Rich Simon

Statement:  I am interested in the contrast and interplay between drawing 
            and photography. Most of my work concerns traditional and 
            alternative photographic techniques used in ways that suggest 
            drawings or works in other media. Philosophically, my work is 
            often concerned with the past and how it affects our present 
            actions and thoughts. 

Education and Training:  
            I have been accepted as a student at the School of the Museum 
            of Fine Arts in Boston. I have taken courses at that school 
            as well as at Bennington College, Vermont.  My professional 
            training is in mathematics and computer science.

Shows:      Berkshire Art Association Fall Photography Show, Berkshire 
            Art Museum. Fall 1992.

            Framingham Artists Guild show at the Premiere Image 
            gallery in Ashland, MA. Spring 1992. 

            Fall Photography show, Premiere Image gallery, Ashland, MA.  
            Fall 1991. 

Awards and Honors:

            Honorable Mention for the print ÒAlyciaÓ at the Framingham 
            Artists Guild show (above). 

            Honorable Mention for ÒGhost IÓ at the Fall Photography show 
            (above). 
            
            
----------------------

   The above is my first attempt at some sort of "artist's resume." More 
   informally, I have been interested in art all my life, but only fairly 
   recently (since 1986) have I been involved in making my own art. I started
   out as someone who had never seriously drawn or painted or printed 
   photographs or done anything artistic (except look at art). I now have my 
   own studio, draw regularly (or did until recently), and often use 
   photographic images or techniques in my work. All of this is very new to me
   (I only started photography in 1989), and I feel I have so much still to 
   learn. But I have had enough success to convince me that I have things 
   to say, even if my technique is still sometimes lacking.
   
   Electronic images are actually not my first choice, or even my second 
   choice, for self-expression. I make my living working with computers, 
   and I enjoy getting away from electronic media in my art work. But 
   still, I wonder exactly how these new tools will be used to create 
   art. Nearly all the electronic art I have seen is very unconvincing as 
   art and very cold. I don't mean graphics or raytraced images (though 
   they also have their shortcomings) but art that tries to make 
   computers an explicit part of the work. I don't know that it is 
   possible to create an inspiring work of art that is encompassed in a 
   machine, but I keep looking to see if someone will do it (I've thought 
   about it myself, but haven't a clue). 
   
   I see SITO as another facet of this struggle artists are having with 
   how to use electronic media. Here is this powerful thing called the 
   Internet; it must be possible to use it for artistic ends somehow -- 
   but how? I believe the SITO projects are an attempt to incorporate the 
   Internet as an artistic medium. Since no one really  knows how to do 
   this, I like the basic "let's try this and see what happens" approach.
   
   I have so far contributed to all the SITO collaborations. In 
   SYNERGY/Revolt, I was C1. In CROSSWIRE, I was A0. And in ARCANA I am 
   B4. I have also placed one of my images, called "Classified" in the 
   SITO gallery. It is a kind of electronic collage using a scanned 
   charcoal drawing, some newsprint, some output from a word processor, 
   and a scan of my face. The title was suggested to me by my past work 
   in the computer security area and the work itself concerns our hidden 
   (and unknown) thoughts.