doug and mike starn

 i 've been watching and loving the work of the starn twins since 1980's when i first encountered them at the museum school in boston.  they continue to amaze me with their dual vision. the brothers are twins -- and they work collaboratively. single-mindedly producing photographs that push the bounderies in terms of scale and technique. part science, part documentation, part art, part mystic invocation-- they have an evocative and entrancing style. i recently discovered ( and i'm coming to this several years after the fact -- but who cares!) a fairly monumental, architectural piece that was being built by rock climbers and then photographed by the starns--aptly named "big bambu". constructed and photographed in their beacon warehouse..  an amazing labor and testament to determination... the starns are noted for their mosaic photographs-- pieces taped together....  when you looked at the final big bambu photo, you can see that this is an amazing collage.
"Big Bambúis consistent with the idea of a self-healing organism; within this “fabric” of bamboo pole network, the artists expect that some poles will stress and fail, but that the structure (the bamboo poles are fibrous and flexible unlike wooden boards that crack and break apart) will maintain some integrity. The tower represents the concepts of self-organization, adaptation and the interconnectedness of all things."