I slept in the back of a U-Haul van, lest I be forced to brave the nighttime, 40-degree temperatures sans shelter. I sported industrial goggles for days, lest the 70 mile-per-hour sandstorms fling dust into my eyes. I wore state-of-the-art Bose headphones to muffle the ceaseless drone of all-night-long, eclectic, house-electronic music. I looked on with excitement and wonder as tens of thousands of Burning Man pilgrims to the Black Rock Desert gathered around my art-collective encampment, transfixed by my metal-prints exhibition.
Burners travel around the 400-square-mile Playa by bike, as masses of week-long culture-seeking campers comprise a human hive. Pilgrims don all manner of extreme garb, or else no clothing at all–perhaps aside from from bright-blue body paint or an intricate, hand-crafted hat. Their extreme self-expression is the evident manifestation of the Black Rock Desert’s environmental extremism–searing sun by day, near-freezing temperatures by night, dust storms that rip through the encampment, and a jejune, cracked-earth landscape.
Burning Man served as the backdrop for the world premiere of my metal-prints exhibition, featuring eight 30″x45″-inch, dye-saturated aluminum sheets of metal. The two, below videos provide discussion of the desert-resistant art, which Bay Photo generously sponsored, and also problem-solving challenges of installing an exhibition in this environment. Next week, I will release the second component of this three-part Burning Man series, in which I reveal footage from the wild, dynamic event itself. Get ready for more goodies!
Enjoy, and I look forward to hearing your feedback! Did anybody else go to Burning Man? What did you see that inspired *you?
Those were the best photos of Burning Man I have ever seen, and some of my favorite photos ever. I, too, would like prints – two specific ones – to gift to playa friends who also loved your work. Congratulations on finding your art!
I agree regarding the video. I didn’t realize my hand placement until we had finished filming. Its harder then one thinks to speak eloquently to a camera and hold a big print! As for the “True Photographer” dig, I have no comment. That’s your stuff.
Metallic finish or not, it just does not look good to have your hand on it as you did… Just an observation. A true Photographer would have never done that. Ara & Spirit
Ara & Spirit…. You are actually serious…. You define a “True” photographer by weather they put their hands on a print or whether they don’t?? Really…… Wow if that is the case we all can be called photographer as long we keep our hands off. Metallic prints have a tough sprayed lacquer over them to protect them and are far different than the glossy 4×6 snapshot prints from ritz you may be accustomed to getting yourself. It was perfectly fine for her to be able to touch the print as all “Large” display Pro Lab prints from a Bay Photo are usually sprayed and can take the abuse and finger prints unlike glossy 4×6 your uncle photographer told you never to touch with your bare fingers.
Perhaps I was able to educate you a little in Custome Pro Lab Display prints if you one day choose to make one.. :)
I saw your photos on metal at BM and they are painfully beautiful. I wish I could look at them all the time, any way of purchasing prints?