My Artist’s Statement:

“Interesting things happen along borders—transitions—not in the middle where everything is the same.”

--Neal Stephenson, from the novel “Snow Crash.”

"I make art because I'm just trying to stay out of the mental hospital."

--miss_insatiable

Ame Inu (for English speakers, it's pronounced "Ah-MAY EE-new" ) is Japanese for Rain Dog. I am not Japanese, but I am a Rain Dog, or, to be more specific, I am a Rain Dog Autistic. As defined by the Urban Dictionary, a Rain Dog is a person (or dog) who has lost his scent trail in a rain storm, and can never find his way back home, or find a place where he truly belongs. Tom Waits wrote a great song called “Rain Dogs.” Take some time to find it online and listen to it—it’s a great song.

My aesthetics are deeply informed by two things: my spirituality (primarily Zen Buddhist with elements of Shinto and Taoism) and my status as a “neurodivergent” person on the Autistic Spectrum.

As a Zen Buddhist (a follower of the Zen Master Bankei Yōtaku) I try to incorporate at least one of the seven elements of Wabi-Sabi into each one of my photographs::

Fukinsei: asymmetry, irregularity.

Kanso: simplicity.

Koko: basic, weathered.

Shizen: without pretense, natural.

Yugen: subtly profound grace, not obvious.

Datsuzoku: unbounded by convention, free.

Seijaku: tranquility.

I speak of my autism because I believe it has a profound impact on how I see the world, what I notice and what I don’t, what I find intriguing to photograph and what I tend to ignore. The ordinary over the extraordinary, parts over the whole, abstraction over coherence, pattern over function.

My willing acceptance, and conscious manipulation of the camera’s unique properties allows me to discard the conceit that what the camera records is unadulterated truth, and this in turn liberates me from the futility of adhering to socially dictated perception. So informed, anything becomes possible, any photograph has a chance at transcendence, can become sublime, can become art.

My major artistic influences are Man Ray, Weegee, Minor White, Wynn Bullock, Monet and other Impressionists, Hiroshige, Hokusai, and the British landscape photographer David Ward. Other influences that I believe have a profound impact on my aesthetic are The Beatles, The Green Pajamas, Gogol Bordello, and the most excellent Dr. Albert Hofmann.

Oh, and I am also the Admin for the Flickr group Six Nineteen:

www.flickr.com/groups/sixnineteen/

Please stop by and, if you like what you see, join! It is an Adult, +18 group, just so you know before you drop by. ;-)

All of my work is available for purchase or licensing, to individuals or corporations or advertising agencies. My representation is by Isabella Kent—you may contact her at:

signalfire2000@yahoo.com

All photographs on my photostream are the sole intellectual property of and copyright by Ame Inu., and are governed under the laws of the state of Virginia, The United States of America, and International Treaties regarding digital and intellectual property rights and protections. Please don’t steal my work—it’s much more fun to make your own. ;-)

Thanks for reading my profile.

Ame Inu