A friend of mine (https://www.emlen.com/) creates metal sculptures: abstract and whimsical, with hydraulically-controlled moving parts and electric lights, they sometimes take on humanoid forms, but more often resemble nothing but the conception within this friend's mind. About twice a year, he invites a lot of people over and lights them on fire.

If you look long enough at most every piece he creates, you'll see it winking back at you. There's a sly kind of humor there, sometimes barely concealed, if at all. For me, it takes his work, which at first impression can be pretty cerebral, and gives it its humanity. The longer I get to know it, the happier I feel around it.

Even the fires, which rage high and sometimes loud - as when he burned a bunch of bamboo - and as violent as they can be, bring light and warmth. In the end, it's all pretty much completely non-destructive, even as they pretend to be otherwise. They are, in a word, fun.

Humor, fun, lightness - the ability to laugh at our own rather bleak predicament - is essential to art, I believe. It's a sign of intelligence and imagination. Humorless people can be, I have found, a drag on a lot of different levels.

This all seems rather basic, but also very necessary in this first part of the year 2025. And in a way, I have found this underlining of what is important to be rather liberating, because what I do with my camera, with my art, here on this website - none of it matters a scant compared to those people I love and the values we hold. It doesn't belittle any of our expressions; it's just a nice reminder of what to take on heavily, and what to let rest lightly.

Which is almost all of it.