Quinto Quarto
Quinto Quarto is a new paradigm for me as an artist: a series of pieces rather than a body of work, that has allowed me to play and provoke in ways I haven't always been able to as a photographer.
1001 Swastikas
1001 Swastikas is a video made of 1001 photographs of graffiti swastikas made throughout Italy and other parts of Europe.
As an American, a Jewish one, finding the symbol all over the walls of my adopted home was horrifying, despite assurances that it mostly reflected teenage soccer hooliganism. I felt that I was re-appropriating the symbol by collecting it, and making it into something more like its original Hindu purpose, as a symbol of time turning, and, hopefully, of things improving.
L’archivio Segreto
Window Washer
Window Light
Watermelon
Water Drinker Teatro Marcello
The Chess Champion
Swedish
Smashed Back Window
Sleeping Cat
Sign Changer
Sexy Van
Ruby
Malian Weight Lifter
MAS
Journal
Hidden Chair
Flamenco Couple
Fingernails Clicker
Culotte
Crucifix Shadow
Bottles
Blocked Driveway
Blocked Driveway
Blackberries
Weird Wall
This section of Quinto Quarto was meant to talk about religion.
Olympic badminton players were hired to play a game inside a church. The Olympians were very compliant; the churches were not. In reaction, I made L’archivo segreto, a series of photographs made on long walks in Rome, printed upside down, and shown on a mirrored shelf against the wall of the museum, to keep the content mostly secret.
La La Traviata
La La Traviata, a video of non-Italian sex workers singing a song in their native languages, was made at the edges of town, where these folks stand by the side of the road.
The experience was bizarre for all involved, but mostly for the prostitutes, who were asked to access an emotional place that only music can address. I think of the piece as a version of Verdi’s La Traviata, made as far from the opera stage as it possible to get.
New Modern Cave Paintings
Arrivera
Pinky
Blue Hazy
Yellow Mushroom
Whiteout on Steel
Two Pinkies
Turquoise
Tall Skinny
Spirting White Corner
Small Shooter Grey
Sky Blue Chalk
Robin Blue and Silver
Red Blimp
Pink Yellow
Pinky Scribbly
Pascuale
Orange Plaster
Long Grey Blimp
Grey Hand Job
Grey Bricks
Green on Yellow
Bubble Glass
Dripping Gouge
Cy Twombly
Commie Cock
Brown Nub
Brown Paint
Blue Blimp
New Modern Cave Paintings are photographs of graffiti penises made throughout Italy. Scholars, it turns out, are divided on the essential nature of Neolithic cave paintings.
Apparently, the great masterpieces we study amount to only 10% of the extant images, another 10% are of vaginas, and 80% are of penises. Half of scholars believe the painters were practitioners of a devout fertility cult, and half think the paintings were made by horny kids sneaking into the dark. Based on the drawings I’ve photographed in Rome, both are clearly correct.
Photography Liberation Front
The Photography Liberation Front is a series of No Photography signs stolen from churches, museums and other locations. Dimensions Variable.
Unphotographable
Quinto Quarto is my new paradigm as an artist: it is more of a series of pieces than a SINGLE WORK, and it allowed me to play and provoke in a way I had never known how to do as a photographer.