I created this portrait, which I
call “The Consumer”, in 2010. (Click on the photo to see a larger version.) Originally, I wanted to call it “The
Connoisseur”. But I found that the
more I looked at it, I realized that a connoisseur is often just a consumer
with his little finger extended.
My family and I had just been through
a huge financial reversal. We lost our dream house we had built. Our income had
dropped astronomically. We were living in a rented house for the first time in
23 years. My business career, which had been a constant upward trajectory, was
now bottoming out.
Oddly, I still have a lot of the
trappings of more flush times. Many are seen in this photo. These had been
acquired over the years. We always believed buying the best things was an
investment in the future. And it was to some degree. These items had held up
extremely well. Ironically, the reason they still exist is the quality of the
items, which I recognized as somewhat of a connoisseur.
Concurrent with the financial
changes, I had gone through somewhat of a mid-life spiritual awakening. I had
founded a charity that provided education for children in Mexico. I built
houses for poor people there with my church. At age 50, I had decided to pursue
a career in my long-time love, photography. So I had gone back to school to get
my MFA. In one of my first courses, a teacher had said, “All good art comes
from pain.” I didn’t realize it when I made this photo, but it did draw a lot
from the experience of financial reversal.
I would not call this anti-art. But
it has elements of that. Many items pictured here would not be considered cool
by the arty types I had come to know at school: the suit, aspirational
life-style, the fancy watch. But these were things by which I had come to
define myself on some levels. So I thought I would show them in this photo and
see what reaction I got.
I think on another level, the photo
is a slap at consumerism. I put the price for each item to show how much these
things cost in dollars. I figured
there were some viewers who would be appalled. Yet, I know people who have
these expensive items and thinking nothing of paying much more.
Although the exchange value in
these prices is explicit, they meant much more to me. The watch was a gift from
my wife. It was purchased at the height of my income. So its value to me was
having an heirloom quality item that I could have my whole life. I still wear
it as a constant reminder of this time. A reminder to be conscious of my
consumerist traits.
I didn’t think of it at the time,
but almost nothing in the photo is merely a commodity item. Almost all are
imbued with a fetish aspect. Each item can be had much more cheaply as a
knock-off or less expensive item. Whisky can be had for under $10. Sure I love
the taste of single-malt, but drinking an expensive scotch enamors me with
friends who similarly value being scotch experts. The iphone, puts me in that
club of Apple-istas. Do I really need an MFA to be a photographer? No. But the
value perceived by others in having that sheepskin gives me credibility and
self-confidence.
Marx posited that the labor used to
produce an item is sometimes ignored as it becomes a commodity fetish. This concept has been turned on its
head in our current society. It is used to market expensive items. We are told
to buy items made in the USA to support American workers. Support the economy
by spending. George Bush encouraged people to go to Disneyland after 9/11. Spend money as a Patriotic act to
support those working.
Don’t get me wrong, all of these
items have high quality in their production. (I have had those shoes for 15
years.) But isn’t that another aspect of the merchandizing that persuades
consumers to fork over the extra money? One can rationalize his purchase of
these items. They have a higher value-in-use because of their quality.
But in the end, many of my fellow
students were producing art superior to mine without a 5D MkII camera. As this
photo shows, the concept is really more important than the tools used to make
the art. As long as I realize these are tools, and can absolutely convince
myself that these tools allow me to better realize my vision, then I am a
satisfied consumer.
