Flow: An Interview and Exhibition Review

The opening of Flow came and went in a whirlwind of activity, which has yet to fully settle down.  My talk went pretty well and a few people laughed which is always a good sign.  It is always scary, yet liberating to set a project free into the world to live the life it will live.  So far, Flow is doing nicely away from home.  I am asked around the time of each opening of an exhibition how I see success.  Not having a commercial mindset, success of an exhibition for me is to have people show up to look.  A secondary objective is to have an interview or review of the work published (hopefully positive of course).  My past exhibits have been able to achieve these simple expectations, and the same is true for Flow.

The image above is by  Rachel Vorsanger of the student newspaper GW Hatchet.  Let me tell you, Rachel very much impressed me with how she conducted her interview and with the thoughtfulness she had applied to the formulation of her questions.  I have been interviewed by the Associated Press, as well as Craig Melvin of NBC New4 on Washington D.C. as well as some lesser known media organizations over the years, and Rachel made a very good impression with me.  Her resulting writeup of our conversation can be seen here. Many thanks to Rachel for being interested in what I do.

“In these pictures, Nesmith acts as if the spill is already his…tory. Like Burtynsky, he’s buffering us from cold realities. But in historicizing the disaster, Nesmith also folds in a sense of humility in the face of tragedy. The long-term ramifications of the disaster? We just don’t know. History is written in every passing moment. The rest, as they say, is present.”   -Jessica Dawson/Washington Post

In addtion to the interview with the GW Hatchet, this past week, Jessica Dawson wrote a very solid review of Flow for the Washington Post.  Jessica had noted in an earlier issue of the Post that she was looking forward to the opening of the show, and I was very happy to see after reading her review that she was not let down by the results of my efforts.  The last time the Washington Post had such an indepth review of my work was during the My Baghdad exhibition a few years back, and although that one was pretty positive as well, Dawson’s words hit very solid.  The review can be seen here.

~ by Phil Nesmith on September 26, 2010.