THE PASTOR'S OFFICE by Jason Stark

“I am a firm believer that every picture tells a story, and should, as the work of every artist, evoke emotion. There is neither lens wide enough nor film vivid enough to capture the true beauty of God’s presentation of nature. For me, this is the reason that we as artists will die unfulfilled and longing to take one more shot.”
 

Beginning his self-education the summer of 1981, Stark focused his thirty-five dollar Zeiss-Ikon on the ordinary and mundane scenes surrounding him. Never achieving the razor-sharp,

technically-perfect style of his idol, Ansel Adams, a new style, part documentary, part social statement, emerged. Social commentary became Stark's subject for the next several years. The Pastor's OfficeHighly acclaimed in creative circles, his work lacked the necessary marketability for the New South. Photographic and technical skills were not wasted. Over the next many years, he worked his way through the graphic arts and commercial printing field by interpreting and creating publishable imagery dictated by art directors and marketing VP's. Now with thirty-plus years of practical experience, Stark is reentering the scene as one of the oldest, most experienced "emerging" photographic artists.

The Pastor’s Office is the first image in a series documenting the decline and decay of a once vibrant Arkansas community.
“Poverty, economic depression, and landmark decay have not changed. We have.”

After holding, then inhaling a copy of Stark's Images of Perception Vol. 1-Issue 1-January2012, an extraordinary collection of museum-quality art, you'll find yourself forgetting to exhale. I highly recommend it to anyone savvy enough to know Stark is one of this century's photography masters, sure to join the ranks of Walker Evans, Alfred Stieglitz, and Margaret Bourke-White.

Stark and his wife, Ju, own and operate a small advertising agency in northeast Arkansas. They are currently preparing for a solo exhibition, Images of Perceptions, set for spring 2012.

View Stark's work at imagesofperceptions.com

ALAINE BENARD
The Rose & Thorn Journal 
www.RoseandThornJournal.com