Gleaming the cube

I fell in love with the works of Ai WeiWei over the course of last year.  I was late to the party–something that my friend Tim was more than eager to point out.  I hadn’t seen Disposition and when I saw Forever, photographing both the piece and the people viewing it, I didn’t have any idea of whom it’s creator was.  When I started reading about the trio of shows he was having in Los Angeles I made sure to make it to all three and I made this image at the Zodiac show.  


The works were staggering.  While I took it all in, looking for my images of people taking it all in, I felt suddenly brow-beaten.  Looking at these amazing pieces, sweaty and gleaming with a creativity which could only be divine intervention and wrought into being by hands which absolutely have six fingers each, it was hard to not focus a little bit inward.  


When I passed the Chrystal Cube, I stopped cold.  Then after a minute of just standing there, gazing into this incredible object there came a moment of clarity. I had a small chuckle, moved the camera to my eye and made the image above.  It was almost like Ai Weiwei was speaking directly to me in that exact moment–showing me how my reality was being distorted and the perception of what is perfection is not a reflection of me but of my wantonness of something that is simply an illusion–an ideal that no one achieves.


Gleaming the cube, shot on my Mamiya6MF on Kodak Tri-X, pushed +2 at the Icon. 

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