In Relation to the Whole: Three Essays From Three Decades

How does the young artist orient himself in relation to the whole cultural sprawl of his time? As his work gets included in a category of style, can he see what values that style expresses relative to the 360 degree spectrum of other points of view on life? If he focuses in on the used landscape, right down to some seemingly negligible weed or bit of trash, what thoughts does he have concerning the images we have effected to the ecology of the entire planet? Here are some of the issues Downes addresses in these three essays that, dating from three different decades, reflect his changing preoccupations.