Friday, February 19, 2010

Art installation Proposal

blackboard



Table of Aesthetic Values: An Art Installation



The mergence of the world of science and art is more and more a key component of our zeitgeist. The fields of chemistry, physics and mathematics are thought of as exact sciences working in tangent with strict reality. Aesthetics and art are thought of as extrapolations from reality, with more of a stronghold in our imagination and our own personal views and slants on creativity.


This installation jumps off from the Table of Aesthetics as its creative springboard. This table presents the elements of artistic creativity in a format of the Table of Elements and thereby lends to it a more codified and scientific approach. The main visual element of the installation comes from the extrapolations of the table. Here we approximate a university physics course room with equations, diagrams and laws filling an entire large blackboard. The blackboard looms large and forbidding, seemingly an esoteric knowledge for only those in the know. Yet if one chooses to follow, the equations represent true approximations of our inherent creative abilities and aesthetic senses.


Lastly there is a bulletin board, empty at first, but ultimately filled with the creative ideas of those who come to observe. This is an interact feature allowing contribution and sharing.


For downloadable files on this art installation proposal click on the following:

Artist Statement

Table of Aesthetic Values Photograph

Art Installation Summary

Equations for Creativity

Equations for Creativity 2

Artist Resume



Thursday, February 18, 2010

Seasons Now


Seasons Now

The place is marked by space,
seasons mark off time.
What we see now is all there is.
There only exists a potential for the future,
an idea for the past.


Quotes for inspiration:

"For an artist to be interesting to us he must have been interesting to himself."
Robert Henri, The Artist Spirit

"The goal in organizing museum exhibitions, as in collecting, running a gallery and — to cite the most obvious example — being an artist, should be individuation and difference, finding a voice of your own."
Roberta Smith, New York Times



Saturday, February 13, 2010

E squared: Equations and Experimentation



E1 Equations: Since my last post in the beginning of the year I've been quite busy with various creative ideas, however I've been quite slack when it comes to blogging on them. This is in part because I often get side tracked in unusual pursuits that don't come under the regular heading of creating simple consumer art. Above is a photograph showing the process that I use to create a Chart of Elements in order to conceive and create elements in different fields. For example my first Table was the Table of Aesthetics Values. I'm currently very near completion of my second table entitled "Table of Ethical Values". And just completed a paper extrapolating ideas and symbols from my original table entitled Equations of Creativity.









E2 Experimentation: The above watercolors were early experiments done about a month ago. They are using a new type of watercolor paper called Yupo. It's maximum gloss and fun to work with. However not really my style. I'm a matte type of guy. All of my photographs are always printed on cotton matte paper so the adjustment to super-gloss is quite harsh. But it is truly unique paper and I'm sure will make a fit with certain artists. My plan is to work in watercolors for a bit and to simulate my extreme shallow depth of field photographs with watercolor. Hopefully you'll see something along this line posted soon. Meanwhile I've found a terrific watercolor tutorial site that offers great techniques in an easy to follow style. Check out these watercolor tutorials.

To see a recent interview I did on art and inspiration go to photo blogs.



Thursday, December 31, 2009

Art School 101




Art School 101 is the result of a New Year's Resolution. I'm big into resolutions as it puts a goal out there and orients my activities to a future. "Art School 101" is a not a simple resolution such as, "I will quite smoking" (not that quitting smoking is easy, but it has only one perceived outcome in mind). "Art School 101" has a broader outcome, that being a more wide range of tools and understanding in art. In fact the outcome of this resolution is quite indefinite. Since one of the main values in art is its experimental aspect, the outcome can be quite varied. The key is to broaden my horizons and find new ways of expressing myself.

The idea stems from my love of art and my goal to pursue art as a major endeavor in life. Because I work and have various other limitations restricting my registration in a formal art school and because I learn best as an "autodidact" (just a fancy term for a self-learner), I have decided to undertake art school on my own. Most elementary classes in academic settings are deemed 101's and since this will be a survey of various art mediums and practices I thought the term appropriate. My resolution is to simply experiment with various art forms throughout the year and to report upon them on my blog.

Future posts regarding "Art School 101" will come in two flavors:

Creatives
Creatives must be exploratory in nature - experimental, using various mediums and styles. The goal is to break out of the box creatively and to find unique ways of expressing myself as an artist. All posts dealing with Creatives will high-light a new creative process or a creative process still in exploration, my experiences with the process and examples of work.

Discussions
Discussions are theoretical in nature and may involve readings done on art, trips to museums or further analysis of a project. Discussions will concern the ideas and thoughts behind the art as opposed to the process. In essence these posts will concern the philosophy of aesthetics and hopefully inspire my creativity.

Here's to a successful 2010!

To see my recent arts interview go to Photographer Interview Series.



Friday, September 18, 2009

Photographic Moments


Photographic Moments:

The Decisive Moment Explained

Introducing the Contemplative Moment


The phrase - the decisive moment - was made popular by Henri Cartier Bresson and although he did a good job of describing and demonstrating its use in photography, the phrase could still use some clarification and explanation.


“Decisive” means making a decision, determined and resolute. On its opposite extreme it means without hesitation. One could also apply the other definition that connotes crucial or important. However if we do we miss the causative action that must be taken by the photographer to decide and act simultaneously - thereby creating the decisive moment.


To further clarify let’s look at what a “moment” is photographically. To do this we must define it in terms of shutter speed as the shutter speed used in any picture is the moment it was taken. A moment may vary from many seconds as in a timed exposure (typically using a tripod) to one-eight thousandth of a second (the fastest speed my current camera travels). In order to demonstrate the decisive moment let’s use an intermediary speed of one-hundredth of a second - a common shutter speed for picture taking.

If we took a five minute interval of time and broke it up into one-hundredth of a second moments we would find out that there are 30,000 picture taking opportunities. Mathematically this would be 100 X 60 or 6,000 moments within a minute, times 5 for a total of 30,000 moments. How many decisive moments exist within this five minute interval? Of course this depends on the event unfolding, but one can see that the moment of decision is not as easy as it may seem. One has to be ultra-perceptive to pick out THE moments of greatest meaning and visual impact. Add to this positioning and viewpoint along with the myriad technical decisions inherent in the use of the camera and you see that the decisive moment could easily be described as the elusive moment.


We can now introduce another type of moment which is a mode of photographic seeing: the contemplative moment. Whereas the decisive moment involves action, the contemplative moment involves little and places more stress on positioning, viewpoint and camera technique. Unhesitating decisiveness is no longer of paramount importance in order to capture the image. Instead finding and seeing in a more reflective and studied manner takes precedence. Landscapes, abstracts, reflections - moments of deeper seeing in the now. With this type of photography it is as if the moment is stretched in time to allow one to look further and select out compositions never before seen. In fact it is this faculty - the unique view - which highlights the better contemplative moments.


There is no black and white in terms of moments. Decisive and contemplative moments may merge and it is in the mergeance of the two which makes the most memorable and compositionally interesting. Having found an ideal contemplative moment and to have suddenly appear a bird in flight which you capture at optimum harmony with your design makes the best type of photography.


Yet their distinction is helpful. Contemplate means to observe thoughtfully. For a decisive moment the action before one is unfolding quickly - time is on the move. On the other side, time has slowed considerably. Like a walk in the forest, the expansion of time allows one to look and see if one wishes to: to contemplate, compose and capture. A good photographer can do both and combine their elements as necessary.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Eternal Moment

In reading “On Photography” by Susan Sontag I was struck by two cited quotes:



“... the hundreth of a second caught so precisely that the motion is continued from the picture indefinitely: the moment made eternal.” Hart Crane


“The photographer is the contemporary being par excellence; through his eyes the now becomes the past.” Berence Abbott



Crane was referring to iconic imagery made by Alfred Steiglitz and yet it provides an understanding of the potential power of photography. I would never be so naive as to state that every image taken is eternal but one must realize that the taking of an image by a skilled photographer who has something to say provides the potentiality of the image to be eternal. This can be as limited as a family photograph which moves down the generations, or as wide as a pulitzer-prize winning reportage that takes the world by storm and becomes emblematic of a cultural time and place.


Once an iconic image enters the ken of man he proliferates it down the ages through his ideas and reproductions. Even a simple photograph of a birthday celebration “eternalizes” the image for the celebrant. It becomes a way of sharing the moment and becomes part of the familial or societal memory bank to a greater or lesser degree.


The following quote by Berenice Abbott provides an antithesis to the eternal concept yet fits hand-in-glove somehow. A photograph, as it travels forward in time is always suggesting the past. It is a record, a memory, a private or cultural imitation of what was. It therefore follows that the eternal value of a photograph travels not just forward but backward - creating a timelessness.


So it is commonly thought that photography stops time and this could be easily proved. However in reality it is false - a specious argument made by the philosophically inane.* In reality a photograph expands time. It allows a single moment, whether that be one-hundreth of a second, one-thousandth or whatever, to expand ad infinitum. Depending on the moment, the skill of the photographer and a myriad of aesthetic values - the single moment captured reflects on the past as well as travels to the future. Therefore instead of stopping time, we are dealing with the infinite from the viewpoint of the viewer.


*It is true only from the perspective of the photographer who is searching for the decisive moment in the now. But only from his perspective.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Boston art criticism

When I read lines like this: “...the less stratified, increasingly porous quality of the postboom art world seems to have made setting up shop in some form easier.” in the New York Times article of September 3, 2009 entitled The Mood of the Market, as Measured in the Galleries by Roberta Smith, I want to pop. Pop in a good way. This to me is art criticism with its pulse on the cultural flow. It’s also art in itself, a beautifully worded sentence that is full of insight.

Art criticism in Boston is often simply cronyism or paid for advertising, and the aspiring artists will take it any way they can get it. Believe me I understand that it is not easy to keep a magazine or newspaper going these days but lets face it, integrity must come first. artscope magazine (that don’t capitalize their name) is a beautiful, glossy magazine with great image reproductions. But if you want a review, be sure to place an ad. The Boston Phoenix recent review of a Tufts University group show touted one particular artist as deserving an ICA one-person show. The author was good friends with the artist. Where’s the professionalism, the integrity?

Art New England, another glossy mag which comes out bimonthly (i.e. once every two months) is often behind the times in this rapid-fire information age. For example when their front page article on the Brandeis University Rose Museum debacle made the newstands, the news was practically over. And unfortunately the Boston Globe just doesn’t seem to have the space or resources for a good look at the art scene in our area anymore.

So we must turn to the internet and online magazines and blogs. Here we have Big, Red and Shiny, The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research and .... ? Please let me know what other art blogs or online magazines are out there? Obviously this is where the Boston art scene will get its due. What we need are moonlighters, art critics who take pride in their work, don’t care if you advertise or not with them in order to get a look, and are willing to not only review the Shepard Fairey exhibit but also lesser known artists as well. Add to this a bit of insight on the artistic zeitgeist of the past, present and future and away we go.

Much of what I’m describing here is what Susan Sontag would describe as “negative epiphany” in her book of essays entitled On Photography. Although her context involved photographs of atrocities the same sense applies in that it’s an unwanted realization of reality. I’m not happy about it but it’s what I see as true. In my last big show I was fortunate enough to have the attention of Beat Magazine, an art magazine that soon after folded. I was honored by an article that was honest, that is unpaid for in any way. Looking back on it now I appreciate even more it’s significance. Significance not in the art world but to me. A good review if paid for is tarnished. No matter how glowing, one feels the dirt underneath. Maybe they’ll come back to start an online magazine or others will grab their mantle. The artist needs you.

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