photograph by Jared Lorio

“The word ‘curate’ has become so debased from its original meaning that you can now hang an exhibition in a small commercial gallery, write a 300-word press release and claim to have ‘curated’ it.” – Ben Street

When I read that quote I laughed.  For awhile I considered what we’re doing with La Pura Vida to be curating in some new fashion but recently I’ve changed course and tend to call it editing and publishing.  Curators work in museums and expensive galleries, not on social networking site, which is fine with me because that’s not something I aspire to. 

A couple of months before I left Los Angeles I was at one my friend Dave’s UFC parties enjoying myself when I got to chatting with Walt Gorecki, who I knew from all the previous parties.  He mentioned that he was the creative director at L’Keg Gallery, a small space in Echo Park.  He knew I was a photographer so proposed perhaps doing a show of my work.  The thought of editing, printing and then showcasing my work made me a bit ill so I quickly brought up the idea of a La Pura Vida show.  I gave him my card and he checked out the site a few days later and thought it’d be a good fit.  So we planned on doing a show sometime in the spring. 

A few months passed and I eventually left Los Angeles for reasons I’ve already written about.  One day when I was in the midst of scanning, I got a call and email from Walt about the LPV show.  I honestly thought since I’d moved away from LA that the show was off and hadn’t thought about it.  We talked about it a bit and I agreed to go ahead with it even though I’d basically have six weeks to get the photographs organized.  It’d be tight, but I figured we could do it. 

Then the opportunity to sublet my friend’s apartment in New York landed in front of me.  I was intent on giving New York a try so couldn’t pass it up.  But in the back of my mind I knew I was asking for misery by attempting to move to New York while organizing a show in Los Angeles.  Despite my anxiety something about it felt about right for my experiences with photography and the web.  It’d be rushed, random, global and spontaneous. 

I pitched the idea of ‘Can’t Pay the Rent’ to Walt and he thought it was interesting.  I’d been seeing a blog postings about photographers trying to raise rent money through print sales, and given the state of the economy I thought it’d be kind of funny in a snarky way. 

I contacted a few people I had in mind and quickly put the word out through the social graph.  The Flickr pool quickly received a healthy number of submissions and I contacted the people I felt had photographs that fit immediately.  We quickly had a group of photographs that were being shipped from all across North American and Europe to Los Angeles for the show.

Walt received prints the day before the opening that he managed to squeeze onto the walls.  Opening night went well.  I had a few friends on the ground Tweeting from the show, and even though it was tough to follow I thought it was an interesting new media twist on an art opening.  I’m certain it’s been refined somewhere already but probably by an organization with money behind them.  Eventually, I think art openings will be covered live and broadcast on the web in real time.  The technology is there and I’m fairly certain a niche audience exists.  It’ll just take flawless execution and right personalities to pull it off.   

We’re entering a new reality for art and photography.  Almost everyone understands this by now.  It’s exciting for many, and scary for some.  There’s no need to follow old models for breaking into the establishment.  With a bit of talent, organization, inspiration and the power of the web, a small group of amateurs can meet on a place like Flickr, debate, share, organize and build their own models.  That’s what I want La Pura Vida to be.  

I have no interest in being a curator or playing the art game by any sort of traditional rules.  Where we go will be completely dependent on the will of the collective group of people who have embraced La Pura Vida.

By the way, I will likely never see ‘Can’t Pay the Rent’ with my own eyes.  Welcome to the photography world in 2009. 

‘Can’t Pay the Rent’ will be showing at ‘L’Keg’ Gallery until March 27th.