“Of” and “Is”
Evidence of a Failed Gasket
No photograph is truly abstract. All photographs are ultimately representational and, as such, are separated by a wide gulf from abstract paintings. Photographs are always “of” something before they “are” something.
The appearence of a photograph may resemble the work Clyfford Still, Cy Twombly or Jackson Pollack but where an abstract painting simply “is” itself, a photograph always points to the “of” from which it was drawn. This is true even of Man Ray’s “rayographs” and the road tar lines of Aaron Siskind.
The image above is abstract, but before and after its abstraction, it is a photograph of the tire prints left by the old Mercedes that parks in the garage slot next to mine at my work. The car leaks oil to a degree that only an aging European luxury car can and yet still be loved by its owner. The tires track this machine ink across the dividing lines of the vehicle’s alloted space as the driver pulls out to go home each night.
