Mike Boggeri

Hughson, United States

About the Artist:
Mike Boggeri was born in Salinas, California and currently resides in Hughson, the central valley of California. He has enjoyed farming for most of his life.

In 1988, Boggeri was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. His disability became chronically progressive in 1994, forcing him to retire from farming. A reduction in mobility led to the discontinuation of his street and landscape photography. Since that time, he has concentrated on still life, photo-collage, and montage.

Boggeri continues to complete all photography and printing himself and relays that Multiple sclerosis has influenced his work. "I am able to, somewhat, lessen anxieties by transferring them to my work, giving it a personally therapeutic dimension." Boggeri can project something beyond himself with his photography. He may not be able to climb, yet he uses his medium to transform images in a unique way.

Artist's Statement
I believe that a photograph is a visual poem waiting to be read. The fact that I include a written poem with each print does not imply a hybrid medium. Rather that it's potential was always inherent in the photgraph. I attempt to introduce a measure of ambiguity in order to allow the viewer the opportunity to offer his own interpretation. In this way I hope to enhance the viewrs experience as well as my own.

Pearls
My flesh exposed
But what of the pearls?
A curious Juxtaposition
No doubt
Queasily effeminate
Or defiantly masculine?
If you feel compelled
To ask the questions
You deserve no answers

Poete Maudit
Your hypocrite brother
Begins thus:
An evil flower for your label
My dandy friend of centuries lapsed
Ardent provacateur
With the faintest remorse
Exiled among the masses
And the proud'y corrupt
You soared like your great bird
Gliding amid the clouds
You, the patron saint
Of the libido
Doomed to immortality

String Theory Exposed
Gravity exists
I know that for a fact
It keeps me nailed to my wheel chair
It thoroughly screws up Particle theory
Big deal, you say
You'd be dead wrong
It would be a minutely small deal
Then Quantum gravity tried valiantly
To rescue the situation
But fell flat,
Or to be more precise (I think)
Refused to fall flat
Along came one dimensional strings
Pushing Quantum points aside
Will this lead to hotly pursued
Theory of everything?
You excitedly demand
Physicists confidently proclaim
A very positive maybe
Or was that maybe not?
I have to get that straight.