Brian Van de Wetering

The Acting Hand
A diagnosis of heart arrhythmia and subsequent surgery brought me face-to-face with my own mortality. The disruption of that steady beat necessary for life itself shook me to my core and prompted deeper reflection on the forces, both internal and external, that influence our journey from birth to death. I've seen friends, family, and acquaintances taken from this world seemingly at random. Deaths are reported each night on the evening news. 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.

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?

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. This invisible hand comes to life in this series of staged vignettes depicting a variety of unfortunate events designed to prompt further reflection on causation, randomness, and free will.


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


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

Artist Bio:
Brian Van de Wetering is a fine art photographer living and working in Southern California. He was born and raised in San Diego, California. At the age of ten, Brian’s father gave him his first hammer and tool belt. Together, with the help of a how-to book, they spent the summer building a deck in the backyard. This experience gave him confidence in his creative power: a sense that, with determination and no fear of failure, he can create whatever his mind imagines. This creative urge has taken him in many directions, fueling endeavors in cooking, music, theater, design, and photography.
Brian’s interest in photography grew in fits and starts. When he was a young boy, he had a Kodak Instamatic and took photos at family events. But it wasn’t until he appropriated his father’s Olympus OM-1 in high school that he began seeing the artistic possibilities in the captured image. But film was expensive for a young man and money often went to other forms of entertainment. After college, a career in software development kept the wolves from the door while playing in a punk band provided an artistic outlet. Photography was mostly in the background.
In 2010, success in the Anza Borrego Foundation’s annual Desert Photo Contest rekindled Brian’s photographic passion. His photographic adventure continues to take him in new and exciting directions including light painting, medium format film, toy cameras, home-built cameras, and mobile phone photography. Ongoing projects and interests include self portraiture, desert landscapes, constructed image, and conceptual work. In recent years, Brian has had work in numerous juried group exhibitions around the United States and he continues to play in the Irish punk band he helped found more than 20 years ago.

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