Indie or outsider
I read John Haber's "Learning to love photography" with some interest as you know I am about to open my first solo show here in NY at Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art. My work has benefited in the the digital space as I have spent the last four years evolving a body of work in public on Fotolog and Flickr.
No MFA, no commercial work, no editorial work just the time and space to work through awkwardness of the movement from technique to craft to style. Making this journey doubly interesting is that in my day job I have been able advocate reader participation and contribution rather than comment and rant because of my experience.
In the article there is a reference to the Hollywood "indies". This got me thinking. What makes sense to me in that the audience gathering power of blogs and social networks has allowed an artist like myself to develop a value far beyond what could have been done even 7 years ago. Not sure that is exactly what John meant but I think that this builds on the notion of an outside the system. I am not sure if I am the first photo artist to move from Flickr to a one man show in Chelsea, I know I won't be the last.
And that is a good thing.