Title
Round
Chromogenic print
30 x 42 inches
Estimated Value Range:
$3,000 - $5,000
Starting Bid: $1,500
Bidding increments: $250
J. Benntt Fitts’s photograph suggests the experience that many of us have on the putting green - so many attempts that never quite make it to the hole. Set at night, the humorous image implies that the golfer has literally been trying all day, still standing on the green, waiting for one to sink.
Fitts explores the intersection of the artificial and natural in his photographs, presenting familiar, everyday environments in new and unexpected ways. His Arroyo Seco Driving Range series transforms a common landscape—the golf course—into a strange, surreal environment. Devoid of human presence, these images show only the evidence of human effort. The interplay of light and shadow accentuates the surreal quality of the golf course, where exaggerated nighttime shadows contrast with brightly colored greens and flags. This tension between the controlled nature of the course and the night’s unpredictable shadows creates a sense of quiet waiting that pervades the work.
More:
J. Bennett Fitts
Artist Statement
“In photography, my interest has always been in landscapes; not the heroic imagery most people associate with the term landscape, but the beautifully subtle and banal work of the photographers associated with the new topographics movement. The sense of quiet and isolation that pervades Baltz’s series on Irvine warehouses is something I always strive to capture in my own imagery. The photographers in the New Topographics exhibition focused on the ‘social landscape,’ exploring the way in which man impacts the natural environment. They created imagery that avoided the common themes of beauty and emotion. However, at a certain point, I feel I break from the strict doctrine of some of these photographers. Unlike them, I have chosen non-industrial subject matter and, intentionally, I set out to achieve a sense of aesthetic beauty in my images.
I want someone with no interest in golf to walk into the gallery and feel a sense of contentment from viewing my work. This series is not made for golfers; it is an attempt to recontextualize the golf landscape and open it to a broader audience. My ideal viewer is someone with no preconceived notions of the game who can engage with the imagery on a purely visual level.
My personal connection to golf comes from living in Colorado Springs. I resided in a townhouse next to a golf course designed by Pete Dye. Though my view was mostly limited to a 40-foot dry grass hill, I could see the surreal colors of the course just beyond. I would often wander over the hill in the evening to observe the strange hues of this man-made environment. I recall the course’s lake being dyed from green to blue to meet the golfer's ideal of what a lake should look like, or the futile attempts to dye the brown winter grass green. These artificial interventions in the natural landscape sparked my interest in the golf course as a site for my own project, especially at night. The nighttime golf course, lit with sodium vapor lights, creates a hyperreal environment so artificial and theatrical that it's almost impossible to discern whether it's day or night. This artificiality, and the vibrant tones of the course, is what makes this project so fascinating to me.”
Biography
J. Bennett Fitts is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design, located in Pasadena, California, where he now lives and works. His photographic series Arroyo Seco Driving Range exemplifies his keen interest in landscapes, emphasizing the tension between the artificial and the natural. Fitts’s work takes familiar scenes and transforms them into haunting, surreal interpretations, inviting viewers to experience ordinary spaces in extraordinary ways.
