Newsweek: John Foster is a meticulous and savvy collector—"and I
do not
buy in bulk," he says. Over the years that he's been collecting
personal photographs from garage sales, antique shops, and
eBay—including the last 10 to 12 years of hard-core buying—he's
assembled roughly 1,500 photographs that, to him, represent true
found-art. Rare is the weekend he doesn't hit up a flea market or dusty
old antiques store, locate a box of old photos, and rifle through them
one by one, searching for the single, perfect shot. "It's not of any
particular period of time, it's not any particular type of photograph,
it's not any particular style," he says. "It's all about the image—how
does it transcend the ordinary?" The price of transcendence? As little
as $10, or as much as $400—"if you're buying from people who know what
they are."
For decades, Foster and his wife have also collected
various forms of folk art for their St. Louis home, a passion that has
informed his photo quest. "When you look at the idea of enjoying art
that's made by people without formal art education, you can easily make
the jump to snapshots," he says. "Everyone takes photographs."
Photo:
A young boy with smeared with either mud or pancake makeup grins
giddily for the camera. "When I look for images, I look for something
that makes you almost uncomfortable in your own skin—something that
makes you observe more intently," Foster says. "That's when I know I
have something that's more than just a snapshot."
