so with their eyes, as only to weep for

johnny cosmos was born in the city of angels in the early 1970s. he studied photography and sound-design with bolesław okoniewski in poland and later made a name for himself editing film (under a moniker) for many los angeles pornographers. he has a small body of work invisible birds plans to release digitally in the following period of time

fragments from a monograph on the pole photographer bolesław okoniewski : los angeles part four (arco iris)

(santa monica & eagle rock)

some recently discovered photographs captured in los angeles by the polish photographer bolesław okoniewski, a trip taken sometime after his attempts to enter into the polish avant-garde collective gówno ptak kurwa rolnik melon (dates uncertain, most likely the 70s). he was denied access to this prestigious group, so he went west.

okoniewski used his camera as if it was a capturer of nothingness.  a blasphemer, a melon farmer, beckett's three-legged giraffe, the big nowhere.....

okoniewski's trip was motivated by the words of horace greeley.

(note : please view images as deep black)

fragments from a monograph on the pole photographer bolesław okoniewski : los angeles part three

(malibu - part three)

some recently discovered photographs captured in los angeles by the polish photographer bolesław okoniewski, a trip taken slightly before his passing (dates uncertain, most likely mid to late 60s).

okoniewski used the un coup de dés technique of "no eyes, no focus, no exposure, no nothing", which came to him after reading a polish translation of mallarmé's poems, and after ruminating on the complex meanings and possibilities of chance and nothingness. his unpublished notes on the subject have been a large influence on the ingenting kollektiva and writers of this web site.

okoniewski at the time was working for the polish company ziemniak wirus nieograniczony, and was doing business in the los angeles region.

(note : please view images in a dark room)

fragments from a monograph on the pole photographer bolesław okoniewski : los angeles part two

(malibu - part two)

some recently discovered photographs from the city of angels by the polish photographer bolesław okoniewski, a trip taken sometime after his exile from poland due to some controversial findings in the study of "resistance in diploid potatoes" (dates uncertain, most likely late 60s / early 70s).

okoniewski's aleatoric techniques included not using the camera viewfinder, little or no attention to focus or exposure issues, often times pointing the camera in a different direction than he was looking, or sometimes in the same direction to see how the throw of the dice camera's vision differed from his own.

okoniewski's trip was motivated by the desire to be in the city that had been the setting for famous buildings such as the bradbury building, the great courtyard houses, the los angeles aqueduct system, the eames house, the schindler house, art deco masterpieces such as bullocks wilshire & griffith observatory.

(note : please view images in a totally black room, no light if possible)

fragments from a monograph on the pole photographer bolesław okoniewski : los angeles part one

(malibu - part one)

some recently discovered photographs captured in los angeles by the polish photographer bolesław okoniewski, a trip taken sometime before his death (dates uncertain, most likely late 60s / early 70s).

okoniewski used the aleatoric technique of not looking through the viewfinder of the camera, with little or no attention to focus or exposure issues.

okoniewski's trip was motivated by the desire to be in the city that had been the home to artists such as john cage, marcel duchamp, kenneth anger, the many émigrés like thomas mann, bertolt brecht, oskar fischinger, kurt weill, billy wilder.... where hollywood cinema had had many great periods, and left many traces, and where most of the ed ruscha's photographic books had been produced (every building on the sunset strip, thirtyfour parking lots in los angeles, twentysix gasoline stations, some los angeles apartments, and royal road test (for its method).

(note : please view images in a black or near black room, no artificial light especially)

cosmic polish blood, using chance procedures

polish blood from one bolesław okoniewski
thinking of blood work by herman de vries and ana mendieta