Life is a series of choices, my choice this week was to pay attention to Phil Robertson’s views on women, blacks and gays or to pay attention to the life, thoughts and brilliant work of George Forss, my friend and photographer. Both men are free to do what they want, millions of people are riveted to the cultural dynamics of the “Duck Dynasty,” I am proud to be focused on the courage and genius of George Forss, I understand few people are paying a lot of attention to him. That’s the way celebrity, media and recognition work in America. You can great magnificent work for most of your life and be forgotten, you can say some stupid and offensive things and become a very wealthy household word.
George is a big figure in my life, and I try to recognize him every day. I have come to love and admire him, he embraces the creative life in all of its many forms, has sacrificed so much for it, worked so hard at it, and has remained unfailingly generous, loving and hopeful. This morning we wished one another a Happy New Year and I asked George his New Year’s resolution was, he said he was going to announce it on his blog later this week (George says it takes him three or four days to process messages from the universe). So far, it is this: he is expecting a wealthy person to arrange for a publisher to publish all of his writings. He’s not sure exactly how that will work, but that’s the message he was receiving from the universe (a/k/a alien spirits) this morning.
George never gives up, he has taken enough blows in life to stop an armored tank, but not him.
George has taken countless thousands of wonderful photographs, gained worldwide recognition, written five or six books (he prints them as e-mail messages now and offers them for free), run an art gallery whose motto is “Art Saves Lives,” created the George Forss Theater Of The Arts in his gallery, takes care of his step-brother Mickey, is a loyal and loving partner to the artist Donna Wynbrandt and a good friend to many more. While much of the nation is still whining about their UPS packages, George has never complained about his challenging and difficult life, he just keeps creating.
George has overcome being taken from his mother by the authorities in New York and placed in an orphanage, agoraphobia, life as a street peddler harassed by the police, a father jailed for bank robbery, and severe mental illness in his family. His great ascent and career in the photographic world, his landscapes of New York, was sidelined after the destruction of the World Trade Center, a centerpiece in many his fabulous urban landscapes. The beneficiary of a small inheritance, he moved to upstate New York, where a friend introduced us.
This year, George faced congestive heart failure that nearly killed him, a broken ankle and a long struggle to figure out what will become of the great and universally acclaimed works he produced. He is undeterred and ferociously productive. His works are the greatest creative bargain I can imagine.
George had a good Christmas dinner at the Methodist Church in Cambridge, an annual tradition for him, and will celebrate New Year’s with his beloved Donna, somebody sent them some Omaha Steaks, they are, he said, “dining in.” I might go and take their portrait, a neat way to mark the New Year.
George and I are doing a joint photo show together at the Round House Cafe in February or March, he inspires me every day to keep doing my work, to never speak poorly of my life, to accept change, to create and create and create in every possible and meaningful way. And to be a decent and ethical human being. In a sane world, 10 million people would check into George’s blog every day to see the great things he is creating, his unique perspective on the universe. That is not the way our world works. Those 10 million people will be watching Phil Robertson.
Both men are free spirits entitled to present their differing views of the world, one reminds me to be grateful for the other. George Forss is my inspirational human of the year.
(The photograph above was from one of George’s very inexpensive bookmarks (for sale on George’s blog or at Battenkill Books) for a few dollars), it is of George’s famous shots of the Empire State Building, Maria put it in a small frame we have, it is hanging in the living room.) Happy New Year, George.