john ater

Many years ago, a very wealthy, high-brow patron asked what message I was trying to convey with a particular photograph, what was its deeper meaning.

After a few seconds of silence, I replied, “Ma’am it’s a fu***ng photograph. I saw it; I liked it; I took it.” She bought the photograph.

What I shoot is what I see. I want you to find what you like in my work. If it moves you, brings up emotions, does it really matter why? For me, the work itself is enough explanation.

My questions to you are simple. Does a piece evoke a reaction or emotion? Does your mind wonder or wander? Are you curious about the painting's subjects or color splashes or the sculpture's smooth or jagged edges or the people in the photograph? Does it move you in some way and you revisit it over and over, unsure what draws you back though you have some inkling the piece comforts or disturbs you or makes you think, brings a tear to your eye or a laugh from your belly?

My curiosity, questions and emotions about a particular piece defines what I consider art... for me. You get to make your own determination of what is art for you.

A famous art consultant told me once “If it never gets stale and I still look at it with wonder every time I see it, it is art.”

I like that definition. It relieves me explaining the unexplainable in high-minded rhetorical bullshit that has nothing to do with any particular piece I’ve shot. I don’t know art. I do know what moves me...

john ater / september 2014 / san francisco