I wouldn’t presume to tell the truth. I’m telling my version of the truth, but it’s not the objective version. There is no objective version….

Photography does stop time. It’s an exterior form of memory: This existed. That’s its greatest truth: to leave a trace of what has been.

–Larry Sultan

California photographer and longtime California College for the Arts professor, Larry Sultan passed away last Sunday at age 63. His good humor, probing art practice and generosity is missed by colleagues, students and fans.

Listen to an interview with Larry with on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. It was recorded in 1989.

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Why do you want to avoid saying anything concrete?

I’m just not interested in using the position as an artist to dictate anything. I consider myself as one my viewers, and it would be paradoxical to speak simultaneously to myself and others. I like to think that being an artist is neither an entertainer nor a doctor.

What emotion do you most want to inspire most in your viewers?

That’s not a concern, really. I think emotions are too subjective and it’s wasteful to control the viewer. I think it’s more about creating a frequency of tension in the work that connects in different ways to different people.

Über-brain artist Jordan Wolfson as interviewed in “Art, Theory” by Ana Finel Honigman (New Yor Times’ T Magazine, December 9, 2009).