dmr
Registered Abuser
Nice camera, Bill! 🙂
Is Photography Art?
- Thread starter bmattock
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David R Munson
写真のオタク
I say we make this the official response to this question from now on. Seems like it would save a lot of people a lot of typing, as well as headaches.
gavinlg
Veteran
Yes, it is.
Turtle
Veteran
The other perspective to this question is that is just does not matter one bit what you call it. It is what is is. What photography is categorised as impacts upon nothing, so although we can debate it, none of this, or any other discussion on the subject, will change what it is (or is not)
AgentX
Well-known
True enough in a way.
But there is no real "what it is", either. "What it is" is a moving target, based on a complex interaction of photo-as-object, viewer, and context.
Plato doesn't live in our cameras...
kbg32
neo-romanticist
Is there god?
Disaster_Area
Gadget Monger
Let me put it this way... I recently went to an exhibit opening at a local gallery where the artists gave a short talk about their works. Bear in mind... these artists all received federal juried grants in the 5 figures area to develop and promote their work... here's what they did:
Artist #1: Created a video of her dogs running around a field set to music made of samples of her dog whining for a biscuit.
Artist #2: Created walkways and tunnels in her house to make her cat feel more at home... then.. because it was an indoor cat... she created a video of herself dressed in leopard spandex climbing a tree to show to the cat... so the cat could experience "tree" for herself. The purpose of this set was to develop better human/cat relations.
Artist #3: Created a room with a projector displaying on one wall a video of her dog. If there was no one in the room.. the video showed the dog far away playing with itself... when someone entered the room the video showed the dog coming "closer" to investigate the person entering.
THIS IS CONSIDERED ART... art that my tax dollars funded... art that out of a huge list of artists a jury picked to receive funding... I can't imagine what the people that DIDN'T receive funding came up with.
Ladies and gentlemen... if this is art... then photography... even bad photography... is art. Case closed... lets have a beer and discuss all of our amazing art.
Artist #1: Created a video of her dogs running around a field set to music made of samples of her dog whining for a biscuit.
Artist #2: Created walkways and tunnels in her house to make her cat feel more at home... then.. because it was an indoor cat... she created a video of herself dressed in leopard spandex climbing a tree to show to the cat... so the cat could experience "tree" for herself. The purpose of this set was to develop better human/cat relations.
Artist #3: Created a room with a projector displaying on one wall a video of her dog. If there was no one in the room.. the video showed the dog far away playing with itself... when someone entered the room the video showed the dog coming "closer" to investigate the person entering.
THIS IS CONSIDERED ART... art that my tax dollars funded... art that out of a huge list of artists a jury picked to receive funding... I can't imagine what the people that DIDN'T receive funding came up with.
Ladies and gentlemen... if this is art... then photography... even bad photography... is art. Case closed... lets have a beer and discuss all of our amazing art.
David R Munson
写真のオタク
I am in support of this.
Pablito
coco frío
yes, if it's sofa-sized.
R
rpsawin
Guest
Art who????
mfunnell
Shaken, so blurred
I'm with you. I'd want the elephant to give the talk. It might not have been art - but it sure would have been interesting!
...Mike
Disaster_Area
Gadget Monger
It's getting a bit ridiculous what falls under the heading "art" nowadays... it used to be that you'd have to be either really creative... or really skilled... or both to be an artist. I'm fine with people not being skilled technically as long as they're creative. Hell... a LOT of photographs that are considered art didn't take a lot of technical skill to produce... just the creativity of the photographer knowing what to point at and when to press the shutter (I don't consider this technical skill as it's 99% mental and only 1% mechanical)... and that's fine.
What I don't get is so much art I've seen lately (and I see a LOT... I do reportage for a couple arts/culture sites) is completely mind boggling. And I simply can't accept the "well you just don't get it" theory... I took art in University... I know my Rembrandt's from my Pollock's and my HCB's from my Avedon's and I do appreciate a lot of art that pushes the envelope of what has previously been considered art. But a lot of what I see is just complete baffling. I swear it has to be a case of "The Emperors New Clothes"... no one in the arts community wants to stand up and say "That's just crap on canvas" for fear of looking like a prole.
What I don't get is so much art I've seen lately (and I see a LOT... I do reportage for a couple arts/culture sites) is completely mind boggling. And I simply can't accept the "well you just don't get it" theory... I took art in University... I know my Rembrandt's from my Pollock's and my HCB's from my Avedon's and I do appreciate a lot of art that pushes the envelope of what has previously been considered art. But a lot of what I see is just complete baffling. I swear it has to be a case of "The Emperors New Clothes"... no one in the arts community wants to stand up and say "That's just crap on canvas" for fear of looking like a prole.
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Disaster_Area
Gadget Monger
Yeah... really do try to keep an open mind when I go to exhibits. It's hard not to form pre-conceptions when I get the promo material... but I've had my mind changed many a time after going to the show. There's a lot of great art being made out there, I'd say at least 75% of what I report on I like... or at least I can understand why others might like it.
I go to everything from major gallery shows to "some guys sketches in the back of a coffee shop"... and what really gets me is sooo much of the coffee shop and basement gallery art is so much more creative and deserving of attention, but until you get a critic or curator to say "Yes ... this be art *ART STAMP*" it can be hard to get noticed. And once you've got a couple of gallery showings and letters from "qualified" curators under your belt it's almost impossible NOT get government grants because of the strict requirements you need to qualify... none of which are very artistic in nature.
It's the catch 22... for the decent grants (more than a couple hundred bucks) you need X gallery showings and X publications etc... but without grant money most artists have to hold down full time jobs that makes it impossible to have the time or cash to GET the needed gallery showings. In fact there's a couple galleries here in Ottawa that you can pay a couple hundred to get a 2-3 day showing of your work... and many of my friends have done it simply because it's the easiest way to get the showings they need to apply for grants.
I go to everything from major gallery shows to "some guys sketches in the back of a coffee shop"... and what really gets me is sooo much of the coffee shop and basement gallery art is so much more creative and deserving of attention, but until you get a critic or curator to say "Yes ... this be art *ART STAMP*" it can be hard to get noticed. And once you've got a couple of gallery showings and letters from "qualified" curators under your belt it's almost impossible NOT get government grants because of the strict requirements you need to qualify... none of which are very artistic in nature.
It's the catch 22... for the decent grants (more than a couple hundred bucks) you need X gallery showings and X publications etc... but without grant money most artists have to hold down full time jobs that makes it impossible to have the time or cash to GET the needed gallery showings. In fact there's a couple galleries here in Ottawa that you can pay a couple hundred to get a 2-3 day showing of your work... and many of my friends have done it simply because it's the easiest way to get the showings they need to apply for grants.
elmer3.5
Well-known
Art or Craft?
Art or Craft?
Hi, undubiously art is out there.
You can´t attack it or grab it directly, you have to go in circles around it trying to grasp it and from time to time get a bit out of it, if you`re lucky enough.
You can´t give art a particular purpouse like you have in advertising medias, maybe it has an open end not even closed by the author himself.
Of course it has to mean something to you, it must move something in you, otherwise you will jump it without even remmembering what you looked at.
Can`t recognize a media in particular that is more prompt to art, nor painting, graphics, sculputure, installation art or even photography.
So i would say that photography can be art.
In my case the problem is, if can i do art with my camera or even if can i recognize art when i´m front of it.
It´s quite ambiguous.
Bye.
Art or Craft?
Hi, undubiously art is out there.
You can´t attack it or grab it directly, you have to go in circles around it trying to grasp it and from time to time get a bit out of it, if you`re lucky enough.
You can´t give art a particular purpouse like you have in advertising medias, maybe it has an open end not even closed by the author himself.
Of course it has to mean something to you, it must move something in you, otherwise you will jump it without even remmembering what you looked at.
Can`t recognize a media in particular that is more prompt to art, nor painting, graphics, sculputure, installation art or even photography.
So i would say that photography can be art.
In my case the problem is, if can i do art with my camera or even if can i recognize art when i´m front of it.
It´s quite ambiguous.
Bye.
Carlsen Highway
Well-known
The reason why this question is still around is because the question itself doesnt make sense.
It is a chemical process. The process doesnt do anything except make photographs. And even then it needs a craftsperson just to get that far. As for art, that depends on the intentions of the craftsman.
If you leave your Leica alone with a some film, some developer and some extra salts and silver, and some big paper, then come back later after drinking a bottle of absinthe and arguing with your socialist mates about how surrealism is a way of life - it wont have done a damn thing, I expect. At least mine doesnt anyway.
There are artists that use photography as a means of expression, yes.
It's akin to asking - If you stretch a canvas onto some bits of wood and cover it with pigmented oil from linseed, is it art?
Art as we know it - the free for all the other posters have described, is a terriblbly new attitude historically. It would have made no sense at all to Leonardo or Massacio.
Contemporary conceptual art, or the modern art of ideas will collapse into itself like a black hole and then haveto change again in a while, its a dead end.
There is only so long that something can feed of the idea of itself; like a leech sucking the blood of another leech.
It is a chemical process. The process doesnt do anything except make photographs. And even then it needs a craftsperson just to get that far. As for art, that depends on the intentions of the craftsman.
If you leave your Leica alone with a some film, some developer and some extra salts and silver, and some big paper, then come back later after drinking a bottle of absinthe and arguing with your socialist mates about how surrealism is a way of life - it wont have done a damn thing, I expect. At least mine doesnt anyway.
There are artists that use photography as a means of expression, yes.
It's akin to asking - If you stretch a canvas onto some bits of wood and cover it with pigmented oil from linseed, is it art?
Art as we know it - the free for all the other posters have described, is a terriblbly new attitude historically. It would have made no sense at all to Leonardo or Massacio.
Contemporary conceptual art, or the modern art of ideas will collapse into itself like a black hole and then haveto change again in a while, its a dead end.
There is only so long that something can feed of the idea of itself; like a leech sucking the blood of another leech.
Chris101
summicronia
You probably need to send it off to Solms.
Disaster_Area
Gadget Monger
It depends on where you leave it alone... and why you left it alone. Leave it alone in a gallery here in Ottawa and it would probably get rave reviews as an installation piece.
The definition of art has become so loose that the only all encompassing definition I've been able to come up with is:
"Art is anything produced or presented with the intention of creating or being art"
At this point in our culture the INTENT is the only important thing... people can get away with bloody awful art as long as they INTENDED it to be art. It doesn't mean they'll end up with good art or bad art... but art none the less even everyone thinks it's bloody awful.
You no longer need skill or creativity or even originality... you just need the balls to stand up and declare "I AM AN ARTIST!!!"
MCTuomey
Veteran
MCTuomey
Veteran
let's have a poll on the popularity of thread responses. my criteria are humor a/or withering cynicism:
1. fred - #50
2. chris - #43
1. fred - #50
2. chris - #43
Al Kaplan
Veteran
Last year I found a small frog on the street that had been run over by a number of automobile tires before dryinig out in the sun. I took some pictures. I found a small lizard in similar condition, flat as a pancake and pressed thin, and I took some photos. Yesterday I found the ultimate subject! There was a bird on the parking lot, wings outstretched, every feather in place, completely dried out and maybe 2mm thick at most. It pays to look at the ground!
I'm sure that I can find a local gallery to hang my "Flat Animals" series. They're ART, and find art to boot.
I'm sure that I can find a local gallery to hang my "Flat Animals" series. They're ART, and find art to boot.
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