The Geography of the Imagination: Thoughts on the Work of Rick McKee Hock

Abstract

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Born in 1947, Rick McKee Hock was a prominent artist and educator, former director of exhibitions and program design at George Eastman House (1978-2008), and exhibitions and events coordinator at Visual Studies Workshop (VSW). He died on January 18, 2015. A memorial exhibition of his work, Curious Reality of Images: Rick McKee Hock, was presented at VSW, September 4-December 19, 2015. To accompany this exhibition, VSW published two catalogs of his late work, Artists vs. Charlatans and Interrupted Bestiary (both 2015). Rick might not have been The World's Most Interesting Man of recent advertising renown, but he would have been on my short list for photography's version of that tide. Widely read, deeply thoughtful, and opinionated in an understated but firm way, he lived with a memorable combination of seriousness and wit. He had wide intellectual interests and a rich and sardonic sense of humor. Above all, he was devoted to human need to create--the power of imagination to reshape our understanding of reality. In this regard he was an eternal optimist, always excited about possibility of new ways of seeing and thinking. Rick had broad interests in literature, art, and music. Music was a consistent topic of conversation for us over decades. We regularly shared our current passions, with Rick's list usually much more interesting and varied than mine. In late 1970s, he introduced me to significance of Lee Morgan and Eric Dolphy, Devo and Elvis Costello. Later, it was King Sunny Ade and Burning Spear, Bob Dylan, bluegrass, and much more. His music collection was already remarkable when we met in 1978, and it evolved steadily over years, reflecting his voracious appetite for all things new and nourishing. Rick came to photography in his later twenties. He dropped out of college after his first year, in 1966, and was employed in publishing field for nearly a decade. Inspired by photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank, he renewed his studies at University of Connecticut, where he majored in art. Accomplished in drawing, lithography, and etching, Rick's interest in photography was amplified by his first elective course in medium. After that, he enrolled in every studio photography and photo history class that UConn offered. In this formative period, he was guided by Professor William E. Parker, a mentor of great intellectual range and energy. In addition to his expertise in history of art and photography, Parker was active in C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology in New York City. Not surprisingly, Rick's interest in universal myths and archetypes was strongly shaped by Parker's teaching. Rick's first recognition as a photographer came in June 1975, in an exhibition juried by Parker and Carl Chiarenza, Pro/Contra: A Selection of Connecticut Photography, part of Greater Hartford (CT) Civic and Arts Festival. Rick had two pictures reproduced in show's slim catalog: one of a tangled mass of weeds, other of a beatific sheep looking directly at camera through a wire fence. Both have a direct, bull's-eye compositional simplicity. Rick greatly respected Parker's brief introductory text to this catalog. Parker began by emphasizing two points: medium's protean nature and its essential connection to ideas. He described medium's unique ability to visually arrest the facts and possibilities of an existentially fugitive world and quoted philosopher Stanley Cavell's observation that the camera has been praised for extending senses; it may... deserve more praise for confining them, leaving room for thought. Parker then proposed a series of foundational propositions or axioms, including: * A photograph is not o picture of, but an object about world. * A photograph serves to reaffirm our contact with reality, to rediscover an all-too-often missing world; a photograph reaffirms our grand desire to eventually transcend world. …