Is It Art - Re-visited
By Sue Kennedy
Copyright © 2004 Sue Kennedy
Blue Eyes Photography
http://www.blueeyesphoto.com
I often hear the phrase 'just photographs' when showing my work, and I must confess I struggle with this. Is it a good thing or a bad thing when people say that? After all most homes and offices have some kind of all decoration be that an original painting or a print, so what is the difference between a photographic print and a print of a watercolour? Answers on a post card please…. no only kidding!
Now I know you can pop into your local department store or Ikea and take your pick from a great range of prints, but if you want something that expresses your individual taste then you might want to try a few other places as well.
I have over the years visited a lot of local art exhibitions and made purchases of originals and prints because I like them, and I like what the artist is communicating - it speaks to me. I have bought several from two artists in particular, and they are now very popular with other buyers which means prices have raised. However I didn't buy with investment in mind, I bought because I loved the pictures.
I read an article the other day, which was speaking about the Affordable Art Fair, which takes place in London in March, and Bristol in May. The organiser observed that often people are intimidated about going out to buy art, in much the same way that people felt about buying wine 20 years ago, and how willing we now are to try new wines - or is that just me too?!
Nowadays we tend to decorate using neutral colours, so introducing colour and drama through art is a good way to add some character to a room, and it's usually easier to move pictures around than repaint.
In fact when you look around you realise that photography is embedded in almost every aspect of our visual culture, and like other artists styles and approach differ. It is an adaptable medium.
Interestingly now other areas of art have become increasingly photographic, for example realistic paintings that resembles a photograph. Go back a couple of centuries and it was the other way around - fine art photographers then produced work that was softly focused to imitate the techniques in painting seen as contemporary then.
Not all did this, others like Ansel Adams, celebrated the difference and produced sharp and detailed images that imitated only the realism of the scene they portrayed.
Photographs are seen to have authority - they are largely representational and descriptive. They are anchored in reality, more so than other art forms. Once the shutter is pressed the image recorded portrays reality, albeit interpreted by a photographer who will have used tools like composition, or shutter speeds and different levels of focusing to communicate their interpretation.
I have also read that there are three views of photography commonly discussed.
The first view is that photography is not an art because it is produced by a mechanical device and by chemical and physical phenomenon not by hand and inspiration. The second view is that photographs would be useful to art but should not be equal in creativeness to painting and drawing. The final theory is that because photography is so similar to lithography and etching it would be beneficial to the arts as well as culture.
The mass production of camera's in the in the late 1800's, resulting in universal ownership allowing anyone to take snapshots has perhaps had a role to play - except that most people have painted at some time in their lives and may still own artists brushers, yet the cultural views differ.
Personally I think the growth of digital photography is going to add further fuel to this debate, its influence is already apparent - but that's a subject worthy of a separate article!
About the author: Sue Kennedy, LRPS & LBIPP
Sue Kennedy is an UK based photographer specialising in outdoor photography and works on commission for companies & individuals as well as shooting for picture libraries. To purchase from Sue’s current print and card selection visit her Website: http://www.blueeyesphoto.com
All text and images contained within this article are © Copyright 2004 Sue Kennedy. All rights reserved worldwide.
Material contained within this article may not be sampled, duplicated, reproduced, redistributed or re-transmitted in any form whatsoever without the prior written consent of Sue Kennedy or her agents.
The material is published on Scenic Sensations with permission.
