Moe Staiano (b.1973, Staten Island, New York)
Moe Staiano is a musician and composer of new music works and angular rock music for various bands including Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Mute Socialite, and currently Surplus 1980. He also runs the Moe Staiano Ensemble which performs his works of composed works for varying degrees of amounts of musicians. He has been performing since about 1995 or so. This little exhibition you see here is not music, but photography, which has been an interest to Mr. Moe since way back. This is his first ever part of an exhibition and his work dive into a photography project. Some of his photographs has graced some of his releases that he has put out over the years and likes to combine the two together. Neat.
If you’re keen to peak your interest, you can check him out at www.moestaiano.com. Thanks.
Artist Statement
I have always liked the angular visual of a geometric composition that comprises an image, whether it be drawn or photographed, there is something that has grasped my interest that is compelling and interesting. I have found that to be the case with my photographs that I have taken recently that consist of telephone lines acquainted with a fellow object. The object, in this case, is a bird (or birds, in some instances). In some of my past photos, I found a simplicity with telephone lines among an overcast backdrop, with endless options to construct an image with other overlapping lines. The overcast backdrop gives me a palette to work with in a way to make the contrasts very sharp in a black and white setting. The shapes of the lines provide an endless chance of possibilities that compose the image, with the bird being the focal point in an abstract fashion that calls out to the art styles of Constructivism and Supremacism while being very minimalist at the same time. Rather than a typical bird on a wire, I like having the challenge of a bird in action, moving between the lines, instantly compartmentalizing it in a frame of wires.
One such feature that made this project more of being at ease with getting very compelling images is due to one avian corvid, an American Crow, who I gave the name ‘Alfred’ (after the photographer Alfred Stieglitz) in my neighbourhood. Alfred is in a majority of the photographs you see here and is easy to spot: launching from a telephone line, with sometimes the illusion of gravity taking over and looking like it is falling down (or flying UP to a telephone line in one case). This is due in part to the likelihood of feeding squirrels in my parking spot at my apartment complex. In some way, a crow made its way to that feeding spot and gave some nuts (shelled peanuts, always unsalted, by the way). Overtime, I would see a crow and drop a nut somewhere where it would retrieve it. As time went on it would fly near me and I would fully acknowledge it and give it a peanut. I was then gifted the privilege of having it be near me on a telephone line, have my cameraphone at the ready with peanut in hand, then throw it away from me. I would then get a series of photos of the crow in action, dive-bombing for its food reward while rewarding me with some wonderful images. I still make the effort to walk around in the morning, search for Alfred to fly to me for his peanut treats.
The prints will be made available to purchase.
