This photo is a self portrait I did a few weeks ago in Terre Haute, Indiana. I got up around 4:30 in the morning and started fumbling around. Amy asked what I was doing and I mumbled something about art, Terre Haute and the beauty of decay. At this point she’s heard quite a few of my speeches, so she just went back to sleep and let my mania play out. I drove to Terre Haute from Indianapolis in hopes of catching the sunrise over the Wabash. All the way there, I kept imagining what Terre Haute was like when Scatman Crothers was still singing on street corners for tips. When record pressing plants were working non stop to fill American record collections. When Eugene Debs sided with an alleged prostitute against the church. When Sinatra brought down the house at The Indiana Theater.
I got there in time to see the sunrise and walked around in the rain for a while. I’m happy with my photo, but that’s not really the point. The most important part of making art (to me), is the excitement of actually doing the thing. It’s fun to get up early and have all of these ideas and possibilities running through your head. Walking around and being lost in your thoughts while attempting to make something. It doesn’t really matter if you made some great piece of art. What matters is that you enjoyed the process of doing it.
I made a video that day that, maybe you’ve already seen it on my youtube channel?
If you’re still reading this, thank you. Maybe you joined one of those record and tape clubs where you get ten albums for a penny? If you did, those records and tapes were pressed in Terre Haute.
Much love to y’all,
-Otis