Description I am currently working on a series of contemporary photographic landscapes I call area photography. The subject matter I gravitate toward is unspectacular, and the images are a mischievous reaction to epic photography. There is a tension between meaning and meaninglessness that is expressed in this work. This series is an exploration of the ephemeral, the peripheral. I am looking for the monumental in the yard: neglect's found aesthetic. Through the juxtaposition of spatial elements, use of color and light, and choice of subject, a sort of 'discovered' narrative emerges, highlighting incompleteness as a condition of everyday life. In area photography there is no decisive moment: what is captured is a comma rather than an exclamation point.Others may see fit to de-ordinarize their imagery , engineering it to produce a fantastical effect. I reject this convention. There is both a sense of idealism and anxiety in this work, and it is my hope that both the beautiful and the absurd can coexist in this work.
Beth Herzhaft, Los Angeles, Outer Mongolia Member Since February 2007 Artist Statement Me, I am aiming for the (almost) impossible: Making a comfortable living doing what I love, which is photography.
I love photography, and feel after doing this for many years, that I finally am working with my own "voice". I hope you consider buying this eminently reasonably priced work now - Of course these images are not editioned or signed. Please contact me if you are interested in limited edition, signed prints. They will cost a whole lot more later when they are at the Whitney!