J Bennett Fitts

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J Bennett Fitts (b. 1977, Kansas City Missouri) is an American Photographer who lives and works in Los Angeles.

Fitts is represented by the Paul Kopeikin Gallery [1] in Los Angeles, Julie Saul Gallery [2] in New York, and QPCA, Quality Pictures, [3] in Portland.

1 Biography
2 Artist statement
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

J. Bennett Fitts graduated with a B.F.A. from Art Center College of Design in August 2003. He began his career as a skateboarder and skateboard photographer, which initiated his intense focus on place: a set of stairs or curb became more than simple objects, but tools for life. This idea of taking an object created for one purpose and making it into something completely new is the binding element of Fitts's photographs.
"While I've always been interested in landscape photography, I have never been drawn toward creating the heroic imagery. I have instead been drawn to the subtle and banal work of the new topograhics movement and photographers like Lewis Baltz and Robert Adams. The sense of quiet and isolation that pervades Baltz's work is a quality I bring to my own work. And yet I set out to achieve an aesthetic beauty that they were less interested in."
The "Golf" series (2004) documenting the public golf courses of Los Angeles at dusk, demonstrates Fitts' interest in the beauty and theatricality of the artificially lit courses. He wants the viewer with no preconceived notions or feelings for the game of golf itself to get a sense of quiet and isolation from the pictures, and to achieve an aesthetic beauty that will recontextualize the golf landscape.
Fitts has traveled over 20,000 miles from Arkansas to California in search of motel pools, some abandoned and decaying, others simply deserted for his most recent "Pool" series. Ironically, the empty pools fill the deserted spaces with a sense of nostalgia and beauty. Fitts was awarded first place in the category of Fine Art Landscape Photography at the International Photography Awards in 2004. PDN has recently written a feature article about him and Arthouse in Austin, TX, has selected his work for their annual "New American Talent" show. He resides in Pasadena.

[edit] Artist statement

In photography my interest has always been held by landscapes; never the heroic imagery most people have come to associate with the term landscape, but rather the beautifully subtle and banal work of the photographers associated with the new topograhics movement. The sense of quiet and isolation that pervades Baltz’s series on Irvine warehouses is something that I always set out to achieve through my own imagery. The photographers showcased in the new topographics exhibition focused on a "social landscape" that explored the way in which man impacts the natural environment. They focused on new subject matter as well, creating imagery that avoided the common themes beauty and emotion. Yet at a certain point during my pursuit I feel that I break off from the strict doctrine of some of the photographers showcased in this movement. In contrast to them, I have chosen a non-industrial subject matter as well as, purposely setting out to achieve a certain sense of aesthetic beauty in all of my images. I want someone with no feeling for the game of golf to be able to walk into the gallery and view my imagery with a great sense of contentment. This body of work is not created for the specific demographic of golfers; it is an attempt to recontextualize the golf landscape and open it up to a whole new audience. In my mind I see the perfect audience for the work as one that will walk into the gallery with no preconceived notions of the game of golf and be able to take something away from the imagery.
My personal association with the game of golf comes about through my living experience in Colorado Springs. I lived in a townhouse that sat beside a course built by the well-known golf course architect Pete Dye. My actual view of the course from my house was quite limited, though all of my north facing windows looked into a 40 foot dry grass hill that was placed there to punish errant shots by golfers on the 14th hole. On the other side of this somewhat barren hill lie the lush and almost surreal color of the course, hidden from my view. I would often wander over the hill in the evening to observe the amazing colors that this man made environment had produced. I remember the multiple times of year that they would take the golf course lake from it’s normal greenish hue and dye it into a deep blue to make it appear as a lake should look in the eyes of the golfer. During the winter they would also attempt to dye the brown grass a pathetic shade of green that did little to fool anyone about it’s actual condition during the Colorado winter. My awareness of these attempts at creating a different golfing reality led me to my own project, and in my eyes the most interesting phenomena within all of golf; the night golf course. It is a place lit so beautifully and theatrically, with such a sense of artificiality that you could almost be fooled as to whether it was actually the evening or midday. The hyper reality of greens created by the color cast of the sodium vapor lights projected onto the course is as artificial and as amazing a tone as there can be. It is this sense of artificiality that has made this project fascinating to me.