Yesterday I heard of the death of one of the luminaries of the photographic world. Rudolf Kicken has passed. I cannot say that I was a close friend of Rudolf, I knew him and had met him often over the years. He was a friend and colleague of my fathers as well as a good friend to people I know like Howard Greenberg. Rudolf was a fierce competitor and was both loved and hated by many people. He did his job exceedingly well though, and that is something that everyone who knew him, or knew of him will recognise.
I have had many conversations of late with people in the formative generation of the photographic art market about the shift that is taking place. The first guard is beginning to step away from the front and is making room for the next generation that is coming. This is the generation I am in, but not I alone. And certainly the lines are not so clearly marked or defined.
The question that continues to come up is where we are headed?
I am not sure what the answer to that is. The guiding hand of Harry Lunn has long left the market. Rudolf has moved on to a better place. Many of the great curators have left their posts in order to follow their well deserved personal interests. The great well established galleries are all gearing up for a change of command. And here we are, the “young” ones who are all busy following our own ideas or hanging on to an idea that has been “proven” to work.
I do not see how we will be able to stick to the old assuming it will continue to be valid. If for no other reason than that the medium of photography is irrevocably bound to the technological development and the mass market hysteria. If I see another shitty photograph printed is some archaic process in order to give us the impression it has meaning then I may well buy it, burn it and then but the ashes up to auction as a form of pure concept art.
Sometimes I feel as if the frequency of our impulses has grown so much that we must subdivide the whole process in order to find a more approachable means of consuming it.
This is common in music of course, where you will never find a player tapping quarter note to a song at 300 beats per minute. Considering the sheer quantity of images being garbaged into the world I think we need to find a way to handle it. Is a form of pattern recognition a way to handle this? Patterns allow us to find formally pleasing images based on our past experience. This sounds like a good method if we exclude the portion of our duties that involves looking for the truest and purest in the arts. If we can live with the idea that we are dealing with copies of copies than this is all fine and good. I can’t do that. I am cursed to review work not for its ability to show me something someone else has done well, but rather to read the work for what it says. This of course becomes a dilemma as some things need to be repeated over and over in order for the message to come through. And beyond that I must base my judgement on my opinion and my experience, which in turn makes my judgement biased. Of course my judgement is biased. So is everyones.
It is the resonant core, the instrument of our soul that responded to the touch of the arts that we should pay attention to.
That instrument has been born into us. Everyone has it. Maybe this is what the hero’s, the demo-gods and myths of our business as well as any business have been so in tune to. They have played the instrument of their souls with virtuosity, and remained true it.
Maybe the lesson to be learned is that it is this focus which leads us to all things great. This is something we can all be part of. If the passing of this message is liken to a torch, then I’ll take it, light my midnight lamp, and pass it on.
Rest in Peace Rudolf.
