TRANSPORTED / Photographic Exhibition

On the way to somewhere else...

TRANSPORTED

Photographic exhibition on the commuter experience

E Fitz Smith &
David Lubarsky
Laura Einstein - curator

fairfieldartscouncil.org
efitzsmith.com
davidlubarsky.com

October 26th - December 19th, 2007

Reception - Friday, October 26th 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Brown bag lunch discussion - Thursday, December 6th 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Fairfield Arts Council Gallery
70 Sanford Street
(across from the New Haven bound MetroNorth train station)
Fairfield, Connecticut 06825

Gallery hours: M-F 10:00am - 4:00pm / Saturday 1:00pm - 4:00pm
fairfieldartscouncil.org



Mass Transit / Mass Production

E FITZ SMITH - Artist's Statement

Flickr.com slide show

Mass production has held a fascination for me. Though I consider myself a fine artist at my core, I am attracted to what commercial design can do.

In the past ten years, technology has made it easier to produce artworks through the computer and have them reproduced in an archival form, for both commercial and fine arts purposes. Gradually, digital art works have established their place in the gallery mainstream.

Being a commuter to New York, these electronic developments gave me the great opportunity to capture and reproduce my mass transit journey in the digital medium, with all it’s streamlined attributes. I carry a Cannon Powershot Pro1 camera in my bag. This particular model is out of production, but for my purposes, it offers a high picture resolution while being easy to carry in my bag. Raw glimpses of the mundane are captured as I experience uncharted territory - my personal commute. Walking, car driving, train riding, flying, biking - watching others travel.













The moments spent commuting are seemingly throw away, as if we are just passing through from one world at home to another world in the work place. The journey that most workers experience each day is not the story of their life. Yet we can spend so much of our life in transit.

Traces of those other worlds surface in the mannerisms of the people I share the ride with. The family ties. The determination. The boredom. The parties. The youth. The age. On the road at night, I see the folks in motion who make up the other half of the workforce, finishing or starting their day.














I work at a newspaper. Sometimes when I am driving home from an even later ending to my day, I see one of the newspaper’s trucks making it’s way up I-95 to points further north in the New England region, rushing to toss bales of tomorrow’s papers off to the supermarkets and news seller storefronts.

So it is a wonder and a fascination how all these elements, that are part of one day, are transported from person to person, from vehicle to vehicle, from live action to printed matter, with the help of electricity and gas. Day in and day out. It is a musty, modern miracle, worthy of documentation.














Born in Brooklyn, New York
Living in Fairfield, Connecticut

I dedicate my commuter photo series to my father, Thomas Fitzgerald, who has been a decades long commuter from Long Island to New York City. He made the 60 mile trek each way until his retirement as properties manager for the Williamsburg Saving Bank, now part of HSBC Bank USA. His offices were in the famous Williamsburg Clock Tower building in Brooklyn. He still commutes to Brooklyn to see his favorite dentist, Dr. Klemons.

Many thanks to my partner Graeme White, Visual Arts Digital Manager for Columbia School of the Arts, my digital guru, who can cause the gears of technology turn with amazing ease.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/efitz/sets/72157601469057840/show/

e.fitz.smith@gmail.com

efitzsmith.com

fairfieldartscouncil.org
Fairfield Arts Council
Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
(203) 319-1419
info@fairfieldartscouncil.org

70 Sanford Street, Fairfield

Directions: From I-95 take exit 21. Go south on Mill Plain Road about ½ mile and turn left on Post Road, Route 1. At the light at the town green turn left onto Sanford Street. The Fairfield Arts Council office and gallery are on the right at the end of the block.