Hatemail and Critiques from the art community
Contact me - I'd like to hear from you. I'm looking for suggestions of future photo subjects. Let me know if you liked the art. Or if you hated it. I want feedback.
***Some comments I've received lately:
"Genius" - R.F.
"bellissimo" - L.R.
"Probably the best fine art taco photography I've seen" - J. H.
"Wow, that's genius!" - S.A.
"I liked the shadowing of the taco." - M.P.
"This made me smile, and feel a little guilty" -Theta
"You are the Orson Welles of the taco photography world and this is your Citizen Kane." -Daniel
"You're photography really taps into new symbolic realms." - JW
"I have never seen the essence of an object captured so perfectly by a camera's lens. The graceful sweep of the taco's semicircular side contrasts perfectly with the straightness of the straight side. Your taco art has convinced me that photography, no matter what the critics say, is not dead." - MM
"Unfortunately, the country in which I am deployed will not clear through customs taco images so raw and naked. But I was able to successfully download an image under cover of night, and it now graces my computer screen as wallpaper. This is important because my computer screen is located in a secret building which houses the United States' military war-fighting center for Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, combat-hardened men and women, some fresh from the front lines of the War on Terror, see your inspirational work and are reminded of that for which we fight.
You are a true patriot. "
M.C., from an undisclosed location in southwest Asia
"The texture and dynamic angles on the tacos are compelling to say the least. The rippling curves of the shell, and over exposed lighting somehow bring out the inner soul (chees?) of the taco. And its rather interesting to see you went with hard shell...would soft have the same wide range of complexity and emotion? The entire collection leads me to only one questions to the ARTIST......did you eat the tacos after?" --RA
"The taco. Upon it's side, clinging to life. Awaiting inevitable digestion. Such grand metaphorical scale can only be described as genius" - Dr. Gonzo
"For years I wondered how I could combine my interests in tacos and in fine arts. Viewing your taco photography was a deeply moving spiritual experience for me. I could feel my spirit trembling within my stomach. That's where the spirit is, right?
As an actor, perhaps someday I will take taco fine arts one step further by writing a play in which all of the characters are tacos. Eventually some hack will want to buy the rights from me to make a musical version, but I'll refuse to sell out, staying true to your vision of the taco as dimly lit from one angle." -- MS
"Hello, I was searching the net, and I came upon the church of the flying spaghetti monster; it was during this time that I came upon your taco photography. I was instantly intrigued by the way you captured the taco. I never knew anyone else would find food--any kind for that matter--interesting. I thought it was beautiful, really. I enjoy photography and art, and the taco pictures...they just stood out to me. Food, to me, has beauty. Strange as that sounds. Anyway, the point of my emailing you, was to give you compliments on your art. I'm sorry, but it's not for asking to display it, as I am not in the art world as of yet. I thought it might be nice to send you praise though, and I hope this bursted you spirits about your taco art. Very nice." --Laynie
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Fine Art Taco Photography
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View the entire taco gallery here.
If you enjoy these photographs, you can Buy Prints online.
My niche marketing plan:
Traveling Taco-Art Exhibit: I will be sending my Taco Art around the world. If you would like to display my art in your venue (museum, college, company, etc), please email me with a few details about your organization. Ideally, you'd display the art for a few weeks to a month, and then send it to the next venue on the list. All I ask for is a few photos of the public enjoying my art. Email me if you're interested.
What's new:
1/18/2010
Taco blog tacobloggo featured my Fine Art Taco Photography in a post, Taco as Art. Worth a look if you're into tacos.
8/28/09
An email I received from Derek C:
I find your art to be exactly what all art should be. An expression of yourself, of your views. A part of you should spill into the art allowing nothing but a picture to tell the story of "Why?" as told only by you and your piece. Mystery be damned, your message is clear. You love fine art and expression, and you love tacos.
Art is created every day. By third-graders with finger paints, gangsters with spray cans, birds on your hood, and porn stars. Fine art, to me, is art that truly expresses a distinct message. Little Billy drew his mommy burning because he doesn't like her. The imagery is stunning only mentally as his box of eight crayons included only red and yellow. The monochromatic symbols thrown up by Da East-Hood Niggas expresses their struggle in a society set against them. The birdshit is a little more difficult to understand as its written in a foreign language. Jenna Haze pours her very heart into every scene and makes it like no other. She's so hot.
Yours deserves the same acclaim. The taco with additional cheese in a crunchy shell is no doubt a delicious treat to you and others around the world. The manufactured shell represents your daily struggle to enjoy a taco made easy by a production line. I can relate to that. If I had the time to make my own shells, I would. But life allows us little time to even make our own cheese.
The low contrast speaks wonders to me. Hot sauce or mild sauce, lite sour cream or full flavor, dole lettuce or homegrown all make little difference to me. Its about the taco as a whole, not the ingredients. One cannot make it through life when constantly focused on the specifics of all things. You must let go of such directed ambitions and gray up your world.
The long, forlorn shadows are so representative of a taco. The shadows linger where the taco is not, as does the flavor of the taco. For hours after enjoying a taco the flavor lingers with me, a shadow of the glorious taco. The morning sun casts such large shadows on all things, including tacos. They are not darkness, they are evidence of a new beginning, of a new day. A new day to find love. A new day to find peace. A new day to find tacos.
No doubt the images are of the same taco from varying angles. How could such a lesson relate more to the world? It may only be one taco, but its image changes completely from another angle. I've found the best way to lead my life is seeing all things from all angles. Should my tacos be cold when I'm ready to eat them, they are col tacos. Alternatively, my cold tacos are less likely to scald the roof of my mouth. Perhaps my cold taco is the perfect time to visit my mother because I don't have my own microwave. I learn that father's surgery went well today, and it is a time to rejoice and eat tacos.
I thank you deeply for your contributions not only to the artistic community but to my life. Your taco has given me hope for the world. I see in your taco hope for the future. People everywhere should be so lucky as to be blessed with your talent of inspiration and vision of goodness in even a taco. Please, continue your triumphs of humanitarianism.
8/17/09
Wow, almost a year since I've updated this website. I have no excuse for that other than that I've been busy with other non-taco-art pursuits. Taco Art is still available for purchase. If you will hang the art somewhere very public maybe you can talk me into sending you some prints for free.
Kiersten Woods gave me permission to publish her taco poem here:
Ode to Taco (The Love Sonnet that is Not.)
by Kiersten Woods
Your beefy goodness entices me. You trickle
out of your white shell, grace
the plate with your exquisitely sensual
presence. You tease me with your spicy scent,
grin at me with your gaping brown mouth. Your spotted
body taunts me. I bite into you,
and savor the mix of spice
and salad. It overwhelms my puny
taste buds. I shut my eyes,
trying to capture this moment
forever. The startling taste
fades, leaving behind a sketchy,
vague sensation
in my taste buds.
8/20/08
It's been brought to my attention that when you google "how to appreciate the art of photography", my Taco Art is the first result. Fantastic!
4/3/08 - A fantastic email I received today:
I just found your site and was moved by your Tacography. I left, however, wanting more. I imagine seeing your artform expanded to thoughtful mimcry of all other sorts of imagery that is used for art. I'm thinking of landscapes including tacos (perhaps grazing sheep replaced with tacos). I imagine sports photography that replaces the players or perhaps their tools with Tacos. An abstract piece made from the components of tacos comes to mind. Political imagery where unfilled taco shells replace the starving people in various countries; or broken and burned tacos depicting wartime events. Tacos on a gondola ride in venice. A dilbert style comic strip where the characters are tacos and mexican food. A taco catalog with the shells acting as models, showcasing the new line of designer toppings and additives. Punk or Rave tacos with food coloring on their shells and spiked lettuce and cheese. You could drive traffic to your site by using taco's to depict scenes that are current news topics, or mock the latest "marketing genius" by replacing their subjects with tacos.
--Tahnka
2/13/08 - The UC Santa Barbara Graduate Lounge is now displaying Taco Art:
I have no doubt it is spurring all sorts of academic discussions.
10/25/07 - An email I received from Perry:
I told my girlfriend about your taco art. She's a curatorial intern at the ------ Museum of Art. You'd think she'd recognize fine art when she saw it, and she does like tacos, but she didn't seem to take it seriously enough.
That's probably because I brought it up when she was talking about 'serious' art exhibits with her parents. Not that she has any power there or anything, being an intern and all, but still, it'd have been nice to try and get you in at the -MA.
Thanks very much for trying. Maybe in time she will come to appreciate Taco Art.
9/29/07 - Lots of things have been happening in the world of Fine Art Taco Photography. Many prints have been sold, and have received a few leads for my traveling taco-art exhibit. I've been getting a lot of emails. In the near future, I'll put together a FAQ.
CollegeHumor linked this site in their Hotlinks - "Weird stuff we found on the Web" section. That's pretty cool.
9/19/07 - Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day. This site was down for a few hours. What happened was the other site hosted on my server (venganza.org) was clogged with traffic because of TLAP day, and the server died. Everything's back up now.
9/15/07 - I received some emails asking for larger prints. I'm having a 20"x30" print made today and we'll see if it looks ok.
9/14/07 - New York Magazine has written about my project on their Grub Street blog..
9/12/07 -I notice a lot of traffic coming from Europe. I didn't know you guys even had tacos. Maybe that's why you're interested?
The blog Tacos, Pianos and Practical Latin talked about this site today. The author, Daniel, sent me an email saying "You are the Orson Welles of the taco photography world and this is your Citizen Kane." Thanks!
BoingBoing'd ! - 9/12/07 11PM
9/11/07 - The popular blog Neat-O-Rama linked here today. Thank you for all the traffic. I am happy that so many people can see my art.
