John Arsenault presents Barmaid – a collection of 50 images photographed at the Eagle LA (highly popular leather bar for decades) where he worked as a barback, or “barmaid,” as Arsenault liked to refer to the position. The american photographer made hundreds of evocative portraits and interior landscapes of the Eagle LA mostly with the camera on his iPhone.
The series consists of portraits of customers and employees, interior landscapes and self-portraits. These evocative images that include painterly still lifes, punctuate the vision of Arsenault’s experience as a barmaid. A tinge of melancholy and sadness is suffused with beauty and sensuality reflecting an insider’s emotional and nuanced view of the iconic bar.
“My pictures taken at the Eagle are my expressions of emotions I was maneuvering through while working as a barmaid –calmness from within the chaos. A hint of sadness from not knowing ‘why’ I was working at the Eagle forced me to trust my intuition and belief that the experience I was having was important … I spent two years at the Eagle and photographed every day I worked. Words are lacking to express my experience –it’s like something under the surface that may be felt rather than stated.” writes Arsenault.
BOOK
Barmaid
John Arsenault
Daylight Books
Hardcover, 10 x 10 inches
112 Pages/50 Color
ISBN: 9781942084105
$50 U.S.
http://http://www.daylightbooks.org
http://www.johnarsenaultphotography.com
