Beautiful-Ugly Steel
It’s no mistake that I started finding the beautiful in the ugly at the beginning
of a long, lonely and painful pandemic. Everything seeks equilibrium, including people.
So it makes sense that when you’re surrounded by unrelenting darkness
it’s that much easier to see even the faintest light. That’s what I photograph -
the light getting through. I’m a junkyard kintsugi hunter armed with a Canon.
Years ago, I’d strive to make my paintings look like photographs.
Now I try to make my photographs look like paintings. Most people are surprised
to discover that my images are photographs of rusty, crusty, dirty and damaged steel.
The seed for this beautiful-ugly steel series began in March of 2020
with taking beautiful photographs of ugly steel that I’d see at steel fabrication shops
in and around Los Angeles while working as a Welding Inspector. When newly milled,
steel can be plain and dull, but when nature starts the process of taking it back,
the results can be spectacular.
What caught my eye initially was the simple abstract beauty I’d find in certain areas
of plain, uncoated steel. The marks left by industrial work processes of cutting, grinding,
heating, shaping and welding the steel often hint at landscapes or other worlds.
Grinder marks at the hand of a welder or helper often leave unintended lyrical curves and
flourishes that are elegantly gestural and temporarily sparkle with glints of bare steel.
Heat from cutting frequently creates iridescent wisps of purple and blue in shapes
that remind me of Dr. Seuss style animals. Grease or oil left on steel and moved by
water create spectacular rainbows of color.
What makes me love these images is the delicious irony in knowing
that their beauty is a direct result of damage, decay, dirt and neglect.
My motivation in seeking out these beautiful abstract qualities in steel,
other than the pure joy of discovering visual magic, is that it compels me
to also look intimately, openly and creatively at humanity and the
damaged and decaying people around me with a little more compassion.
This isn’t necessarily born out of a naïve optimism. I’ve faced some
experiences that have push me towards nihilism, but the practice
of intimately examining and photographing beautiful-ugly steel
constantly reminds me of a quote by Leonard Cohen...
‘There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.’
We’re all damaged in life and start decaying the moment we’re born,
but my hope is that when you read this, and then look at my work,
you will question just how ugly, ugly is.