MLM – This is our second interview in as many years.

 

ES – Yeah, kinda like the Spanish Inquisition. Wish I was in Castile. No racist thing intended.

 

MLM – Well, I hear that you’ve made a few road trips in the US since our last interview. How was that?

 

ES – It was okay if you like Shoney’s, no-star motels, interstate highways, and long days.

 

MLM – From your answer it would seem that you have continued to focus on the more dismal aspects of American culture.

 

ES- I wouldn’t say that. I just like rundown architecture, rusted cars and dead appliances. There’s room under the tent of beauty for everything. It’s more inclusive, y’know.

 

MLM – Well, no one would accuse you of a Norman Rockwell sensibility.

 

ES – Who’s he? Only kidding.

 

MLM – You have to admit that a good deal of your work could be viewed as, well, dark and brooding.

 

ES – I don’t remember you showing me any “Psychology Today” press credentials. This is why I have shunned fame and making a lot of money. You people focus too much on the negative.

 

MLM – Why don’t we move on here?

 

ES – Sure. Just try to keep it a little more balanced, okay?

 

MLM – Speaking of balance, composition seems to be your strong suit.

 

ES – Glad you noticed.

 

MLM – I seem to recall that you eschewed formal training.

 

ES – You could say that. You could also say that I’ve been studying composition since infancy.

 

MLM – How so?

 

ES – Haven’t you read those studies from Psychology 101 where the first thing that babies do is study the composition of their mother’s face? They right away discern the circle with the eyes and mouth thing.

 

MLM – How interesting.

 

ES – My mother had a great face. A real beauty. First impressions are everything, right?

 

MLM – Apparently.

 

ES – Yeah, that’s how come you see all these little babies lying around on their $150 blankets playing with boring black and white toys. Being a baby ain’t what it used to be.

 

MLM- Perhaps that is why you prefer color over black and white photography?

 

ES – I wouldn’t read too much into what I said.

 

MLM - Maybe you could clarify for me.

 

ES – Well, you asked about composition. I’m saying that people probably respond to that strength in my work because humans are designed to make visual order out of the chaos of the world they enter from day one.

 

MLM – You seem to seek out that visual chaos.

 

ES – No, it’s just what I see all around me. I mean, I live in a nice place but I’ve also spent a lot of my life around people whose world isn’t so manicured and pretty. I try to show the order and beauty of the detritus surrounding those who aren’t exactly living the American dream.

 

MLM – That sounds a lot like political commentary.

 

ES - No, it isn’t that at all. It’s recognizing another aesthetic. And, it’s not what all my work is about. But, there is more of that in my photographs than the traditional iconography.

 

MLM – For someone who shunned formal training you seem to have little difficulty in expressing yourself in that form when push comes to shove.

 

ES – Hey, my father was an academically trained painter. He taught that shit. My mother’s entire career was in the literary world. I know the lingo. We’re all scarred by our childhoods.

 

MLM – The winter holidays are almost upon us.

 

ES – That’s a politically correct way of saying it.

 

MLM – Well, considering your remarks about the Inquisition it seemed wise to avoid the Christian reference. But, if you believed say, in Santa, what would you request on the morning of December 25, 2011?

 

ES – A gallery. Isn’t that what all artists want? Very mundane. They should go to my website www.ethansprague.com. I’m not dreaming of a white Christmas, y’know, it’s more like white walls would do it for me.