Andrew Schroeder

Untitled, Minneapolis, 2009 © Chris Smiar

Colleague and photographer Colleen Mullins has turned me on to the work of photographer Chris Smiar. His series Hibernaculum is particularly engaging to me (or anyone that has to live in the public/private nether region of downtown Minneapolis). Hibernaculum, meaning a place chosen by an animal for shelter during winter hibernation is a concept captured elegantly in Smiar’s photographs. I am particularly drawn to the  accurate representation of the strange intersection of public and private space that occurs in the MPLS skyway system.

Untitled, St. Paul, 2009 © Chris Smiar

Working in downtown Minneapolis is never particularly joyous. During the winter one rarely encounters another human being outdoors… and during the summer, when the sidewalks are passable, one still must look up to see the office drones passing above you in air-conditioned tubes. What I find most gripping about these photographs are the tiny traces of human presence he captures like smudges on what should be precisely maintained glass…

Anyway. The work is excellent and I highly recommend checking the other projects on his site.

I’m actually going to be good about selling work again! Please check out my Etsy shop for books, prints, photographs, and drawings from my overflowing flat-files. I need to keep clearing out all the work that I’ve produced over the years…

LINK TO STORE

January 31, 2009 Walker Entrance

I’ve been running around like crazy lately. The process of moving to a new apartment is… more stressful than I remember. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to update this blog as much as I would have liked.

Something good…

I’m beginning to shake off the frigid weight of winter and photograph again, with hopes of eventually building a portfolio of architectural photography.

While that is starting to simmer on the back burner, I am also beginning to expand on the dialog that was initiated with a post on Dec. 05. A post on Elysium, the blog of Colleen Mullins, caught the attention of another blogger… creating a trifecta of discussion about the role of the market in art production.

Check out the first question in the discussion here…

Stay tuned for updates…

Ladies and gentlemen, it is Friday. I’m off to have happy hour with David before he departs for Bergen, Norway to become a famous photographer and eventually will be stalking my prey and having dinner with Courdis. Before departure, here are a few images that are keeping me sane on this dismal day.

-as