Not in the Collection

Wednesday, February 13th, 2013 at 12:01 pm

What would Buddha do?

A few years ago I was called by the architect for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel of Boston as the hotel was soon to be open and one of the final details was art work for the walls of the hotel, condominium corridors and interior public resting spaces. He had seen my pictures from a Kyoto series of prints I did previously and that were part of the Boston Public Library permanent collection.

I referred the architect to Ron of Rolly-Michaux Gallery to make the transaction. The architect implied he was looking for “a deal” in exchange for the prestige of my work being hung on the hallowed halls of Boston’s elite property. He urged we work together directly and started talking of a large number of prints to be ordered. I declined and sent him to the gallery as they were contracted as my agent. The deal went sour as their offer was quite low.

At first I was upset at the missed opportunity. But after some thought came to the conclusion that values should trump sales. When one considers the high prices paid for a room or a meal, one should expect appropriate compensation for the artists adorning the walls and providing the sight-lines for all the patrons as an almost permanent installation. But unfortunately this is not the case, even in one of Boston’s “best” properties. So I am proudly NOT in the art collection of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel of Boston.

Insight into an image…

Thursday, August 18th, 2011 at 3:11 pm

Detail of “Blossoms on Roof”

I did an interview recently that came out in the Patriot Ledger today. Since it was a newsprint edition piece I’ve transcribed it here as in the end it provided me with more insight into the above image. The interview was done by Peggy Mullen.

How do you describe the difference between your photography and your visual art? I like to capture a few images that represent an idea that has a theme. I get the biggest joy from being able to install a big series of images in a gallery or a museum.

And the Art Complex exhibit is an example of this? Yes. When I was in Japan I read a lot of haiku, that very short Japanese verse, usually about nature, and I also got into writing it myself. A lot of the photographs emulate that.

At the exhibit, there’s a long list of words besides one of your images. Are the words yours, and did you intend for them to be displayed with the photo? You’ll see lofty words like “inspiration” and words like “cafe” at the bottom. I would go to the cafe and meet people and take photos and write about it. It’s a list of words that are key to putting together the show.

On your website there are a series of photos with words on the images. Are you saying that’s what you felt when you took the photo, or are you instructing the observer what to feel? I like the combination of words and pictures, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, why not express those words? I stuck some of those words into the images. The words are small, and it’s hard to see some of them. I want a person to step back, look at the image and then get up close and examine it and see what else might be hidden there.

A press release from the museum reads “One of Castagna’s favorite techniques is using shallow depth of field to create abstractions.” What does this mean? I think the best image that represents this is “Blossoms on Roof”. What I mean is one of the most creative things you can do with a camera is to determine its depth of field. If you have a good lens, you can decide if you want something sharp or blurred. There I wanted the roof sharp and blossoms blurred. You have opposites, one is man-made and another is natural. It’s a creative tool I use in a lot of my photography.

If I had my druthers, and since this is my blog, I do, I’d add this to my final answer: Nature soft and beautiful, man-made objects real and solid. The roof’s wave and undulating quality suggests a flow moving in and out of nature. Together they weave a complex and interconnected pattern of balance.

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Artist Talk

Thursday, August 18th, 2011 at 2:23 pm

Below is an excerpt from an artist talk given at The Art Complex Museum on August 4, 2011

A picture is worth a thousand words. What does that phrase mean?

Up until recent times I thought that it meant words were unnecessary where and when pictures were involved. That the picture was enough. But if a picture is worth a thousand words why not express them?

Keeping an artist journal is one way of expressing the worth.

worth: the quality that makes something desirable, valuable or useful.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Thus far I’ve expressed about 100 words in my artist talk. That’s 1/10th of a picture.

There are 10 pictures in this show. Ten pictures are worth ten thousand words.

Art is expressing worth.

Art could be described as minimum matter with maximum thought.

Words and pictures have always intrigued me. In fact these pictures were inspired by haiku.

A picture is worth a haiku.

A picture is worth a few well chosen words.

You might think that this contradicts the phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” However one could say that a haiku is a distillation of a thousand words. Between the lines and pauses of a haiku lie suspended these 1000 words, left out so that you can imagine them yourself.

Posted in aesthetics | Tagged art complex, art talk, haiku, installation, museum | Comments Off

Catalog

Thursday, March 24th, 2011 at 7:55 pm

Here’s the cover of my latest catalog. The design is complete and it will be used as a companion piece for my upcoming show at The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury. For more information on that show see elsewhere on this website.

Creating a catalog or book is a great way to thresh out ideas for upcoming exhibitions or shows. The space of the book format allows one to play with different ideas and then translate those ideas to the gallery or exhibition space. After creating the catalog several ideas dropped out that are now incorporated in the upcoming show.

If you are interested in getting a copy of the catalog just let me know. They cost about $35 each since I make them in short runs. There is talk about doing a larger run which could bring the costs down.

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Kyoto Aesthetics

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 at 11:14 am

Table of Aesthetic Values, Kyoto version

Based on my previous chart entitled “The Table of Aesthetic Values”, I have just made a Kyoto version in preparation for my upcoming show entitled “Kyoto: Art and Idea” at the Art Complex Museum. The chart is a made up of cut-outs from Kyoto photographs which will be part of the exhibition at the museum. Written on the bottom of the chart is the original formula I devised for art: “Art could be described as minimum matter with maximum thought: M < T ∞”. On the right it is written, “The physical universe has its elements, so too does the artist’s universe. Here is a snapshot – a frozen moment of an everchanging world – of a volatile creative universe that occasionally reveals itself in a finalized art form.” Elements that have been added to the Kyoto chart include journal: poetry, gesture, zen, haiku, shinto, seasons, blossoms, equivalence, bokeh, nature, isolation, obscurity, temple, cafe, Kyoto, imperfection, travel, zeitgeist, framework, symbol and icon.

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kaleidoscope

Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

Creative word:

A kaleidoscope – shattered bits of color moved and reflected to reveal a variety of endless patterns while held up to the light; a child’s toy. Derived from the Greek literally meaning to view beautiful forms.

While photographing in the Brooks Estate I was reunited with a style of photography I first discovered in Japan. What’s more interesting is that the weather conditions were the same: dark, rich timber soaked from recent rains and muted leaves of color. Photographing leaves using very shallow depth of field and manual focus sprung to life the use of a kaleidoscope and that feeling of a child excited in his own imagination. Except here I was able to fix the image permanently and to control the bits of color through movement and focus of the camera. As a child your creativity and imagination are always in flux, present one moment and gone the next, as an artist one works to capture the imagination and to hold it up for others to see.

Note: The creative word for me is a freeing word. One can decide based on importance to the subject or self whether to know a word or not. If it releases or explains creative action it is a “creative word”. To see my first mention of the term go to creative words blog post.

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the empty frame

Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 9:35 pm

I enjoy a good conversation about art and aesthetics and for this reason I attended the recent talk at Tufts University entitled, “The Value of Art: The Place of Art in the University Today.” The panel was made up of scholars, art historians, sociologists and even an artist. The language was heady and prompted earnest ears and busy pens. There was some very good intellectual terms used that wet my whistle for the “creative word” (see previous post). Such language as empty frames (think Isabella Stewart Art Museum), canonical artist (Warhol), rubric (just a cool word I heard used), public vs. private domain, etc. Of course the catalyst for the discussion was the recent Brandeis University debacle which I feel may end up providing us with a much needed lesson and benefit before it’s said and done.

But as I left the discussion to return to my workaday world of art and photography I felt a void. Although all of the discussion was about art I felt deflowered of ideas and verveless. I realize for me, this comes about whenever one talks about art and money. I am not so naive as to think that one is totally divorced from the other. But for me, I do see that as an artist I need to create in a fashion that is divorced from money.

Art has at its origin a virginal state, a soulful place where creativity flows. From this place an idea forms and mechanics follow. Money is not located at that place of origin. Money is much further down the chain. So at its inception one creates and if the creation is good, money follows.

So in the end I’m redefining “the empty frame”. No longer does it stand for stolen art at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or can it be used as a metaphor for a university selling off its art collection. Nope, I’m reclaiming “the empty frame” and it now means that creative ether where nothing but artistic potential lies.

Now I feel better.

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creative words

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

Words. Sometimes one good word can set you off into a new line of creativity, or simply open up a whole new field of thought. For this reason I have a word book: a book of words that I find cool and creative, words I want to know.

Here are some words with their meanings and an invented sentence:

1. lapidary: having the elegance and precision associated with inscriptions on monumental stone. His prose, although seemingly off the cuff, had a lapidary quality that proved unforgettable.

I love this word because only those words that have special meaning to a person or culture would ever get recorded on stone. It signifies longevity, a phrase or line of poetry that we want to remember over many lifetimes and generations.

2. habitue: a regular visitor of a place. While I travel I am an incessant cafe habitue.

This word is simple, however it captures a certain lifestyle for me. It makes me want to park myself in the nearest cafe with a cup of tea and a nice book.

3. sotto voce: under the breath – in a private manner ( in music: softly). In a manner of sotto voce he revealed his darkest secret.

Borrowed from the Italian it literally means “under the voice”. I think of old times, under the dark eaves of a mountain-top castle, planning intrigue.

As an artist, a good word can set you off in a new direction. One good word can lift the fog of thought and open up a large field of ideas and inspiration. If a word isn’t fun or interesting I don’t get caught up in it too much, but if the word has a special meaning or feel I make a point to write it down and give it some time.

Do you have any creative words?

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The Artist Journal

Saturday, January 31st, 2009 at 3:06 pm

I had the above photograph on my home page for quite some time and when I took it down I thought I should comment a little bit about it. In case you are unable to read the actual journal entry handwritten on the left I will quote it below. It was written while in Kyoto photographing:

“Looking through a Japanese Arts and Culture Magazine I was reviewing an article on Japanese Modern Art and came across a piece of work that was quite simple and like above (see drawing on the journal page) simply budding limbs of a tree. I will take my pictures of isolated cherry blossoms and remove all background so as to leave the lone blossom lying on white paper. A sort of Modern Japanese aesthetic.”

The photograph was taken later. The image became entitled “Lone Blossom”.

Journals are a major part of my artistic process. They assist in working out ideas and are a venue for thought. One can air out concepts. Some work out and many do not. However one thing that I notice most of all is that in reviewing back through entries you can see an overall arc of creativity. One can see how current ideas germinated some time ago and how a long forgotten “failed” idea has now finally come to fruition.

Finally, artistic journals have a long tradition. I’m sure there are many examples of artist journals throughout time but one that comes to my mind is the art form of haiga in Japan. Haiga is an art form in and of itself. It involves short, terse prose and haiku. So periodically I also add poetry to my journals as another mode of expression. Poetry is a nice way of expressing universal concepts in an abbreviated form and allowing the reader plenty of room for mental movement and reflection.

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