Lea,
Art is confusing
Picasso was able to make a painting of one thing that brought another
thing to mind in the viewer.
His hard-lined cubist portraits, although they weren't likenesses in the
conventional sense, still managed to capture aspects of the sitter's
personality.
Ask yourself how you could make a photograph of something that would
cast light on something unrelated. A picture of an apple that led you to
better understand a man.
There's something ambiguous called "Gesture" which says that the image
kinda sorta doesn't really say anything out loud but has a "Something"
about it that challenges the viewer or opens a dialogue with the
viewer... kinda like it waved at you when you walked past...
Note that art doesn't require any technical excellence... they don't
need to be in focus or be well exposed etc. One must leave all that behind.
Art Photographs" should not make you say "Nice lighting" or "Great
detail" any more than great paintings are great because of the brush
strokes.
Being a commercial photographer is a big minus if you want to enter the
world of art.
You first need an artist statement and then you need an intellectual,
socio-political, standpoint on which your work is based. How well the
BODY of work meets the intentions of your artist's statement and how
well they interpret the intellectual observations... AS A BODY of work
(Maybe 40 to 60 images) will determine whether a museum/gallery will be
interested. MAYBE
Art is only ART if somebody absolutely HATES it. Rather that
approaching a photograph with a preconceived idea of what it SHOULD be,
accept it for what it is and ask yourself what stories it brings to
mind. How could you be in a conversation with it....
Mostly it's a matter of Bullshit-baffles-brains. If you really want to
be in galleries you have to devote a good chunk of time working on stuff
specifically for that purpose.
1. Find a museum you'd like to be in
2. Go to the parties that the "NEW MEDIA" buyer goes to.
3. Strike up a friendship and let her know you're deep and miserable
about art and the status quo.
4. on the 3rd or 4th party let it slip that you're working on a project
that screams on behalf of mother earth as she's raped by the corporate
Poisoners.
5. Call her up at the office and ask if you can come round and show her
some work.
6. Take all the frames that you threw in the garbage (The first 2 as you
load a roll) and print them to 2x3 inches, Black and white SILVER prints
mount them in 20" square mattes and submit them.
Buy wine and cheese
Herschel
On 1/24/11 2:41 PM, lookaround360@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Lea,
You have to look at a lot of art in a lot of museums. An art museum is
not necessarily an art gallery. Museums collect works that may represent
various styles and spans of time including the present. They may focus
on regional art, or local collections. Contemporary art is very
difficult for most of us to comprehend without an MFA where you learn
that really good art should get you aroused (not that way!) Seriously, I
often come out of Contemporary art museums angry and I have an MFA. Just
don't let anyone hear you say "my kid could'a done that." Museums tend
to purchase the "usual suspects" that have been blessed by the art
establishment. That doesn't mean it isn't good art. So, who managed to
annoy you most in the Kemper?
AZ
LOOKAROUND - Since 1978
http://www.panoramacamera.us
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SPAM] museum collections?
From: Lea Murphy<lea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, January 24, 2011 2:38 pm
To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students
<photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Does anyone here have images in a museum collection?
If so, would you share your experiences as to how that came about?
I ask because this past weekend I went to see an exhibit at our Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and saw a few things hanging in the show that, had I taken them, I'm sure I would have deleted from my media card before they ever took up residence on my hard drive.
I know nothing of how a museum acquires images and am interested in learning more.
Curious minds want to know.
Lea
your kids . my camera . we'll click
www.leamurphy.com
