The Operating System

ART: DESERT RAVEN PHOTOGRAPHY :: “For the Love of ART”

We are excited to share the next installment of Desert Raven Photography’s project For the Love of ART. We are even more excited to announce the first show for the project, this Friday (November 2nd) at Brooklyn Fireproof’s re-opening. The event will start at 8pm and the art will be accompanied by music from Christopher Botta, one of the featured creators pictured below. Come meet these amazing women and see their photographs in all their printed glory.

[editor’s note: The show has been postponed: the new date is Tuesday the 13th @ 7pm and Christopher Botta will still be performing as well.]

The following is written by Ashley Garvy and Audrey Helow of Desert Raven:  I picked up Dana and Kelsey Metz around 7:00am, just before the desert heat started kicking in. We only had a half mile drive down the road from their home in Phoenix, Arizona to our shoot destination, North Mountain Preserve. As we walked barefoot along the dusty floor they each carried an unusual and graceful connection with the ground, as if both were rooted to the earth. I chose Radiohead to play on my small iphone speaker and the movement instantaneously started to flow with the music. Each of the girls’ improvisations fascinated me, so I asked if they wouldn’t mind trying it together. To see the two move as one entity was an enchanting vision and a photographic blessing that I hadn’t foreseen. Perhaps it is their sisterly bond, or the fact that they can connect on a different level when their bodies are in movement, but seeing them feed off of each other’s energy against the gray desert sky left me speechless. Dana and Kelsey are two of four talented sisters who are all involved in dance and choreography. At 28 and 19, the girls have already been recognized in the dance community- Dana was runner up in the Capezio A.C.E. Awards for choreography and Kelsey danced and toured with some of the community’s top choreographers. Dana has a unique ability when it comes to choreography, she seems to capture each musical note and lyric in every step. And Kelsey’s spirit is undeniably freeing the moment she starts to move. Both are ones to look out for if you’re lucky enough to take their class, or better yet, see them perform. And for now, at least we’ve captured some of their beauty on camera.

The quarry was about a two hour drive north of the city, and the four of us arrived in Branford, Connecticut mid-afternoon on a clear, beautiful day- spirits high at the idea of a day trip away from concrete and obligations. As we first wandered beneath the staggering giants of pink granite that towered over us, I digressed to a child, as if standing next to six-hundred-million-year-old creatures full of wisdom and stories I could never imagine. Suddenly, it seemed wrong to watch my fellow humans slice into their sides so unmercifully- and yet, I wondered if maybe half of the beauty was in the exposed layers and age-rings of color presented after the slicing occurred. Stony Creek Quarry has been selling the granite for more than 150 years of architecture, monuments and countertops alike, and I doubt they plan on ever stopping. I quickly became aware of the gift we had been given when our host at the quarry, Stacy Mancini, allowed us inside to take the photographs. Every nook and cranny of the place confessed more dream-like photo-opportunities, and it got to a point when we had to just call it a day and go fill our growling bellies with food.

Christopher Botta is a composer, guitarist, and producer. He is the co-composer and guitarist of the 7-piece garage-chamber group “the cellar and point“, who combine “contemporary concert music, rock, modern improvisation, and cellophane”. Their debut album is due to be released in 2013.Christopher also performs solo ambient music for guitar and laptop. He says this is “his opportunity to take a more glacial approach towards sound guidance; a land where ‘slowly evolving somethings evolve slowly into something’ is presented to us.” Botta runs an audio post-production facility in Bushwick, “Staple Chest Audio”. A main drive in his work is to make the familiar more foreign and the foreign more familiar; inherently a state of perpetual mutability.

Travis Hanson is a model represented by Soul Artist Management here in New York. While all of our other models in For the Love of ART have been artists of a different nature, we wanted to highlight the art that is always happening on the other side of our camera. Any time Travis stepped in front of the camera he made it look easy as pie, but I think all of our other participants would back me up in assuring you that it’s not.