Art of James Putnam Abbott

20 Feet or 12 Inches

2008-02-24T08:11:00.003-06:00

The title refers to the fact that is experimental piece was designed to be viewed from either a long distance or very close up. At a distance the background figure resolves into an easily viewable images, but it breaks into huge pixels as you get closer -- at which time you find the tiny images (of the same model) which and but dots from a distance.

Voyeur I

2008-02-21T09:44:00.002-06:00

In this piece I created a small challenge to the viewer:

You may stand back, remaining uninvolved, and view the piece from a distance and respecting the privacy of what is behind the holes in the brass plate. Or, you may join the fun, with by peeking through the holes provided, or by peeking around the corner of the shield -- all to catch a glimpse of what is hidden behind.

In my view, we are all voyeurs, especially when we view art, and when you cross that threshold you become involved, which is my goal. And it didn't hurt, did it?

Faith House

2008-02-20T10:36:00.004-06:00

This image pleased me from the moment I saw it on the hot street of a rural town in Maryland. It is now part of my series featuring voyeurs’ dreams that have come true. The empty dresses echo the gap between the living subjects here (the shopkeeper and his naked daughter), and suggest a narrative that does not promise future happiness. I presented the piece with the image behind steel bars in part because it divided so neatly into separate segments, sustainable alone, and in part because both figures are "in jail."

The Chain

2008-02-20T06:29:00.002-06:00

The power of this image for me is how it is subtle and totally unsubtle at the same time...that it is is not a traditional fetish image, yet it triggers thoughts of unusual things.

And so, it is now your turn. What is happening here, and what will happen next?

Island Queens

2008-02-19T15:42:00.004-06:00

That there could be two such powerful and disdainful women, and both found on a remote, deserted island well off the coast of Maine seems beyond belief...or hope. And that each should be attended by a slightly daffy sprite with a cockeyed mask makes it all the more improbable. But we deal in dreams...or are they fantasies?

Is there a difference?

Outerbridge Reach

2008-02-18T07:13:00.005-06:00

The shamefaced posture touched him
but he was pleased at her humiliation.
He meant no vital harm;
his lust was to capture, not to kill.
Sometimes he had the fantasy
there was some wound he might inflict
that could make her a creature more like himself.
For company's sake.
So as not to be lonely.

Outerbridge Reach -- Robert Stone

I read the above, marked it, and went looking for the image where it belonged. I knew there would be one, for the thought was familiar, in the way that you recognize something even though you know you've never seen it before. Like deja vu, but more personal.

Harlequin

2008-02-17T18:14:00.002-06:00

This is an image that I created by hand painting with digital tools a black and white photograph that I originally captured in Maryland in 1991. When I look at this now, after completion, I see the colors of Jan Saudek (everywhere but on the mask), as well as some of his deglamorized view of life.

This is a beautiful, ripe woman, assuming the pose of a playful pinup. But she is streaked with mud, draped in fur, painted somber colors, and hiding behind a mask of sufficient gaudiness to drive home visually how muted in tone all else is here.

This is not a vision of clownish fun. Something has been lost that will not be regained, I think.

Serene Apocalypse

2008-02-14T12:01:00.004-06:00

Wandering off toward the ominous horizon, the two naked friends seem unconcerned, and provide a spot of rest for the eye in an otherwise fretful image.

Strip Poker Moment

2008-02-12T09:38:00.000-06:00

Capturing an exquisite moment, filled with fun and sexual play. Is my poker player objectified by such an homage to an old-fashioned pinup -- and an old-fashioned view of sex? Perhaps so. But my thought is that this is not a bad thing when she is made the object of admiration and desire.

Voyeur's Dreams: Maine Blonde

2008-02-09T08:34:00.001-06:00

Glimpsing this field of purple flowers adorning a worn-down seaside house in Maine, I envisioned the accent that would transform the merely beautiful into the surreal and sublime. Later she appeared, glimpsed just turning away from the window, leaving me with a vision of blonde hair and smooth skin that, for me at least, turned the mist-bathed flowers into a supporting cast.

Night on the Town

2008-02-08T12:54:00.000-06:00

This young woman looks skeptically at us, dressed in but a bow tie for a night on neon streets.

Handpainted with digital tools, I started this image on a summer day in a barn, collapsing with age, but filled as a result with magic light and shapes. It ended on a wet city street where the neon rules in more ways than simply visually.

Painted Corset

2008-02-07T08:53:00.000-06:00

This image was created by projecting the line drawing of a 19th century corset onto the live body of a 21st century model. Then I hand-painted the corset, using digital tools. For me, the look is primitive and elemental.

Carpenter Shop

2008-02-06T16:55:00.001-06:00

As part of a long, incredibly successfully shoot in a lonely, dusty warehouse, I kept asking the brave young woman who was working with me to depart one section and move on to the next, while I captured how that departure looked to the one lagging behind. It was only later, when I started working with these images, that I saw the words "Carpenter Shop," and realized that this could be part of a rather eerie narrative in which the viewer would be left to wonder what the carpenter's special talent was...

Rainy Day

2008-02-06T16:36:00.000-06:00

Recently, I was asked for a comment about my work, to be included in a book that would include an image of mine. I wrote them the following:

I always admire the strength of the women who work with me, without their clothes, to create art that features not only their beauty and intensity, but also their power, energy and courage. I make images of strong naked women because there is nothing else in the world that I like as much. It’s not even close.

Here, the strength of my model is, shall we say, overwhelming -- leaving my thoughts about how this is a kind of homage to Bill Brandt sounding rather lame in the face of other dominant features of the work.

Human Form

2008-02-05T16:40:00.001-06:00

Reversing Edward Weston's process of visualizing the human form in a green pepper. I created this sweet shape. I imagine that the unseen side has but one more pair of cheeks.

Long Afternoon

2008-02-05T11:26:00.000-06:00

This actually should be "read" by scanning slowly downward, Ken Burns style, until you reach the punch line at the bottom. And then...is she just relaxing? Or has there been foul play?

Honeymoon

2008-02-05T11:04:00.000-06:00

This was created by shooting a rather surrealistic scene with a polaroid camera, and then distressing the resulting photograph. The image, from 1994, indeed was shot on our honeymoon.

Of course, it's not the typical image you find in a family album, but it shows that my wife and I were on the same wavelength, which is where we still remain.