Sr. Rick. Ensenada, Baja California, MX. 1985
This wall is like a damn set against overwhelming light and heat. The image was taken in the southern limits of the Pacific port of Ensenada. The light in Baja can be intense, especially near the sea. It is as if the use of bright paints in this region is an attempt to fight the unforgiving harshness of a midday sun that bleaches all colors.
From the Wasteland Series.
Limited Edition. Signed, numbered, and comes with a certificate of authenticity. Giclée/Inkjet. Archival fiber paper. Various sizes. Median Size: 14.25″ x 10.75″ (36.195cm x 27.76cm) image on 17″ x 14″ (43.18cm x 35.56cm) paper.
Tennis Court, Park La Brea, Los Angeles, CA, USA. 1987
Looking at the lush ivy, it is hard to grasp that Los Angeles is essentially arid chaparral. When the water came, the scrublands gave way to an opulent and immense garden. The L.A. megacity thrives in a reverie of promise and hazy sunshine—a dream sometimes intruded on by dark shadows. The tennis court was eventually demolished for the sake of residential urban expansion.
From the Month of Sundays Series.
Limited Edition. Signed, numbered, and comes certificate of authenticity. Giclée/Inkjet. Archival fiber paper. Various sizes. Median Size: 14.25″ x 10.75″ (36.195cm x 27.76cm) image on 17″ x 14″ (43.18cm x 35.56cm) paper.
Industrial Mounds with Footprints and Scull. Hwy. 61, MN. USA. 2019
The Jazz Highway series was begun in 2018 and is still being shot. After an absence of 35 years, I returned to my origin, Minnesota. Dealing with the milky light and colors of that region was a challenge. When living there in my youth I only shot in black & white. I did not awake to color until shooting in Baja Sur and Baja California, Mexico. Working my native terrain again, I am reminded of T.S. Eliot’s words:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Can you see the footsteps leading to a skull in this image? In our beginning and at the culmination of our journey is our end.
From the Jazz Highway Series.
Limited Edition. Signed, numbered, with certificate of authenticity. Giclée/Inkjet. Archival fiber paper. Various sizes. Median size: 10″ x 15″ (25.4cm. x 38.1cm.) image on 13″ x 19″ (33.02cm. x 48.26cm.) paper.
Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by COCA.
George Bedell
United States
http://george-bedell.format.com
Why probe an artist’s intentions, when all one needs can be found in the images an artist creates? Look and seek. I hope that people seeing my pictures take enough care to attempt a dialogue with them. It’s their call. One either gets it or does not. By temperament, I’m drawn to scenes of desolation and melancholy. My education and experience lead me to seek relevance in the hoary notions of form, color, and proportion. My goal is redemptive—to find beauty and meaning in the overlooked and forsaken. In the end, it is all in the work. You either get it or you don’t. Either way, it’s not problematic.