Edmund Teske

摘要

Edmund Teske is a photographer who defines the concept of "outsider" artist. As a child in Chicago he studied theater, played saxophone and was a piano protege of Ida Lustgarten. Under her tutelage he attended many concerts but after seeing a dance performance by the Russian Ballet and another by Ted Shawn's male dancers, he was inspired to delve more deeply into the performing arts. He was dedicated to photography from the age of 16, however his mature work, in addition to being influenced by the performing arts, reveals his interest in Hindu mythology, the writings of Walt Whitman and his long-time association with Frank Lloyd Wright. Despite having major exhibitions in 1993 and 2004 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, he remains an elusive artist. Two major factors may contribute to this: his photographs require the viewer to consider the layered meanings beyond the surface, and most of his works are un-editioned unique objects, whereas photography is traditionally a medium of multiples. He was an artist who "created" images using light-sensitive materials and chemicals more than he was a "photographer." The photographic images he used were often appropriated from magazines and postcards, and the photographs he made himself have an appropriated "feel" about them.