The Artist
TRUCKS and other beautiful things
Towns are different, with their unique looks & styles.
Always at the beginning or at the edge there are junkyards,
taking care of the old until their recycled end.
Trucks and cars, tired and retired from their tasks, lie dormant
with their own memories of heroic deeds. For many years they
have accomplished impossible tasks for man. Their memories are
starting to fade, like the color on their skins.
Trucks, the modern workhorses, are the heroes we’ve used, worn
out, and left in a field to retire. These steel marvels are
more beautiful now than when shiny and new. Amazing, what time
can do to metal and paint. How the brilliant colors are homogenized
with rust. There is beauty in their patinas, their histories,
and in their engine hearts.
Karl LaLonde
Karl LaLonde is a photographer and painter. Originally from the 1000 Islands area in upstate New York, he spent his high school and college years here in the Hudson Valley. His high school track coach taught Karl how to take pictures. He attended Dutchess Community College for commercial art and Bard College to study photography. IBM offered him a job, and asked if he could shorten his hair a few inches. He started working for the company as an artist in IBM’s TV studio in the sixties. He was directing and producing productions by age 24, and won several international TV awards. By 30 he was art-directing. All this time, outside the corporation, he was photographing, painting, and showing what he calls “far-out stuff.”
He and his wife take long car rides through New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut. They walk and hike into the woods where LaLonde says he usually takes at least 100 to 200 exposures per trip.
Karl also paints American Indian portraits and southwestern scenes. To feed his art habit, he and his wife, (who is also an artist) operate their toy store The Danbury Hobby Center in Danbury, Connecticut.