few other talented folks while down there.. such as: Brian Ulrich, Shen Wei, Matt Siber, Jonathan Gitelson, Nathan Baker and many others that I'm spacing on at the moment.

It was a great first fair experience in Miami and I'm glad I got a chance to get down there and see the fairs for myself, meet some great gallery owners and collectors, and visit with some of the folks at my favorite NYC galleries. Also got a lovely little write up on Beautiful Decay about my work in the Aqua Wynwood Fair.

All in all... I saw a lot of fantastic work. I saw a lot of work that didn't float my boat. I got some sun and dipped my feet in the ocean... ate good food and got out of the cold in NY. No complaints. Just know that next time I'll skip on the rental car and get a spot by the beach!

"Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time." -Albert Camus


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