Artist Lecture: Brian Ulrich

I was very impressed with the lecture given by Brian Ulrich yesterday. I was a bit nervous in the beginning as his first explanation, given while we stared at a black screen with the word "Copia" on it, seemed a bit long-winded, but once he got in the groove I was engaged right up to the end. What was most impressive and helpful for me was the way he showed the progression of his idea and work. He began with the inspiration: the collective notion after 911 that as Ulrich put it, "it was our patriotic duty to buy things" in order to keep the economy from faltering. It was inspiring to see how he took that idea and pushed it to the limit in the arena of major chain retailers. To then see how he went from the purchasing of things to wondering where all those things ended up and subsequently photographing thrift stores was amazing. He then pushed that idea to the limit and as the times changed and the economy worsened he became interested in the remnants of retailers forced to close and once again has pushed/is pushing that idea to the limit. To see the evolution of the idea and the enthusiasm with which he approached each aspect was truly great. I loved when he spoke of buying plane tickets the next day because a place was scheduled to be demolished or driving six hours through one of the worst snow storms ever just because he really wanted to go right them. What commitment and excitement for one's work! I felt artist envy at times; it must be the most wonderful feeling to know that what you are working on it important to you and to have the means, monetarily and time-wise, to pursue that however you see fit. I am in awe of this and have vowed to seek it out in my own artistic journey. My favorite thing he said, something that I will use to comfort myself when I get discouraged that everything has been done before, was "There is a whole world of pictures out there that you could never imagine."