I have been a fan of Ave Pildas’s photography since I discovered his work in 2018 during another trip to Arcana Books. I even authored a blog post at the time reviewing his book Street / People which I had purchased.
Ave is 83 years old now and I am completely jealous of how much he gets out and photographs still, especially since he is also still constantly editing and promoting his older work. “Star Struck” is Ave’s 10th book and his 8th book since 2015. Ave is from Cincinnati and moved to Los Angeles in 1971 to work for Capitol Records in Art Direction. He started teaching at OTIS in 1985 and retired from there in 2008 to concentrate on his own photography. He has work in the permanent collections of LACMA and MoMA and has traveled the world photographing.
Photographing in Los Angeles is hard, I have written about that fact often here in my blog. The greater Los Angeles region is massive, thousands of miles, and a population of well over 15 million people. It is also eclectic demographically; Hollywood, Boyle Heights, South Central, Venice, The Valley, Pasadena, the OC, HB, Newport, Santa Ana, and the IE are all unique in their own rights even though they get lumped into “LA” from any perspective outside of California. It is not like photographing on Michigan Avenue in Chicago or on the street in New York City where it is easy to get out and walk amongst the people. I totally respect how much Ave has documented because I have traveled those same areas and what it takes to get to all those places.
This was the first time I have met Ave and I was so impressed with his incredible energy; he attacks life. During the time it has taken me to get to writing this post Ave has traveled to New York and Paris for the book fairs and has posted more updates of new work. We are planning of going out and photographing together sometime soon and I will share posts from that later.
But now, back to primary topic of this post and Ave’s new book. “Start Stuck” which showcases Ave’s photographs from the “The Hollywood Walk of Fame” section of Hollywood Boulevard taken between 1972 and 1975. The concise location helps make this book a great documentation of the people in the area during that era. It was published by Deadbeat Club and printed in China. This book is Deadbeat’s 78th book and the first edition was limited to 750 copies. The design, print quality, and image selection is very good, I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves documentary photography, street photography, or who is interested in Los Angeles’s past.
Ave was signing books with Ian Bates, whose new book “Meadowlark” was also published by Deadbeat Club (their 79th book). This was the first time I had seen Ian’s work. The only explanation text in the book is a short 2009 poem by Jim Harrison titled "I believe” and even with that text the viewer is pretty much left on their own to navigate the images. The quality and design of the book are good, and I liked most of Ian’s images on their own individual merit. Many of his photographs have a feeling of solitude, loss, and despair for me. There is a dark quality to them, but within most images there is also beauty and hope. Ian came across as a quiet person and I think I can see why he made these types of photographs and this book. You have to bring your own past experiences with you to appreciate this book, but I actually love that. I have seen enough photography in my life I don’t need someone stating obvious facts to me. This book is also one that you could come away with different feelings on different days from it, depending on where you were in life that day. It is a very good book to return to occasionally. I love that Ian is putting his work out there and I am happy to have added his book to my library.
