For these, I thought I’d landed on Unpremeditated for a title after a lot of struggle to find the correct word.  But it’s an unwieldy one with its ‘meditate’ crusted over by the barnacles ‘un’ and ‘pre’ and ’ed’, though it does convey the meaning I’m after: “not characterized by willful intent and forethought : not planned in advance“.

That meaning works on at least a couple levels — there was no beauty intended by the original creators of these walls with their pipes and cables and brackets.  And these back alleys are not so dependably high yielding in beauty as, say Muir Woods is.  Eduction was close: “to bring out (something, such as something latent)”.  Or distillation...

You get the idea.

And I considered resurrecting the name from a collection of photos I’d started back in the 1900’s using 6 x 9 cm film in a view camera.  You can see those HERE.  What I’m seeing in these, I first discovered in those.

In the end, I’ve decided Incidental works best.  It’s a good word, unadultrated by barnacles, rolls nicely off the tongue.  And its meaning is a good fit:  occurring merely by chance or without intention or calculation.

These are only a minor evolution in the thread I am pursuing in much of my work; all the same motivations in my General Statement apply here.


Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unpremeditated. Accessed 5 Feb. 2024.

Now showing through March 31st, 2025 at the Commerce Bank 10th + Main location, downtown Kansas City.

These monumental structures are all over the place here in my  back yard — so to speak.  And yet it was only recently that it occurred to me to photograph them, when I came across the patchwork patterns on the silos in #22 and 24.  But I’m late to the party.  I remember vaguely from my own studies in architecture years ago that Le Corbusier was fascinated by grain elevators and silos, but I didn’t know his interest was piqued by photos taken by Walter Gropius.  More on that in an excellent article by  HERE by Catalina Mejía Moreno.

This series is a departure from my usual  motives in that I have taken a turn towards ‘subject’.  Not a an all-in embrace and break from the past but a cracking in that wall, maybe.  Stay tuned.

#4

#3

#2

#1

So is this just another case of an entitled white guy appropriating the work/culture of black and brown artists?  Or am I a curator, shining the light of recognition on an art form not sanctioned by the ‘art world’s’ gatekeepers?

A hooligan defiling somebody else’s property?

(before you call the police, know that these are compostable, biodegradable paper and barely stick anyway.  They’ll be gone in a week.)

On a walk-about, so to speak.  With THIS in mind.