Aaron Dougherty

There was a buddhist monk named Bodhidharma who allegedly stared at a wall for 9 years in deep concentration; and when he became frustrated with falling asleep during his meditations, cut off his eyelids. I can’t realistically expect anyone to give these photos of walls more than about 20 seconds attention, never mind inflict disfiguring self-mutilation. But there is some value—I think—in looking at admittedly banal scenes with more than a casual glance.

I’ve been meditating on such walls as these for a lot of years without any good, conscious justification. But I’ve come to question the formal schooling I’ve received that would have me subdue the world with preconceived intentions and an ‘artist’s statement’ written in advance of the seeing. I’m trying to un-learn such mental hamstringing and am growing to trust my eye. I accept these walls and poles and wires as a sort of visual koan, or Rorschach inkblot test and resist assigning too much meaning to them.