Benchmark

Unfolding
2012
© Larry Torno


Whenever I'm creating art or when I'm viewing art, I always have a mental benchmark that I apply to each work. Whether it's a painting, drawing, sculpture or photograph, I consider this guiding principle — Tell me something I don't know.
     In each case, I review what I've done, or what someone else has done, and try to determine if they've taught me anything, or if I've taught myself anything.
     Someone once said that the majority of photography today is merely a pretty good record of what was in front of the camera. But I want to know more. I want to know what the artist is seeing that I didn't consider.
     I know what a handball court looks like, but what does it look like on a clear winter day with it's high walls casting shadows that create repeating angles, like a piece of origami unfolding itself.