ED FREEMAN UNDEFINED – ART THAT DEFIES EXPECTATIONS
ED FREEMAN UNDEFINED – ART THAT DEFIES EXPECTATIONS
Take one look at Ed Freeman’s career and you will know that this artist does not like labels. Starting off as a successful musician, including collaborations with The Beatles and Cher amongst others, Freeman moved on to photography with a portfolio so eclectic, one could not even fathom defining him as an artist. Whether rural landscape, underwater, or abstract photography, Freeman chooses fun over consistency, and wins. The one common denominator? His ability to render anything mystical.
What inspired you to create the realty series?
I was shooting in the desert near Los Angeles but the light is terrible at midday for landscapes. The only things that look good at two in the afternoon are the derelict buildings — and there’s an endless supply of them. I started photographing them out of boredom, but then I fell in love with them.
When looking at your realty series, one gets a sense of both desolation and tranquility? How would you explain that?
Well, the buildings ARE desolate, and they’re in desolate places. And if they’re not desolate enough, I have Photoshop and I’m not afraid to use it. And the desert IS a very tranquil place — if you don’t mind scorpions, rattlesnakes and the occasional gun-toting nut job who thinks you’re a government agent, snooping around, taking pictures for evidence.
The symmetry in your realty shots is very consistent. Is there a reasoning behind it?
The Desert Realty Series is a hybrid of two philosophies: one is the thinking of Bernd and Hilla Becher and the New Topographics — both very austere, unglamorous ways of looking at manmade landscapes that had a great influence on me. The other is my own philosophy about making things look their best, which is a complete contradiction to Philosophy #1. The result of these two opposing influences is a series of austere, unglamorous portraits of buildings that have been optimized to look approachable and glamorous. Weird, I know, but it works.
Your realty series is very strict, up front and center, while your abstract series often blur the lines of reality and shape. How come?
Why should I have to do everything the same way all the time? That’s no fun!
Your style from project to project is very eclectic. As a contemporary artist, is it an advantage or inconvenience to dabble in different styles?
I never understood why an artist should be confined to one style. When I was working as a musician, I could go from playing Renaissance lute music to Mississippi Delta blues without missing a beat. Just because you’re a Japanese chef doesn’t mean you can’t cook Italian from time to time. Gallerists may tell you that you have to maintain a consistent, recognizable style, but that’s to make their lives easier, not yours.
I understand that some people are offended by images of nudes and I totally support their right NOT to look at them.
Does your process differ depending on which style you work on?
My process is pretty much the same no matter what I do. I take pictures, I upload them into the computer and I mess with them. The only thing that changes is that I mess with them differently depending on what kind of pictures they are.
You have a stunning underwater series. What are the creative challenges that come from underwater photography?
Well, you’re pretty much limited to shooting in 30 second bursts; that’s about how long a model can work until she or he has to come up for air. And if you’re into micro-managing your shoots, underwater is going to be frustrating: there’s only so much you, or the models can control. Shooting underwater is sort of a cross between candid street photography and very careful ballet choreography; interesting combination.
There’s something very mystical about your underwater shots. Was that intentional?
I don’t shoot with the conscious intention of coming up with something mystical; it just happens. Maybe I’m just a mystical kind of guy, I don’t know..
You often experiment with exposure. Is it a deliberate or experimental process?
Actually, my shooting technique is very orthodox, very old school. I don’t experiment; I do it by the book. I grew up fixated on Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and the mid-century purist, large format photographers. But all the rules get put on hold when I start messing with a picture in the computer. There, anything goes.
There are many things going on in the world right now: global pandemic, popular uprisings, economic collapse… how does this affect you as an artist?
It reinforces my commitment to create images that reflect the beauty, the perfection, the sacred nature of ourselves as people and the world we are stewards of. I have great respect for artists who protest, who expose our shortcomings, who focus on what’s wrong with the world. But that’s not what my art is about.
“I see more good art in one day on social media than I saw in a year back in the days of books and museums.”
Some artists express their political views through their work, others don’t. Where do you stand?
I have political views just like anyone else, and from time to time I HAVE used my art to express them. I shot a cover for a gay magazine a while back — a gay version of the flag raising at Iwo Jima — that went viral around the world and had me roundly condemned on Fox News. I received death threats and thousands of hate mails for it. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again, but generally I’m not interested in pissing anybody off with my art — even conservatives.
How has social media impacted your career as an artist?
Enormously. Most of my print sales come as a result of exposure in social media. I connect with other artists, we influence each other. I see more good art in one day on social media than I saw in a year back in the days of books and museums.
What’s your take on social media’s censorship rules?
I understand that some people are offended by images of nudes and I totally support their right NOT to look at them. However, I personally am just as offended by the LACK of images of nudes and I don’t understand why these same people have not supported MY right to look at them the same way that I support THEIR right NOT to.
What’s next for Ed Freeman?
I have so many projects going on right now, I lose track of them. I’m doing a lot of abstract work. I have a series of portraits of homeless people I hope to finish up and another series that is a commentary on our evolving sexuality in the Internet age. Quarantining at home has got me into photographing small things — flowers, bones, shells. I’m itching to get out on the road again and photograph whatever I come across in small towns across America. Then there are underwater nudes, nudes on dry land, moonlit landscapes…
Interviewed by Ralph Arida