The Photographic Performance was created to feature the works of artist with completed bodies of work and a strong narrative. Brian Van de Wetering’s exhibition The Acting Hand is the first of four performances to be exhibited during 2025. Brian’s exhibition is discussed in this GalleryTalk.

Artist Statement

Death and suffering are reported each night on the evening news. I’ve seen friends, family, and acquaintances taken from this world seemingly at random. I watch on social media as friends and acquaintances struggle with life-changing illnesses. How do we make sense of this? How do we persist in the face of the indifference and randomness of the universe?

As social creatures, we are born with a theory of mind, the ability to attribute intent, emotions, beliefs, and knowledge to ourselves and others. It is no wonder that we are drawn to create order out of this randomness by assigning it some external reason, intent, or plan: The Acting Hand. Whether we blame the devil, god, fate, the stars, kismet, or destiny, we gain comfort from imagining an actor and motivation behind our suffering. With order comes solace. With chaos comes madness.

“As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport.”
— King Lear (4.1)

But what of calamity meted out by our own hand or the hands of others? Are we solely responsible? Is it an act of free will or a throw of the dice? In the eye of popular science, addiction becomes a disease, the sociopath is born that way, and the abused becomes the abuser. Who creates the despot, the murderer, the rapist, the junkie?

“…an admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star!”
— King Lear (1.2)

Although I understand intellectually that some events are truly random, I still feel a strong emotional draw to imagine some intent, The Acting Hand, even if only in metaphor. The hand is not just a metaphor but also the central question. In this series of staged vignettes, I’ve brought this invisible hand to life to prompt further reflection on causation, randomness, and free will.

The theme of play is also central to the work. As children and artists, we play God in our make-believe worlds, and we can be cruel and destructive in our play. I’ve depicted events from history, literature, the evening news, and my own personal experience using children’s toys to illustrate our complex relationships with the suffering and misfortune in our lives and the world around us. Heavy stuff to be sure, but there is a thread of dark humor woven into these images that I recognize as one of the ways that I cope with my own fear, worry, and anxiety.

Brian Van de Wetering, 2025

Bio

Brian Van de Wetering is a photographic artist living and working in San Diego. Brian’s interest in the arts began in his youth when he dabbled in acting, lighting design, set design, music, and the visual arts including painting, sculpture, and collage. During college he worked at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater. A degree in computer science and minor in English led to a career in software development while playing in a punk band provided an artistic outlet. But his interest in the visual arts remained unfulfilled.

In 2010, success in the Anza Borrego Foundation’s annual Desert Photo Contest inspired Brian to seriously pursue an artistic practice centered around photography. He continues to develop his unique artistic vision with projects and interests including self-portraiture, the constructed image, conceptual work, street photography, abstraction, surrealism, and humor. He incorporates a wide variety of cameras and techniques in his work including-medium format film, toy cameras, home-built cameras, Polaroids, lumen prints, light painting, found photographs, collage, and sculptural works.

Since 2010, Brian’s work has been featured in many juried exhibitions throughout the United States including at the Southeast Center for Photography, The Los Angeles Center of Photography, the PhotoPlace Gallery in Vermont, and the Praxis Gallery and Photographic Arts Center in Minneapolis among others. His work has been featured by Jonathan Blaustein on aphotoeditor.com and by Aline Smithson on Lenscratch.com. Brian is currently the Technical Director of Lenscratch.com and works as a freelance web developer. Brian continues to play in the Irish punk band he helped found more than 30 years ago.

website: brianvandewetering-photo.com
instagram:  @bwetering

link to online exhibition