When The Master Calls
(Three Years On, Part 1), Mixed Media,
35cm x 29cm x 8.5cm, Henry Hemming, 2007
Browsing my favorite used bookstore recently I came across a book that first caught my attention because of the loose orange paint beneath the title Misadventure in the Middle East . Written by painter Henry Hemming, this book is a travel story of two young British artists who buy a pickup truck and head to the Middle East to paint. A challenging trip made all the more when you consider this occurred post 9/11 in 2002 and 2003. Hemming and his partner Al give the reader a fresh, honest, insightful look at people we so easily assume live in a different world than ours. At turns hilarious and insightful I find this book so relevant I plan to recommend it as the freshmen read at Guilford College. Hemming and Al also produced a book of their images and Hemming maintains a website at http://www.henryhemming.com/. If you have an hour look at the Front Line Club Interview of Hemming. The intelligent questions from the audience and Henry's honest answers will impress you as it did me. What a better place it would be if more of us followed these two artists' approach to engaging the world.Check out graffiti in Iran at http://irangraffiti.blogspot.com/
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