Ted Gelb Ted Gelb
Events and the concepts they represent are comprised by slices of time.
Within these temporal spaces are pivotal and emblematic encapsulations.
Such moments have the ability to elicit an entire event when illuminated by an iconographic light. These symbolic events, though specific and crystalline in the mind of the artist, are often not apparent to the eye of the viewer. It is, therefore, only in successful pieces of work that the artist achieves what Minor White termed "Equivalence."
"Tug" conveys such a moment. It speaks to the artist of a particular moment, a characteristic time in a type of recurring event. To the general viewers it hopefully broaches questions peculiar to themselves.
Questions pertaining to specifics of their lives. A moment perhaps different in its exact nature but equivalent in its intensity.
Therefore, an image's power is related directly to its ability to evoke.
Technique is but the handmaiden of this attempt to communicate. In the final analysis all other considerations should be relegated to insignificance in comparison to an image's power to disclose.
In a more general sense I am interested in questions stemming from relationships. Why and how these seminal moments become intertwined with various persons and myself.
For a relationship to exist there must be activity between the constituent parts of the event in question. Even in imagery devoid of living subject matter there is the ever present relationship between subject and artist, viewer and subject, as well as artist and viewer.
Though "Tug" summons a definite event for me, it may well prove ambiguous to another. Does "Tug" speak to the idea of the woman as seductress or the seduced? Is the anonymity of the woman replete with political implications or just a visual device? Does the tension and sweep of her torso have implications to an event or a covert reference to the "Winged Victory" ? The more questions, the more successful the piece.
If the reader does not accept the previous explanation, then perhaps the idea of this being a tribute to Tug McGraw, a New York Mets left-handed relief pitcher, will have more currency. Therefore, the posing of the model's body becomes a reference to a winged Nike replete with highheeled sneakers and a wig hat on her head.
So, in conclusion, take your pick of these or any other explanation. For, like beauty, rationale is in the mind of the beholder.
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