Lift Any Stone
August 3 – September 2, 1995
Lift any stone and there you will find it – that enigmatic “it” that seems to always lie just beyond reach, just beyond understanding. In our everyday lives there are sights and words that invite us to be aware of the existence of this “it”. These photographs and accompanying titles are of such singular, yet too often, unnoticed moments.
By using disposable cameras, I have chosen to relinquish many of the controls we are accustomed to in making photographs (such as point of focus, depth-of-field and even exactly where the camera is aimed). For this work is not about perfect photographs, but an awareness of each moment’s intuitive appeal.
While making these photographs I was also paying close attention to words and their sometimes ambiguous and enigmatic meanings. I found that certain phrases stood out to me, as if they wished to be understood separate from the contexts in which they were written or uttered. I collected these phrases (this process of collection being very similar to the way I was photographing) and have used them as titles for this series of images.
Born and raised in Western Pennsylvania, growing up among the children and grandchildren of immigrants who worked in steel mills and related industries, never once did I suspect I would become an artist. Somehow, I found the courage to follow a call I truly did not comprehend.
I rely on beauty and the art of seeing. Art-making is my means of exploring, questioning and reinterpreting the way that we perceive our world and is a reflection of my ongoing personal search for meaning and understanding.
My photographs have been internationally exhibited and published, and are in the collections of such fine institutions as the Victorian and Albert Museum in London, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the George Eastman House, the Santa Barbara Museum, the Musee de Photographie in Charleroi, Belgium and the Lianzhou Museum in Lianzhou, China. I have an MFA from Stanford University and have taught courses and workshops on various aspects of photography in both the United States and Europe. I am a dual U.S. / Italian citizen who is currently living between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where I was born and raised and the San Francisco Bay Area.
www.jimvecchi.com