Bravo, Herschel! The rest is silence (or should be.) On Jan 24, 2011, at 6:33 PM, Herschel Mair wrote: > 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
