Steven Edson
Q&A:
What are your earliest memories of being artistic? When I was 8, I was given a Kodak Instamatic film camera. I was fascinated with the act of pressing down on the shutter and then seeing a print of what I was looking at several weeks later. This act of documenting my reality and then reviewing it later gave me pause to reflect on what and who I was looking at and the fascination of creating a personal form of recording history from my young perspective.
When did art become a pursuit? In high school I was able to take a class in photography and ended up spending hours at a time working in the darkroom developing my film and making prints. My work was pretty boring and I became interested in figuring out how to make better and more engaged photographs.
Are you self-taught or formally educated in visual art? Art school encouraged me to look extensively at what other photographers were doing both within school and across the world. The real education was learning about other artists whose work influenced me. From painters to theater, film to writers and of course, other photographers. Looking at Robert Frank’s The Americans or the work of Diane Arbus simply made me stop in my tracks and recognize the potential power of documentary photography.
Altered States, photography.
In what other ways are you involved in the local art community? I spend time looking at art both online as well as traveling to regional museums and galleries to see what others are doing.
What role do you think the artist plays in society? Artists tend to question or reorganize reality to a new way of understanding what we know. Art enables people to get lost in another person’s mind. To read a gripping book of fiction that an author has created is a gift to my senses and intellect. Same is true in seeing engaging 2D and 3D art as well.
What medium do you currently work in and how did you choose this medium? I am a lens-based photographer. Probably because I suck at drawing and painting is too messy. I love the definition and resolution that a high quality lens and camera gives to describing a moment.
What is your creative process? Where are you finding ideas for you art these days? I love to travel and be free to let my environments speak to me. I really can’t help myself as I find inspiration in my surroundings and I then feel compelled to observe, examine and play with different perspectives, lenses, point of views hoping to capture what initially spoke to me.
The Art of the Automobile, photography.
How do you choose your subject matter? Is there a reoccurring theme that carries throughout your work? I have multiple on-going portfolios which I continue to pursue and develop.
In your opinion, what’s your best/favorite piece you’ve made? That’s like asking, which of my children do I love the most? I have different pieces which are successful for different reasons and propelled my work in different directions. For that reason they are favorites and there are too many to list without referencing the images and discussing why they are special.
What is one of your artistic goals? To be able to share my work in galleries, museums and in monograph books. Making a reasonable living as a working artist would also be a great goal to achieve. In the meantime, I strive to continue to make new images and edit many of the images I have created over the past 40 years.
What’s your favorite place to see art? Boston MFA, Worcester Art Museum, SOWA, Addison Gallery of Art, New Britain Museum of American Art, Yale Art Museum, Harvard Museums, ICA, MOMA, MET, and just about in every major city in the world which I have incredible museums (Paris, London, Madrid).
Road Paint, photography.
What living artists are you inspired by? David Hockney, Alex Webb, Nan Goldin, Andrea Gursky, Richard Serra, amongst others in many different mediums.
Do you own any art by other artists? Yes-I have a limited collection of 19th century Japanese wood block prints as well as photographs from the early 20th century.
Do you have any shows coming up? I have 2 architectural images selected the BSA Space gallery from Ja-May, 2020. I will be showing my work in a group show at the Dynamic Lenses photography show at Galatea Finer Art Gallery in February 2020. I will also be in a 2 person photography show at Beacon Gallery in SOWA in April of 2020.
Find out more about Steven’s work here: