Featured Book: Some of This is True
Luxxus Press is pleased to announce the publication of “Some of This is True” – a new monograph of work by New York photographer James M. Graham.
“Some of This is True” features twelve black and white plates from the “BUNNIES” series and eighteen color plates from the “chairs” series, Afterword commentary on each, an interview with the artist, and a Foreword by noted photographer George Pitts. This 8”x10” perfectbound softcover first edition is issued in 100 numbered and signed copies, each with a signed “outtake” print from one of the two series.
“Some of This is True” is a book with two front covers—“two-faced” one might say. Certainly this design is intended to subvert the false hierarchy of first and second in presenting these two equally worthy bodies of work. But more importantly, it underscores, along with the title, the elusive nature of fact vs. fiction in Graham’s work.
Constantly playing with affect and identity, he both leads and leaves us to wonder about these characters and their stories: who are they, what is their history, what does their future hold?
And as he does, entirely without guile, Graham cheerfully declares that only “some of this is true.” But which parts? That’s for him to know and . . . for us to find out?
Certainly. But not necessarily from Graham—for to paraphrase Shakespeare, ‘the truth lies not in our stars but in ourselves.’ “I want the viewer to feel something – a tingle, a punch in the stomach, fear, awe, music . . . like they wish they could have been standing right there, no matter how perverse, dangerous or wonderful that feeling is” states Graham in the interview.
As with all good art, Graham’s work serves as much or more as a mirror in which we find our own hidden urges, as it does a window into his vision. As we read Graham’s words and view his imagery we can’t help but reflect on our own reactions and responses. And should they make us happy, or sad, or angry, or otherwise aroused, we must wonder just which of those feelings, for ourselves, are true?
