tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post5294119534102395291..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: John Vachon: Like driving from a sunny day into the middle of night (Sunray, Texas, November 1942)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-60509096891758999312017-03-19T20:59:37.663-07:002017-03-19T20:59:37.663-07:00Unknown, Thanks for the word... and God help us al...Unknown, Thanks for the word... and God help us all.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-61196973478891957992017-03-19T05:27:50.880-07:002017-03-19T05:27:50.880-07:00I currently work at this plant for the past 11 yea...I currently work at this plant for the past 11 years. The photographs you could get at the end of the day would be just as shocking.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08131538229785691985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-7755330432550103692012-05-02T13:24:46.554-07:002012-05-02T13:24:46.554-07:00Amazing.Amazing.Robbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12312524900784740898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-43487360289766669452012-04-30T13:58:09.176-07:002012-04-30T13:58:09.176-07:00Dal, loud and clear on all points.
Susan, sure, t...Dal, loud and clear on all points.<br /><br />Susan, sure, that's fine.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-53401522048550141662012-04-30T11:10:16.230-07:002012-04-30T11:10:16.230-07:00Tom,
Is it o.k. if I use your quote above for the ...Tom,<br />Is it o.k. if I use your quote above for the book on Virginia Brautigan Aste? Poetic.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-11745183704505837822012-04-29T16:15:24.418-07:002012-04-29T16:15:24.418-07:00I couldn't help feeling that the letter missed...I couldn't help feeling that the letter missed the point ... that one man's aesthetic experience is another one's ruined life<br /><br />There were generations of miners in my own family until my grandparents generation found a way out of that life<br /><br />Human's are so resilient but this breaks my heart to see how expendable and irrelevant some are regarded<br /><br />The older i get the more pained i am by selfish disregard for others well being particularly where another person or organisation profits at their expenseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-57947883835303952442012-04-29T03:33:52.475-07:002012-04-29T03:33:52.475-07:00Well, of course that Vachon letter is the heart of...Well, of course that Vachon letter is the heart of the matter here... just as the face of the Carbon Black Man is the soul.<br /><br />The experience of the proximity of the underworld (or underworlds) always arrests the attention, and this moment of arrest is always humbling -- the darkness surrounds us, what can we do against it.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-82003033382317587682012-04-29T00:54:47.885-07:002012-04-29T00:54:47.885-07:00Can anything possibly be worse than being in a war...Can anything possibly be worse than being in a war? Yes.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-59794729261447450782012-04-28T23:02:47.995-07:002012-04-28T23:02:47.995-07:00That letter of Vachon's - such great writing i...That letter of Vachon's - such great writing in itself.u.v.ray.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02866397025200956617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-17036632256693614492012-04-28T12:41:32.835-07:002012-04-28T12:41:32.835-07:00Humbling and informative. Helps to put my day into...Humbling and informative. Helps to put my day into perspective...<br /><br />Thanks Tom, great post.Jonathan Chanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03647746685252448938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-71967669711859137242012-04-28T09:53:10.219-07:002012-04-28T09:53:10.219-07:00Nothing but admiration for Vachon's work here ...Nothing but admiration for Vachon's work here and for ".....the black faced workers" who worked in this corner of hell day in, day out.vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14515165428574974933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-33038306192578878362012-04-28T08:04:11.137-07:002012-04-28T08:04:11.137-07:00Carbon black has many uses to mankind, as the chem...Carbon black has many uses to mankind, as the chemical company ads used to say about their products.<br /><br />Carbon black particles are employed in some radar absorbent materials (stealth technology). <br /><br />And carbon black is used in photocopier and laser printer toner.<br /><br />Little bits of it are always circulating freely on the winds somewhere in this great land of ours.<br /><br />While other little bits are even now perhaps just beginning a fantastic voyage into your or my lymphatic system. <br /><br />So let's hear it again for the Prince of Darkness! Always at work to Keep America Great!TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-83350156821282784442012-04-28T08:00:29.130-07:002012-04-28T08:00:29.130-07:00Pure hell on earth. High mass, indeed - Moloch ma...Pure hell on earth. High mass, indeed - Moloch mass.<br /><br />Bless Vachon in that naiveté you mention, Tom. Incredible work, one can see the results of his artistic enthusiasm, why he was so excited. <br /><br />The allure of pure evil for the innocent ...Issa's Untidy Huthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07352841590717991698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-30438117532179872312012-04-28T07:36:28.278-07:002012-04-28T07:36:28.278-07:00This is like a little piece of hell, for sure. It...This is like a little piece of hell, for sure. It seems that in search for our own comforts, we have committed so many crimes against our fellow beings--human and otherwise. <br />I've never seen these photos. I wondering what it's like today.Nin Andrewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12643167108589844026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-76724180424147595672012-04-28T07:23:35.972-07:002012-04-28T07:23:35.972-07:00The things we make. The sheer volume of it all. Am...The things we make. The sheer volume of it all. Amazing. Parts of the puzzle, the greater puzzle being us. How nice that we take care to warn ourselves about the hazards and symptoms, the target organs, the “mechanical irritation to the human upper respiratory tract.” (I hear that one). Yet we scarcely question our need to grind up the planet. Vaschon’s photos are a true study in contrast. I especially like the Nosferatu-like faces and the composition in 11450, the “doghouses”. You continue to edify, Tom. Many thanks. Oh, seeing as this stuff is used in tires, be extra careful around cars and streets today. May the Ford be with you.Hazenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13417573435195561519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-11984532049247445012012-04-28T07:20:20.450-07:002012-04-28T07:20:20.450-07:00I love John Vachon's work. Had he been less se...I love John Vachon's work. Had he been less self-deprecating and private by nature, perhaps he'd be known now as the great American artist he was. But that letter to his wife -- a remarkable innocence, seen in retrospect.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-15014498248643282942012-04-28T06:44:52.576-07:002012-04-28T06:44:52.576-07:00These US Chemical Safety Board reports from a nota...These US Chemical Safety Board reports from a notable incident five years ago suggest the carbon hot zone of Sunray has grown like Topsy since John Vachon's day -- if that is Topsy were a sci-fi organism programmed to grow invertedly downward toward the infernal regions.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.csb.gov/investigations/detail.aspx?SID=12" rel="nofollow">2007 McKee Refinery Fire, Sunray, Texas</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.csb.gov/newsroom/detail.aspx?nid=42" rel="nofollow">2007 McKee Refinery Fire, Sunray, Texas</a>TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-61335642089857172832012-04-28T06:30:35.506-07:002012-04-28T06:30:35.506-07:00Tom,
"portraits of some of the black faced w...Tom,<br /><br />"portraits of some of the black faced workers there"<br /><br />"Symptoms: cough; irritation eyes; [in presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: potential occupational carcinogen]. Target organs: respiratory system, eyes."<br /><br />As Curtis says, having seen the first picture (still so shocking) and seeing the other pictures as a series -- nightmare in Sunray, Texas, 1942 (wonder what it looks like now).<br /><br />4.28<br /><br />first grey light in sky above blackness<br />of ridge, song sparrow calling in field<br />in foreground, sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> have the word in such a way,<br /> sometimes speaking of<br /><br /> it draws back, subject also<br /> determined, around it<br /><br />silver of sunlight reflected in channel,<br />cloudless blue sky to the left of pointSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-51231488613609893352012-04-28T05:52:15.793-07:002012-04-28T05:52:15.793-07:00Knowing the initial color image so well (and alway...Knowing the initial color image so well (and always being overcome by it), seeing the other images in series (and reading Vachon's terrific letter) comes as a surprise and a revelation about Vachon's work, the subject he is photographing (and its broader implications, obviously), and BTP's nature and its potential as a form of art history, art criticism and art-making. The latter subject is one I used to spend a lot of time thinking about when I was in graduate school until I was overcome by my own confusion and underwhelmed by some of the efforts in this area made in the name of Conceptual Art. But this is really something else. What you've presented augments and deepens the experience of the "headline" image without diminishing its impact or subjecting the viewer to something tedious and prompting either the response "I know that already; I saw the first picture," or "I really have no interest in knowing what you're telling me." I mean, "John Vachon: Like driving from a sunny day into the middle of the night (Sunray, Texas, November 1942)" really works. CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.com