Most of the notions presented in this statement are taken from my journal. These entries are always intuitive; sometimes I arrive at them through a cognitive process, while other times I jump up when I'm just a shade away from a deep sleep.
One entry reads: "Contradictions are creative equivalents." I don't always know exactly what they mean, but I do believe them true and original. They go through a sort of digestive system and at sometime manifest themselves as part of my form: my working attitude.
This essay is structured much like this, too.
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Monroe, Gary

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T 1977 M757 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Dep Mod Ran Sect Shelf Tray Item P 1 07 06 19 04 013 DATE DUE Demeo Inc. , 38 293 liiiiliiiialif f I U18304 0236120 DO FOR REFERENCE NOT TAKE FROM THIS ROOM THE SPIRIT OF FACT by Gary Monroe M.F.A., University of Colorado, 1977 A thesis submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts Department of Fine Arts, Creative Art 1977 A1?.c\-\ T l'f77 (VJ1s1 This Thesis for the Master of Fine Arts Degree by Gary Monroe has been approved for the Department of Fine Arts by C11 .. A 1-k_ ~ -y") 11Hurne Date ·7 - ( /- 7 J Most of the notions presented in this statement are taken from my journal. These entries are always intuitive; sometimes I arrive at them through a cognitive process, while other times I jump up when I'm just a shade away from a deep sleep. One entry reads : "Contradictions are creative equivalents." I don't always know exactly what they mean, but I do believe them true and original. They go through a sort of digestive system and at sometime manifest themselves as part of my form: my working attitude. This essay is structured much like this, too. "Her passport shows a face from another time and place. She looks nothing like that." Black Diamond Bay Bob Dylan "Suddenly Marta's hut would become warmer as the pictures grew sharper, more real. 11 The Painted Bird Jerzy Kosinski Kosinski's image is simultaneously immediate and symbolic. Its value and decisiveness exist to the world of aesthetics, yet its descriptive qualities extend into information which is intrin-sic to the development and context of the story. The World of Images: I thought: If books weren't marked 'fiction' or hon-fiction' would we know which was which? Would it matter? Society knows Marilyn Monroe through images. Not long ago I viewed a Richard Avedon photograph of her and realized that pictures aren't necessarily honest or accurate; knowledge is what we have deemed as being true, often confused with belief. It's an image; projections may or may not be clearly projected. Things are defined through perception; we are our attitudes, so to speak. "You can't say more than you see.": Any working-attitude is interesting, so long as it fosters seeing photographically: alert to the gestures (or whatever qualities one uses) that when transformed by a camera subscribe to the language of a photograph. 2 It is easier to see clearly when I attempt to minimize or eliminate every variable and to expose both the non-essentials and the facet of the process ; in other words, to make "non-issues" of the issues. "No-frills " photography exposes everything and becomes transparent. Edward Lucie-Smith writes, " .•.• photographs encourage us to look at what they represent more directly, we concern ourselves with the subject ; not the way the subject is rendered." (The Inverted Eye) . "The physical universe does not exist independent of the thought of the participator. " (Time - Space and Beyond) : Photographers are persistently and consistently searching for moments that reveal themselves. For this, the sake of the subject, the integration of the dynamics of camera-work that transforms a percept into a photograph is what the photo-images are about. It is the spirit of fact •. The function of their independent existence is to report/ reflect/depict/present/allude/imagine/inform, and form the world and our attitudes . "Truth is stranger than fiction" : "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Albert Einstein "What we need is imagination. We have to find a new view of the world." Richard P . Feynman 3 "For any speculation which does not at first look crazy, there is no hope." Freeman Dyson. Photographers are blessed with the world as it actually looks. Our sense of imagination is as real as any other sense. Form and Content ; or It is what it is: Form is content. Function is the structuring that allows content to form. When lost in concentration I find my attitudes formed by and around the attitudes of the subject. The form a thing takes is directly proportional to the nature of the thing itself. So, the goal of the photographer is to give credibility to the relationships that bring substance and a suggestive awareness of a subject through its exterior - the function of imagery. (Simply, reality is a matter of aesthetics.) It is clear that a picture of a thing isn't evidence of the thing - it's not the thing. Form exists holistically; and to critically locate it, I find myself scrutinizing three variables: the subject, the perception of the experience, and the system used to communicate that recognition. Resolved formal descriptions clearly articulate the content. It isn't an explanation. It's a set of values; images, being more demanding than ideas aren't rational or didaetic. Pictures are fictitious--recorded moments of time and space, transformed into non-fiction: they are their own reality. 4 Image (Its all done through aesthetics): Photographic images are about what they are 'of.' Images are established through the harmony -- and tension -- of picture and fact. Photographs~ I believe are allusions that refer to what we consider reality; simultaneously reflecting it and questioning it. They are based on the moments leading up to it .. one wonders the implications of what may follow. About that m(!)Illent of decision, photographers practice to attune themselves -- their senses -- to the rythm of the thing environment - ·- event that is the function of it. This peaks and is perceived at 1/25 of a second and is further reduced into a select frame potentially full of information to express the function of interest. For this crystalization to be precise and specific, there is an attempt to use and discord the plastic qualities until all that's left is, to put it best, what Tom Robbins repeatedly writes: "Nothing is everything and every-thing is nothing." Diane Arbus said that "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know. " Qualifing Remarks: 1) When the subject and the subject matter are the same, there is no need (a reason) to stage pictures. 2) The photographer's work and image is complete upon tripping the shutter release button , It starts and is finished simultaneously. 5 3) Detail -- Things regularly appear in the picture that weren't necessarily intended. I consider them exclamation points of reality -- the environmental qualities that help define the subject (you only need to see so,umuch as you need to define). Sometimes I think that the only things "documented " are the things that were unaccounted for. 4) No Expectations -- Illustration is lifeless! 5) Form -- a) When time and space compliment each other. b) When the senses of the picture maker are in harmony with the aesthic forces in front of him. 6) Gesture Since things are designed to operate most efficiently, the 35 mm. Leica lends itself most directly with recording these forces manifesting themselves. 7) 35 nun. cameras -- Only the essentials are presented in the present. It assists in distillery processes of excluding any-thing arbitrary. 8) System - - "No-Frills " . Any variable, non-essential, plastic concerns, etc. , are eliminated. 9) Getting Lost -- Any thoughts from "positions" to hopes must be suspended during the act of taking pictures ; concentration and empathy. 10) "Yes " or the Aesthetic Experience -- When an image has a life of its own or constitues its own reality, there is a chance of seeing something new or fresh. It transcends reality; images cause us to see double--what's there and what's not there. 6 11) You can get more out of the way something is said than what is said. Space: Ultimately, space is all that pictures can be about. It is the only (dependable) form of truth. It exists, although not necessarily rationally with reason and meaning. It exists to be perceived, not measured. It is never arbitrary and as far as "Truth in Art" goes it is what makes a picture harmoneous. Space is the means and the end. In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Fine Arts Gary Monroe has submitted this written thesis as a supplement to the creative thesis and 9 slides which are in the permanent possession of the University of Colorado and recorded with the Department of Fine Arts Approved by __ Ml.~ ,I /1-~k~_tf?1_~1~ ___ '(~ K™sa d~. ("Sandy") lfubte ~ , ~-o~ arles Forsman SLIDE PAGE Silver Prints, 6" x 9" 1) Lumis Park, 1975 2) Lincoln Road, 1977 3) West Avenue at 13th Terrace, 1977 4) South Beach, 1977 5) Morton Towers, 1977 6) Cameo Hotel, 1976 7) Biscaya Hotel, 1976 8) Biscaya Hotel, 1976 9) Parade, Washington Avenue, 1976 From: Photographs of Miami Beach 

The Spirit of Fact

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The Spirit of Fact

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