More on what is ART?

Got this from the ABC news site. So I pinched it from them, they got it from the AFP

Urinal pips Picassos in art poll

In a result that probably confirms many sceptics' prejudices about modern art, a 1917 men's urinal has been voted the most influential artwork of the 20th Century in a poll of the great and good of Britain's art world. The white porcelain urinal was mounted upside-down in a New York Gallery by French artist Marcel Duchamp. In one of the very earliest examples of conceptualism, Duchamp declared it was art simply because he stated this was so.

According to the survey of 500 movers and shakers in British art, the work Fountain, is more important that anything produced by the likes of Picasso and Matisse. Duchamp's work was the overwhelming winner of the poll, which has been undertaken ahead of next week's annual Turner Prize, Britain's leading modern art award. In second place came Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon of 1907, regarded by many as the origin point of modern art.

Andy Warhol's iconic pop art screenprints of Marilyn Monroe from1962 have come third.

"The choice of Duchamp's Fountain as the most influential work of modern art ahead of works by Picasso and Matisse comes as a bit of a shock," admitted Simon Wilson, a British art expert hired by the poll organisers to explain the results. "But it reflects the dynamic nature of art today and the idea that the creative process that goes into a work of art is the most important thing - the work itself can be made of anything and can take any form." Even without such polls, the often unorthodox works honoured by the Turner Prize tend to launch an annual debate in British newspapers as to what is, or is not, art.

Among the nominees this year are a pair of artists who digitally recreated Al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden's former home in Afghanistan. Last year's winner, Grayson Perry, was typically attention-grabbing: A burly man with a fondness for oversized party dresses and pigtails, his delicate ceramic vases are decorated with often disturbing scenes. The Daily Telegraph, often a despairing conservative voice on arts matters, is unsurprised by Duchamp's victory in the poll. "In this strange world where babies are made in test tubes and people pay to drink water in restaurants, the result is perhaps not all that astonishing," its arts correspondent sighed wearily.

In the poll, Guernica, Picasso's Spanish Civil War masterpiece of 1937, was voted fourth, followed by The Red Studio by Henri Matisse, from 1911.

- AFP ABC

Brazil the movie

Tonight one of my favourite movies is on TV, oh to be able to stay awake!

Meanwhile I process the thought... and I quote, "there are no functional families only degrees of dysfunctionality!" Is it possible to have a family go OFF the dysfunction scale?

This is one of the reasons I so enjoy flickr, in a funny way it helps me clarify my own work.

First edit for challenge #31

Here's my shortlist after my earlier post in regards to editing and shooting to a brief, I've still got a few days left to shoot, so the choices may grow.

New Directions in Photography?

Currenlty am working on an online competition submission (against my better judgement), I have already submitted two images to since acquiring my Nikon Coolpix 5400 Digital camera, and of course have failed dismally. So even though I can better expend my energies elsewhere with things like Lightwave, I am having another go, partially because this time it's a 'topic' that I can really really relate to. The topic is, 'Buildings in Decay Decline and Abandonment'.

Who would have thought though that it would be this difficult. Two shoots in as many days, 70 -100 images a lot of which I find interesting, and more than adequate for my own work yet strangely difficult to feel really happy with. Is it the immediacy of the process, the ease at which I can capture and quickly review results that causes this consternation? This is essentially a huge shift in my usual workflow developed over nearly 20 years of making fine prints.

This changed workflow is, I think, one of the greatest hurdles to my practice of Art based photography using digital. In the past there was the initial euphoria over pressing the shutter then a short time later more excitement as you pulled the still wet film from the tank, then, a day or two would pass and maybe just maybe the proof would look good. Back out I would go with my camera, when I next had a chance, and more of the above, either as re-shoots to correct errors in the original proofs, or to take the idea in new directions, or just to follow and chase light or locations. At some point during the year perhaps when the light was bad or when I didn't have time I would sit down with the proofs made *over a period of time* and evaluate the results. These proofs would find themselves in a box that was carried everywhere and looked at in quiet moments. Eventually connections could be made between the physical objects, between the proofs themselves. They were then often sequenced and organised and re-sequenced until enough images were made for an exhibition of some sort. Some times the exhibition came before the conclusion of the collection and collation of the work, but still the *process* of collection comparison and collation was intuitive, tactile and able to mimic real space and time, by the sheer physicality of the objects themselves.

This is all changed now with digital.

Now the images are collected and viewed on the spot. Proofing happens on a screen. Images organisation is hampered and limited by the size of the screen and the space it occupies. Now images are more limited in their sequencing. no longer can I look at images in a micro way whilst simultaneously maintaining an overview of the *whole* body of work, I can only fit so many on-screen and only in a hierarchical way, either by file name, of physical space occupied on the screen.

Have I just talked myself into a screen based method of communication?

You will notice here that I haven't even mentioned Photoshop at all. Photoshop is just another tool another way of bending and shaping and manipulating my images, it has little or no impact on my work, other than perhaps allowing me to consider the shift towards colour.

Copyrights or wrongs?

An issue close to my heart, well several issues actually, freedom of information, copyright, and intellectual property, being squabbled about in the courts in America.

History of Colour Photography

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) was a photographer in pre-revolutionary Russia, photographer to its ruler, the Tsar, and commisioned by him to document the land and its people. He developed a method of taking colour photographs by taking 3 separate exposures... [About Photography]

Voyeurs of the world Unite!

Want to become a voyeur?

Think that looking into other people's inner most secrets is somewhat erotic?

Got something you want to confess to?

Visit www.grouphug.us for your answers then!

s2art's flickr contacts

My small homage to flickr and some of the talented folks hangin' out on that site. I just can't get enough of the place, the way folks are willing to experiment with composition, light and subject matter. The way you can make your own little mini-galleries and sequences, it's truly awesome.

Of course this is one of many such sites out there. I have looked at several and this is the only one that really has appealed to me. So much so I upgraded to a pro account after my free trial ran out. Anyway here's my blogroll if you like of noteworthy contacts from flickr, in no particular order.

• Dr Paradox aka Barb
• SwissMiss
• bunchofpants
• dreadfuldan
• Foutugraphe
• Casoulbyrd
• marm0t
• MacAddict
• ich_bin_ein_elmo
• hotdogsladies
• oooh_caro
• jengray
• jkottke
• jessamyn
• stepinrazor
• lopolis
• leff
• kity
• jeremiah
• Beelzebozo
• thepretenda
• machete
• maximolly
• nutsidea
• spigs
• Mr Lumix
• solarsunset3

Yet another self portrait?

Why is it that so many people turn their cameras on themselves? Is a good portrait one that has a happy face or a serious one? Anyway, here's me sitting at my desk at one of the jobs I have, at a place called pic photographic imaging college, I teach photography and photoshop there, I also teach computer mediated art at VU where any day now this portrait or perhaps the next one I shoot will appear.

Art? A definition?

Still harping on about the reactionary Art site I found yesterday! This person's definition of Art is so narrow. There is no mention of Dance, Film/Video, Performance, Theatre, and a minor reference to Music, but certainly NOT popular music, only the classical variety.

In a way though I kind of applaud them, they seem to have a very well defined notion of what Art is. My ideas vague as they are, are partially based on John Berger's ideas. He has in his book, "The Sense of Sight" a chapter with a rather succinct definition of Art that I use in my lectures at VU (page 6 of my copy ISBN 0-679-73722-7) . Roughly speaking he suggests 5 clues to an objects' classification as a work of art.

1. Figurative Representation
2. Subject Matter/Context
3. Respect/Understanding of the Materials used
4. Formal unity and Economy
5. Awe, fascination or reverence for the object

So I quite like this list and it helps me classify things occaisonally. Still a lot of PoMo (Post Modern) Art is all just too cerebral for me, leaving out the "wonder" "awe" and imagination aspects of art that make it so enjoyable for the viewer.

MarsEdit almost at version one.

From Ranchero's own blog

MarsEdit 1.0fc3 is a final candidate release. We’re looking for deal-stopper bugs—bugs so bad that they have to be fixed before shipping this as 1.0. If no deal-stopper bugs are found, we’ll change the version number and make this release 1.0. There are a few bug fixes since 1.0b12—having to do with drafts, most notably. See the change notes for details. [Ranchero]

MarsEdit, Jumbo jets and Art?

Now using MarsEdit to write these entries, neato little app for all you non-programmer types like me.Made by Ranchero software who also make NetNewsWire, the news reader for the Mac used by many mnay folksout there.

This morning due to the Northerly, two huge 747's flew over real LOW, yowza, gotta love that, one was a Cathay Pacific 747-400, serial number B-HUA, at 07:14.

Two quotes from last night's TV show, still ticking over in my mind.

"Optics don't make marks"
"...the tyranny of the lens"

Hopefully will have some time to formulate some thoughts on Art , after my earlier post today, stay tuned, in the meantime check "my art".

Has Art become reactionary?

Who would have thought that the Art world would be subject to reactionary views? After watching an excellent program on TV, by Hockney that explored the notion that the renaissance was actually helped along by lenses and camera obscuras, and doing a "google" on him and the idea, I turned up this reactionary site,.

Sadly as people seem to have become less adventurous in their political views so to the idea of what art is and can be, (the site is claiming 40,000 visits per month). They have even produced a "manifesto! Taken from another site

Linda Dulaney, executive director of the Art Renewal Center, located in Port Reading, New Jersey, recently wrote Navigator to announce the arrival of ARC's first newsletter. ARC's mission statement cites thirteen goals for the center:
(1) To create the largest on-line museum on the internet, with hundreds of thousands of oversized high-quality images of all the known works of the greatests painters and sculptors in human history, cross-referenced to the largest encyclopedic online art reference liberary of historical texts, essays, biographies, and articles;
(2) To promote a return of training, standards, and excellence in the visual arts;
(3) To provide responsible views opposing those of the current art establishment when warranted, especially as expressed in critiques of current art exhibits, and in aesthetic philosophy;
(4) To make available to all interested, the best of the rich Good Art archives of debates, controversy, and dialogue that has spanned the last three years on the Internet;
(5) To disseminate the rich artistic heritage of 2500 years of accumulated knowledge in creating traditional, realistic images touching upon universal and timeless themes;
(6) To advance the undersanding that Great Art begins with great themes and expresses them poetically through mastery of all aspects of technique;
(7) To repudiate the idea that development in art requires destruction of boundaries and standards, pointless emphasis on "newness," or pursusit of the bizarre and ugly as ends in themselves, and to expose as artistic fraud those works conceived only to elicit outrage;
(8) To provide a technical resource for artistic information, including referrals to experts;
(9) To provide a forum for dialogue and exchange among educators, scholars, curators, collectors, and artists;
(10) To promost scholarship and research on the artists of the past and the rediscovery and preservation of their techniques and methods;
(11)To establish basic visual literacy standards across the world. Drawing must be introduced as part of the core curricula in K-12 and developed progressively until high school and beyond;
(12) To provide impetus for the reestablishment of high standards of performance in the visual arts of painting, drawing, and sculpture, and to promote the concept of recognizable quality as a primary criterion for the judgment of fine art;
(13)To offer a platform for discussion—both scholarly and informal—on art history, aesthetics, technical considerations, art education, and other related issues, and to maintain honesty and frankness in our interaction with everyone, regardless of predisposition.
Those interested in learning more about the Art Renewal Center may check out its Web site: www.artrenewal.org. According to ARC's newsletter the site garners 40,000 visits a month, with an average visit lasting twenty-two minutes. Certainly, it offers a feast for the eyes.

I love the final word, "...it offers a feast for the eyes". What about the mind and the soul? What about telling old stories in new ways - that have MORE relevance - to fresh eyes and minds? Pffft more on this later methinks! Don't get me wrong, I love a well executed drawing or painting, it is indeed a beautiful thing, but that's all it becomes, and I doubt very few people would be moved in a way that a good movie could move them, or a great song, or a stunningly printed photograph. Yes indeed Mr. Fred Ross, we are now living in the 21st century and life is NOT as simple and elegant as you would like to think it is so why should contemporary art reflect this?

Beta Search engine for academics

Just discovered this new beta search engine for "academics" from "google" http://scholar.google.com/, it's great have and I found links to several articles on topics that I find interesting, quickly AND easily.

• Inkjet prints
• Interactive Art
• GUI design history

Well it looks like I'll be online even more now!

Finished my final weekend Photoshop workshop for 2004. I had two cancellations out of an original four, leaving two policemen, not only were they policemen, they were from the "State Surveillance Unit". Are you asking yourself the same questions I am at this point? You bet! Why are these two state officials in charge of gathering information, consisting of Audio, video and photography doing a workshop in image manipulation? Glad you asked coz I did too! It seems that they often need to "enhance" poorly captured images given to them by other members of the force. And as long as they have the original files and can prove "how" they enhanced the images the images can be used for the purposes of a criminal investigation.

Snax, digital art?

Mobile phone art?

Mobile Phones, Art, or Photography?

Loooking back over my archives I talked about extending my my collection of Nokia Mobile phone images. I had it seemed, just purchased the USB cable to do this. Sadly I haven't followed through. The gallery is still fairly static, I've been using the camera, just not uploading. The reason of course is Nokia's lack of support for the Mac, which means I e-mail the images to my self at aboutfity or so cents each, then upload somewhere from there. I even went as far as to install Virtual PC on my machine, in an effort to cut costs and make the proces easier. This I have booted into once since installing so there goes that idea. However my contract on this particular phone runs out early next year. When it does I can then get a new phone, one with bluetooth perhaps, or one that supports the Mac, or even a different model Nokia (my model is the problem, a 7400, I think?). For those couple of folks who read what I write here I have long thought about doing something artistic with a Mobile Phone Camera. Places like Flickr are being used by people in ways that I thought would make for an interesting use of the medium. This was going to be my sticking point with my original idea, as far as mine went, "How to publish in a manner commensurate with the medium and idea?" No more worries about that then, plenty of folks are up and running with the idea. So early next year with a new camera in hand, I'm going to start the project in earnest. Hopefully; not famous last words?

Have my last Photoshop workshop for the year this weekend, a smaller than usual group, so far, as two folks have pulled out, this leaves two chaps who work for the Melbourne Police force! I am very very curious why members of the Police force are doing a workshop in Photoshop? Stay tuned on that one

Strangers in the night?

This Asian site sent me to a few hits last week, of course it's in an Asian language that I cannot read? Still weird though what could folks want I wonder from some part of Asia?

Sneak peek at Mac Os X.4

Wanna see some snaps of the upcoming version 10.4 of the mac os?

UK Kodak plant closures?

News just in from Digital photography review.

Kodak is to close five labs in the UK over the next 12 months resulting in a loss of 500 jobs. The news of the closures in Northampton, Glasgow, Walsall, Wimbledon and Portishead follows the announcement of 600 job losses last month after Kodak closed a factory in Nottinghamshire and 250 people lost their jobs at a site in Harrow, North London. A call center is also due to close, The cuts are a result of Kodak's shift towards the digital market and its plans to cut up to 15,000 jobs worldwide in three... [Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)]