James Fee (b.1949/d.2006)

Nearly 20 years since Mr. Fee’s passing. Too young, a theft of life.
Acquiredthis picture. It took me a long time to settle in and find any work by an artist or photographer that hit me enough to fully appreciate. Distinct language. I’m no judge of art from a commercial standpoint; had expected the range of auction/sale results to be much higher but very happy it’s fairly attainable for the everyman who might appreciate his work.

An interview sharing some process, a Beseler 23C, and throwing away all negatives but keepers… straight answers all the questions I’d ask.

I think this photographer would be right up @awty 's alley.

What is he trying to say/do in the attachment you've shown? I wasn't sure what it even was at first but on a longer examination it has what I assume to be the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln faces on Mount Rushmore and what looks to be a distorted representation of the U.S.

Thanks

pentaxuser

A little long-winded… While an image is what you make of it, what I see is tempered by
1. I’ve worked for near 40-years on behalf of all, and on behalf of some of the bar-none wealthiest and absolute poorest of this country.
2. I’ve worked for a large govt agency and have seen the most abhorrent, and exemplary, of my co-workers, and as well have seen this in the public. Including the most vile by the public. I’ve taken people’s liberties away, I’ve seen what it does to help us and as well the cost on family.
3. Am of immigrants fled communism, I’m as pro-U.S. and Patriotic as any… served near 10 yrs active duty w the Army + reserve status after. Served in an active war zone during a big war, and wore green tabs while doing so. I’m not dumb about politics or politicians, nor about policy, and do put the shoe on the other foot, all the time.
4. I’m heavily invested in our manufacturing and do machining, and I’ve worked for a large U.S. steel company with many ups downs, a co. markedly in the news lately highlighted by today‘s politics.
5. Since little, I’ve been fascinated by degradation. Interested in breakdowns and wear and tear of mechanical parts, vehicles, and even something so odd as the wear of shoes.
6. I really like Raymond Chandler.
7. The photographer’s short life and sadly death. His father committed suicide, said from his participation in the WW2 Pacific theater and its later impact on him. The photographer apparently maintained a consistent vision in his work (that aesthetic interpretation is a little unusual imo) - so his is a steady and committed vision.
8. Reflections of personal crisis and observation of effect, cycles, and that inside all my family.
9. I’m ever an optimist - I still see hope and strength in the image. There’s a fragile delicacy to that.

So (my) life is sort of baked into my cake. To finally acquire one of a small edition, I went with my interpretation. Everyone’s i agree is different.

“Some compared him to… mystery writer Raymond Chandler for his ominous vision of Los Angeles.”

“Fee once explained his objective. “Anything that was being torn down and removed from our landscape was of interest to me, because I feel that is what is happening to us as individuals,” he said in a 1999 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.”

Thanks for the reply

pentaxuser

I’d forgotten about Fee. Thanks.

This is the James Fee that inspired my first public photographic exhibition in 1984 at the Stephens Gallery within the precincts of the Brisbane City Hall. It wasn't his sombre images that lit me up but rather his semi-abstract ultra-wideangle nudes in natural landscapes. I'd already seen Bill Brandt's stretched nudes and I thought that James Fee's work seemed to validate the genre.

So I ordered from Spiratone a Tamron Adaptall-2 17mm f3.5 lens and set to work. Here is an example:



The exhibition went well from a viewer point of view but the local newspaper critic panned it for excessive use of wide-angle lenses.

An amusing glitch was that the gallery with my pictures was next to a gallery exhibiting reproductions of the Shroud of Turin.
During my attendance at the gallery I would see occasional nuns mistakenly enter my space The nudes would turn them around either ashen faced or smiling.

Thank you James Fee for kick-starting my photographic journey.