Dharma Art

A few days ago, I returned from a weeklong retreat at Karme Choling, a Shambala retreat center in Barnet, VT. I awoke at 6:30am each day to the sound of a conch shell being blown. While there, I read three books, watched a few DVDs, went on 6 or 7 hikes, ate an abundance of organic vegetables, sat by a campfire, attended 5 or 6 lectures, and took a few yoga classes. (And, as you might expect, there were hours and hours of meditation practice each day!)

One of the books I read was Dharma Art, by the center's founder Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche. Here's an interesting quote from the book about the creation of "aware" artwork:

"We give up aggression, both toward ourselves (that we have to make a special effort to impress people) and toward others (that we can pull something over on them."

Over the next several postings, I'll publish works taken during my stay. (If you can't wait that long, I've posted many at www.flickr.com/lgfindlay). This one was taken inside the azuchi (Zen archery range building):

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

With law school starting in only two weeks, I resigned from my post as President of the Nashua Area Artists Association (NAAA) today. I encourage blog readers to attend the NAAA's 54th annual Greeley Park art show, to be held Aug. 18-19 in Nashua NH. About 100 NAAA members will be displaying works there; the two-day event is the largest show of its type in the area.

Also on the schedule: the New England Photo Expeditions Meetup group is having a display at Gallery One (Nashua, NH) through the month of August. An opening repection is planned for today, from 2-4PM. For driving instructions, visit www.naaasite.com

World's Coolest Pinhole Camera

From boingboing.net and f295: "This beautiful ceramic pinhole camera was made by Steve Irvine and documented on the Pinhole Forum. It's made of stoneware fired at 1,300C, and takes a four inch by five inch piece of photo paper. The negative holder is made from three strips of black weather stripping."

More on "Hotness"

A particularly snarky blog entry* on the correlation between intercourse and intelligence hypothesizes that the "fact" that higher-IQ types have fewer partners earlier in life than their more "average" peers has absolutely nothing to do with the presence of pen protectors or the absence of social skills. Instead, the author posits that "sexual behavior (or at least the investment needed to procure a partner or sustain one) may compete with time/resources required for other goals, and intelligent people may have more demanding goals."

I'd argue that talented people have equally demanding goals, and another recent survey suggests that creative types (artists, inventors, etc.) have ***more*** partners than their uninspired peers. How to explain the seemingly incongruous results?

Does this mean that intelligence and creativity are unrelated? Perish the thought!

________________________________________________

*At the end of the entry, the 98-pound weakling kicks sand in the face of the Charles Atlas type, then run away by suggesting that testosterone may depress IQ. (Wonder what singer/actor/poet/film critic/testosterone-fueled modern Renaissance man Henry Rollins would think about that one?)

Photographers: Hot or Not?

Men's Health Magazine queried a thousand women on "hotness" factors for men. See below to see how photographers fared:



No indication as to whether the publication will query their readers on how "hot" they find female photographers. (And for the record, I totally concur with the other women about a man who can cook....)

Quote of the Day (NYT)

"It is also interesting how a photograph quickly changes when we learn more about what it depicts, when we provide a context, when we become familiar with an underlying story. And when we make claims about the photograph using language. For truth, properly considered, is about the relationship between language and the world, not about photographs and the world."

Source: New York Times

Prank on Damien Hirst

Last month, I wrote a blog entry on British "bad boy" artist Damien Hirst's latest work: a diamond-encrusted skull reportedly worth up to the absurd sum of $10 million.

In response to the skull's exhibition in London, an artist named "Laura" created a replica covered with 6,522 Swarovski crystals and dumped it outside the gallery in the middle of the night on top of a pile of trash.



Sources: boingboing.net and woostercollective.com

New Seven Wonders

The New 7 Wonders of the World were announced on Saturday, July 7, 2007 (07/07/07)

They are:

• Chichén Itzá, Mexico


• Christ Redeemer, Brazil


• The Great Wall, China


• Machu Picchu, Peru


• Petra, Jordan


• The Roman Colloseum, Italy


• The Taj Mahal, India

The seven beat out 14 other nominated landmarks, including Easter Island in the Pacific, the Acropolis, Cambodia's Angkor, Spain's Alhambra, and (most surprising to me) Britain's Stonehenge. About 100 million votes were cast by the Internet and cellphone text messages, said New7Wonders, the non-profit organization that conducted the poll.

The pyramids of Giza (the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world) were assured of retaining their status in addition to the new seven, after indignant Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete.

Time Magazine ran a photo essay on the winning sites.

Source: new7wonders.com and several major media outlets

More on the Role of Art

This past week's death of opera star Beverly Sills has spawned a profusion of "bringing art to the unwashed masses" articles. (This is to be expected, considering that there's an entire generation of journalists that was first introduced to the singer via her appearance on The Muppet Show.)



Which begs the question: Is the role of art to elevate the viewer, or to celebrate him in his everyday splendor?

On Fine Art Photography

Fine art photography is comprised of photographic images that produced or intended primarily for beauty, rather than for utility.

Such prints are reproduced, usually in limited editions, in order to be sold to dealers, collectors or curators (rather than mass-reproduced in advertising and/or magazines). Fine art photography prints will sometimes, but not always, be exhibited in an art gallery.

To learn more about fine art photography, visit my articles archive at www.freewebs.com/lgfindlay/articles.htm.

Photo Shoot: Dylan's 1st Birthday

Here are a few favorite photos, which I shot this afternoon in Hudson, NH:

Nature/Nurture... Again

Last week, the Internet was abuzz about new research which suggested that the oldest child in a family also had the highest IQ. (As an eldest child myself, I did get a certain degree of smug satisfaction out of it, although I did hold back from e-mailing my younger brothers with the "news".)

Today, CNN reports additional findings which conclude that it isn't a matter of being born first, but growing up the senior child, that seems to result in the higher IQ scores. They call it "social rank".

"Social rank" isn't just limited to intelligence however, so let's broaden what its impications might be. For instance, most people can readily state which child in their family was "the writer", the athlete", "the artist": usually the one with the strongest natural gift and/or interest in a particular area.

But what would happen if parents treated ***each*** of their children "as if" he or she had those aptitudes in abundance? (Just as in families where second-born men whose older sibling died were treated as if they were eldest children... and got the corresponding IQ jump.)

I'm guessing that it would be a world where creativity and excellence would flourish...

Art is All Around Us

There have been quite a few interesting photos in the news over the past few days. Here's a Fox News image of satellite dishes in Amsterdam. Check out the folk art on each dish:

The Arrow of Time

Ever feel like shooting your significant other(s)?

Diego Goldberg -- a photographer based in Buenos Aires, Argentina -- has photographed his family on the same day of the year: for more than 30 years!

I first saw Goldberg's work several years ago in Esquire, in an article on how women age. Because all the headshots are identical in size and expression, it's quite easy to see the year-to-year progressions.

Check it out here.

On Contemporary Portraiture

"Portraiture has become increasingly conceptual", says an article in the June 2007 issue of ArtNews, "as it addresses not only personal identity but also issues of politics, social inequity, and our obsession with celebrity."

"In the right context", adds it author, "a famous person can stand for a generation, just as that generation’s view can define the person."

Which begs the question: Is it possible to create a portrait that is NOT a product of the culture in which it's created?

Associations and Analogies

Scientists are very interested in the ways we deny humanity to others, because this common tendency is the source of so much hate and violence in the world.

They claim that when someone insults another by comparing them to something sub-human, they often do it by either comparing the object of their disaffection to an animal or machine.

They add that while both animals and machines are both less than human, they are less than human in very different ways. For example,

• many animals lack traits that are unique to humans, like high intelligence and moral sensibility, wheras
  
• machines lack traits that form the foundation of “human nature”, such as warmth, flexibility, animation.
  

According to an entry in the We're Only Human weblog, psychologists Stephen Loughnan and Nick Haslam of the University of Melbourne ran an experiment to prove their predictions that, when marginalized:

• some people — like children and artists (characterized by "warmth, flexibility, animation")— tend to be associated with animals, whereas
  
• others — such as businessmen (chracterized by their logic skills and analytical acumen)— tend to be associated with machines
  

Their results supported their hypotheses.Consequently, the psychologists concluded that people have two distinct ways of defining humanity to ourselves—and two distinct ways of denying others’ their humanity.

---

It would be interesting if the psychologists did a follow-up study to explore the seeming condradiction that people also make animal/machine comparisions when "elevating" or complimenting another.

For example, some of my closest artist friends have highly-developed business skills and approach their vocation with an eye toward what sells. They balance their need for personal expression with the practicalities of the "real world". Since the stereotype for artists is to be "uninhibited" and "irresponsible", they take pride when someone tells them that they're handling things "like a well-oiled machine."

What's more, one of the highest compliments that a salesman pay another is that someone is going after accounts "like an animal."

So maybe the real result of the original survey is that people tend to make non-human (not necessarily "less than human") analogies, regardless of whether they're praising or debasing someone.

Source: We're Only Human

Taking Group Photos

The Digital Photography School has published a helpful article on taking outstanding group photographs here.

More on Synesthesia

Works of the Russian composer Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov were reportedly influenced by synesthesia, a medical condition wherein a person experiences sensation in one sense (such as sight) in response to stimulus in another (such as hearing).

According to Wikipedia, Rimsky-Korsakov perceived colors associated with major keys as follows:

Note	Color
C	white
D	yellow
E	flat dark bluish-grey
E	sparkling sapphire
F	green
G	rich gold
A	rosy colored

More interesting, each synesthete seems to have his own code, as can be seen by comparing Rimsky-Korsakov's color system with that of Alexander Scriabin, another Russian composer (source: James Wierbicki):

Note	Scriabin	Rimsky-Korsakov
C	red	white
C#	violet	dusky
D	bright yellow	yellow
D#	steel gray	bluish gray
E	bluish white	sapphire blue
F	red	green
F#	bright blue	grayish green
G	orange-rose	brownish gold
G#	purple-violet	grayish violet
A	green	rosy
A#	steel	gray
B	bluish white	dark blue

I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that so many visual artists like to paint, sculpt, shoot, etc. with music playing in the background. Which begs the question: do a higher percentage of artists have synesthesia than the general population?

Development Pornography

There's a "lively discussion" on the blogosphere these days on "development pornography".

You can read the salient points of the ongoing debate on BoingBoing.

Much of the discussion focuses on "undignified images" that are being created and used by relief organizations in order to increase donations. You've doubtlessly seen the images: skeletal toddlers covered with flies and festering, oozing scabs, etc.

(Many of these images are being created by First-World photographers with little knowledge or experience of local customs, but that's a complicated discussion involving "fair trade photography" that deserves its own post...)

When it comes to publishing emotionally manipulative images, how far is too far? One organization criticized an African relief appeal that that showed a naked, emaciated child in her mother's arms... "because it was a stereotype and an Irish child would not be portrayed naked in the same way." Is this a fair comparison?

Viewing the Third-World poor through Western eyes is nothing new. And as a former art director, I understand the value of selecting and using the image that will move the greatest number of people to action. However, there needs to be a certain level of honesty and integrity in the selection process. It's important to do good, to make a difference in the world. However, its equally important to do good ***in the right way***.

But where will you draw the line? What if using a less-"offensive" photo means that vital donations decrease by 40% and hundreds (or thousands... or tens of thousands) of people die as a result? When do the ends justify the means?

Are Artists out of Their Minds?

Ever look at a piece of art (like perhaps Damien Hurst's diamond-crusted skull - see earlier posting) and think "That artist is an absolute whack job!" ? In some cases, maybe he/she really ***is*** living in a different reality than you or me...

Would psychiatric treatment have given some troubled artists even more room to expand their artistic genius? Or would a happier life have stifled their creativity?

That's the tantalizing premise of this article in the Montreal Gazette.

Although it spotlights the complicated and convoluted lives of the well-known composers Schumann and Tchaikovsky, the article's premise could apply equally well to visual artists. My one complaint -- and frankly, it's not a minor one-- is that the discussion later segues into a discussion of sexual identity in music.

Introducing the topic of Schumann and Tchaikovsky's reported homosexuality into a unrelated talk of the composers' psychological ailments -- and meds -- is unwarranted and smacks of homophobia. (Even when purportedly done in conjunction with coverage of a performance spotlighting works of homosexual artists.)

Diamonds are a Pirate's Best Friend

This work by British bad-boy artist Damien Hurst ("a life-size platinum skull encrusted with 8,601 fine diamonds") is estimated to sell for as much as $100 million at auction. Should this happen, it will make the piece the priciest contemporary artwork ever made.

This work is reportedly titled "For The Love of God." According to the New York Times, the title comes from Hirst's mother, who asked her son, “For the love of God, what are you going to do next?”

Source: boingboing.net

Color Me Impressed

Need some inspiration on color choices? Visit the COLOURlovers web site.

This web site, according to its creators is "a resource that monitors and influences color trends. COLOURlovers gives the people who use color - whether for ad campaigns, product design, or even in architectural specification - a place to check out a world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and read color related articles and interviews."

You'll see some amazing hues and color combinations to use in your next project.

It's More Than the Megapixels

Your digital camera's sensor size also affects the quality of the photos you shoot with it. (For a ***really, really*** complicated reason why, click here.)

For those of us who aren't equipment junkies, here's a simpler explanation:

Let's say that you have a small, relatively inexpensive "point-and-shoot" camera that takes the same 6 or 8-megapixel images as my digital SLR. Assuming that we follow the same compositional, shooting, and lighting practices, shouldn't the pictures look quite similar?

Actually, no. And where's why:

Think of a digital sensor element as being equivalent to the size of the negative for film cameras. A 35mm negative is larger than some formats, but it's far smaller than, say, a 4x5 or 8x10 format.

My SLR relies on a physically larger sensor than someone else's "point-and-shoot" camera. That adds up to a higher quality image, and my resulting prints will probably be better than the other person's, ***all other things being equal***.

But it's more than just size. The small sensors used in consumer-level "point-and-shoot" cameras tend to be of a different type than the large sensors used in digital SLRs. (This also affects depth of field, but that's a subject for another posting.)

How Many Snaps Do You Store?

CNet claims that the "average" American household has 994 digital photos, holding about 3 to 4 years worth of images. I don't believe this estimate, for many reasons. Here are just a few:

- Most people weren't regularly using digital cameras 3 or 4 years ago
- People shoot more images with digital cameras than they do with film-based ones
- The majority people don't edit ruthlessly, so they're storing dozens (if not hundreds) of blurry, similar, and/or unflattering snapshots

And anyone who's recently had a new baby in the family? You could shoot that number in less than a week!

Here's to being "above average"...

Taking Better Photos at the Beach

The "Digital Photography School" blog shares tips for taking amazing photos at the beach.

Beaches present [photographers] with a number of wonderful opportunities as they are places of natural beauty, color, and interesting light. However, they also present a variety of challenges (including camera damage, privacy issues, and making large, open spaces interesting).

Read more here: digital-photography-school.com/blog/10-beach-photography-tips/

Objectivism and Art

After chatting about the works of Ayn Rand over brunch recently, I dusted off my copies of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. Skimming through them, I remembered why Objectivism had such a strong resurgence during the "Greed is Good" 1980s: it championed a view of the world where it seemed possible to be good... and rich... and unapologetically narcissistic... all at the same time.

What I had forgotten was Rand's philosophy about art [e.g., "aesthetics"] as a "selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value judgments". I find this curious: although I believe strongly in a "meta-reality" (an objective reality outside the "real world" that is based on absolute "truth"), I'm not sure whether most of us can (or should) rise above our everyday lives to see things as they "really" are.

If anything, the role of the artist is not to transcend the "world of illusion", but to roll around in it like a satin sheet. I do agree with Rand's concept of the communicative value of art, but I sense (wouldn't she hate that word?) we wouldn't see eye-to-eye on what art is.

I believe strongly that art is the ***process*** itself, not the artifact (drawing, painting, photo, sculpure, etc.) that results from being "artistic". Not surprisingly, Rand seems to considers the art object as being of paramount value (as she states that it expresses in concrete form, what is essentially an abstraction.)

And does there really have to be a serious, deeper meaning and purpose to art: i.e., expressing "a more universal truth"? Art can be playful, naive, hopeful, dishonest, unoriginal, and irrelevant. And it is often "intuitive" (another Randian no-no term.)

And in the end, bearing the yoke of being a "beacon of objective truth" can get a tad heavy. After all, sometimes, a gal just want to take a silly snapshot....

Shopping for Ideas

Yesterday, I visited the IKEA store in Stoughton, Masschusetts. (Last year, I'd visited the one in Elizabeth, New Jersey and was curious to see how regionally divergent the inventory was.)

I'm still befuddled by the faux knotty wood kitchen cabinets offered in the Massachusetts store (which seemed incongrous with the chain's trademark sleek pseudo-Scandinavian design.)

But for budget style, the place can't be beat (except maybe by the equally ubiquitous Target.) The color selections were interesting (e.g., matching a deep teal with chocolate brown; and orange with avacado), although the manufacturing quality was all over the place.

But don't be surprised if you see some of the photos I shoot over the next few months adopting the palettes I saw there.

New Photos from Andres Institute

The Andres Institute of Art --a 140-acre sculpture park located in Brookline, NH --is home to a collection of more than 50 works by mostly international artists.

Its grounds include woods, meadows, old quarry pits, and miles of walking trails. Hand-painted signs lead the way to sculptures which are scattered among the trails. Even better, visitors are encouraged to touch the sculptures.

I was fortunate to visit the Institute for the first time yesterday. Selected photos from the day trip can be found here (www.flickr.com/photos/lgfindlay/sets/72157600280402206/)
and below:







You can learn more about the Institute at www.andresinstitute.org/about_institute.htm.

More Advice from the Trenches

For those of you who are Jonesing for a decent "how-to" article, here's a well-written guide on How to Photograph Silhouettes in 8 Easy Steps".

(However, please don't misuse The Force to shoot silhouettes of couples walking on a tropical beach at sunset.... and then try to enter them into a photography contest....)

Advice from the Trenches

Photocritic shares his recent jurying experience in "How to Win a Photography Contest." Someone looking for "the secret combination" on which photo to submit in a particular competition may be disppointed, because the advice is pretty basic to every picture you'll ever take: create interesting compositions, be technically proficient, work at developing your own vision, tell a story, etc.

However, the blog entry includes several noteworthy photos; my favorite was the black-and-white image of the lovers. (Do enlarge it, as the author suggests... just not at the office.)

And I agreed with Haje Kamp when he wrote:

"A snapper that is technically perfect but lacks vision will never be a great photographer. You can imitate, but not learn true photographic vision. On the other hand, having a great vision of what makes a good photo is not an excuse not to acquire the technical skills you need to express your ideas."

You'll see that I added a link to the Photocritic web site to the right-hand nav. bar of this site, as I recommend it highly.

Slow Afternoon at the Office

meez.com allows users to creat avatars that can be used for 3-D online IDs. Depending on which options you choose, it can be absolutely free!

Here I am:

Photography Meetup Groups

I recently joined a few photo-related Meetup groups. Meetup.com is a web site that connects and introduces people who are interested in the same topic. Users can sign up for any of a number of local and area groups devoted to their areas of interest. The photo groups to which I belong are great about programming outings to photogenic sites. (For example, the Portsmouth photos which I posted within the past few weeks were taken on a day trip with the NH Photo Expeditions Meetup Group.)

Usually photos are reviewed by your peers over dinner or drinks that same day, before any cropping or Photoshopping. This can be intimidating at first, but ultimately, it improves your skills (if only by ***shaming*** you to get the best possible image right out of the camera).

It's too early to tell whether being asked to share pre-optimized images will stifle my creativity in any way; in fact, I suspect that just the opposite will be true. It's simply human nature to be competitive and want to be the "Alpha Photographer." And by keeping an open mind to critiques -- and seeing the world through someone else's eyes for a change -- I think I'll become a better shooter.

Art and Politics

Sometimes, the international press does a better job at summarizing U.S. politics than does our own media.

Here's a quote from the UK publication The Guardian. Although it discusses Britain's politics and art scene, it could be uqually applicable on this side of the pond, too:

Art can never do the messy business of politics - the negotiation and compromise. But politicians are now grappling with a new politics about how to change the way people behave in their private lives: how they eat, travel, shop, exercise, drink. And art can open minds and change hearts in a way that our politics is singularly failing to do.

Art is not about the simple certainties of political soundbites. It engages emotionally, prompting a self-questioning. There is no predetermined answer.

Source: "Artists are now taking the lead policiticans have failed to give" (The Guardian; 21 May, 2007)

Sometimes It's Better to Leave the Camera at Home

My daughter was married on May 12, 2007 -- (congrats Amanda and Nick!) -- and I left the photography to the hired pros. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting a few snapshots taken by family and friends.

Does Culture Sculpt the Brain?

Can culture shape the way our brains process visual information? Perhaps, according to a recent New Scientist article.

Volunteers saw series of images, with some differing in the foreground and others in the background images.

Researchers found that the brains of older East Asian people respond less strongly to changes in the foreground of images than those of their Western counterparts. They suggest this difference is due to an increased emphasis on the background, or context, of images in some Asian cultures.

Perhaps that's why souvenirs look so much better in the store than when we bring them home from our travels....

Being Creative is All in Your Mind

9 Attitudes of Highly Creative People seems to be a wish list for most of us, but it's nevertheless an entertaining read.

New Photos of Portsmouth, NH

Here's a few photos I took yesterday during a trip to Portsmouth with the NH Photo Expeditions Meetup Group:









You can see all 25 images at my Flickr site, under the "0507portmouth" set.

On Computational Photography

Computational photography transforms the act of capturing a image via curved lenses, "virtual lenses", "smart flashes", etc. It has been called "the biggest step in photography since the move away from film" and has its roots in robotics, astronomy, and animation technology.

What's so tempting about the medium is that it can allow the lighting in the room, the position of the camera, the point of focus --and even the expressions on people's faces -- to be chosen after the picture was taken. Of course, some of this can be done quite aptly with existing technology, such as Photoshop. But computational photography pushes the envelope on what photography can -- and should -- do.

Obviously, all this manipulative power raises some serious questions about authenticity. Some may argue that photographic images -- whether film-based or digital -- have always departed from reality to some degree. And others say that the goal of computational photography isn't to depart from reality, but to create a closer facsimile of it. Should computational photography be allowed when doing documentary work? Should it be admissable in court?


Source: www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070407/bob8.asp

Are Women Underrepresented in Galleries?

The Independent reports that trustees of London's Tate Modern have admitted that the gallery's collection fails to give adequate recognition to female artists and that they need to rectify the gender gap.

Of the 2,914 artists currently represented in the Tate's collection, only 348 - less than 12 per cent - are women. What's more,they say, only two of the 39 major works bought over the past two years were by female artists.

Those who have been overlooked so far include well-known painters Georgia O'Keeffe and Frida Kahlo. Of the better-represented artists, the one most familiar to American audiences might be photographer Cindy Sherman.

The Tate claims that its drive to purchase more works by women is not part of a positive discrimination policy, but rather a correction of past oversights.

Feminist Art?

The New York Times recently reviewed an article on a show about "Feminist Art" that is currently on display at the Brooklyn Museum.

I was born as part of a generation that came to maturity after the women who've fought hard for the equality of the sexes. So I honestly don't always have the proper appreciation for their efforts. Being born into a family who raised me to believe that there was nothing I couldn't accomplish, I couldn't comprehend at the time that the rest of the world wasn't the same way. So it shouldn't be much of a surprise that "feminist art" never made as much as a blip onto my radar, either.

In covering the show, the Times article explored "the false idea is that there really is such a thing as feminist art, as opposed to art that intentionally or by osmosis reflects or is influenced by feminist thought." Study some of the exhibit's works closely enough, says the paper, "and your bra (if you’re wearing one) may spontaneously combust".

The show is reportedly heavy in photography and video, curious since some of the strongest women I know paint, draw, and sculpt. Perhaps it's the ability of photography and video to present societal issues like this in all their pretentious ugliness -- and make them look so "real" -- that makes them ideal media for messages of this type.

The reviewer, Roberta Smith, notes that many of the artists "fall back on making art from the thing nearest at hand that separates them from men: their bodies." She wisely notes that " feminism is not of itself an aesthetic value. It is an idea that can assume an organic force in some artists’ work, but others just pay it lip service without much exertion or passion."

Well, I'd like to continue this discussion, but I really need to go iron my apron and bake some cookies...

Art and Intention

The O'Reilly Emerging Tech conference is one of the premier events in the high-tech industry and showcases some of its most illustrious thought-leaders. So what does this have to do with fine art photography? Read on.....(No, this posting ***isn't*** going to reverse-engineer a digital camera.)

The conference's keynote speech was build on the premise that most people treat "techies" as the people who understand technology best. But it speculated that perhaps "the naifs" -- kids, disenfranchised people, techno have-nots -- are actually those who have the best insight into how technology should work.

Put this way, it's easy to see how this translates into the art world.

Most people treat professional artists, gallery owners, educators, and critics as those who understand "art" best. But who hasn't seen the sheer delight in the face of a toddler finger-painting? Who ***really*** has the purest vision: the painter trying to sell a certain numebr of work each month? Or the child running up with his newest drawing, saying "Look what I made just for you!!!" ?

Some Women Really Do See the World Differently...

Last fall, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a story on tetrachromats, people who can see four distinct ranges of color (instead of the three with which most of us live.) At this point, it is believed that only women have the potential for super color vision.

Each of the three standard color-detecting cones in the retina -- blue, green and red -- can pick up about 100 different gradations of color. But the brain can combine those variations exponentially, so that the average person can distinguish about one million different hues.

A true tetrachromat has another type of cone in between the red and green -- somewhere in the orange range -- and its 100 shades theoretically would allow her to see 100 million different colors. But because most people's eyes aren't capable of seeing the world the way a true four-color viewer perceives it, there's little way of knowing how many advantages that might give to the tetrachromats.

Scientists estimate that 2 percent to 3 percent of the world's women may have the kind of fourth cone that lies smack between the standard red and green cones, which could give them a colossal range. This means there could be 99 million women in the world with true four-color vision.

Why only women? The genes for the pigments in green and red cones lie on the X chromosome, and only women have two X chromosomes, creating the opportunity for one type of red cone to be activated on one X chromosome and the other type of red cone on the other one. (In a few cases, women may have two distinct green cones on either X chromosome.)

However, it's unlikely that all of the women with four types of color cones will have the potential for superior color vision. This is because for many women, their two red cones will be so close to each other in the wavelengths they detect that they won't see things much differently than a typical three-color person does.

But before they pat themselves on the back for their superior evolution, says the newspaper, it's important to note that humans are just getting back to where birds, amphibians, and reptiles have been for eons.

Even so, it's fascinating to think how many women artists might be tetrachromats.

The Opposite of.....

A late-night thought:

Is the opposite of an artist:

- someone who creates "not art", or
- someone who doesn't create anything at all?

I'm interested in your thoughts, as long as your answer isn't "Someone who ruminates in her blog isntead of creating art." :-)

On Women in Art

ArtNet ran an interesting article on why there are so few women represented in today's art scene... and why no one seems to find that unusual. Since women are reportedly more likely to be right-brained and creative, this anomaly makes little sense to me.

I belong to several arts organizations and the sizable percentage of members in each group is female. (Of course, this might mean only that women are more likely to join art associations than are men, who may prefer to "go it alone.")

My hunch is that no matter how many women are creating art these days, men may be:

• more aggressive about promoting their work
  
• more forthright about anouncing thier "vision", and
  
• more proactive about handling the business aspects of being an artist.
  

Read the article here: www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/davis/davis3-12-07.asp. (It's written by a man, if you care about that kind of thing.)

On Artistic Arrogance

I couldn't resist posting this gem from Mark Ravenhill of The Guardian (K):

"The very act of writing a novel or painting or performing your song needs arrogance - an arrogance that says: 'I have a unique insight and I have the talent to give that insight a form and the confidence to ask you to come and have a look at what I'm doing.' That is an arrogance that puts us somewhere up there with the gods."

which he follows with, only a few paragraphs later:

"The truth is that this arrogance is only a fleeting moment. It's the fuel to get the unsteady craft off the ground. Pretty soon, the doubt sets in."

Near the end of the article, where he talks about stifling the urge to rework everything he's ever written, he adds:

"But it's better to move on and create more imperfect work than to go over the same ground seeking for impossible perfection."

I don't totally agree with this last statement, but it certainly captures the need to keep moving forward and creating new work, rather than revisiting the past.

Show Post-Mortem

Last week, I took down the library show and returned many of the included works to their usual spots on my walls. It made me realize how much I take for granted being surrounded by artworks on a day-to-day basis.

My daughter moved into her latest apartment nearly a year ago, and there's nary a wall print to be found there so far. (There are a few of my photos leaning against the wall, a fact which I'm trying not to take personally: after all, they could be stashed in the closet or under her bed.)

How has YOUR life been transformed by art? Leave a comment here:

Photo as Art, Revisited

I've been trolling the Internet recently for some current thought on whether photography is an art or craft (or perhaps neither, in the wrong hands.) Here's a quote that got me thinking:

"If we use a camera as a recording device (such as in medicine or forensics), it's [just] a tool and photography is a craft. But when we use that camera to express ourselves and to transform a mental image to a physical one, then it's an art."

Not quite sure what the author would have to say about Marcel Duchamp's "sculptures" ("Sometimes a toilet is just a toilet", perhaps?) And I've seen some beautifully rendered representational photos that would certainly qualify as art.

And how would the author consider photorealistic painting, life studies, portraits, etc? Yes, the creators of these works also record what they see before them (often trying to do so as faithfully as possible.) But is it harder to make the art/craft distinction because they are using pencils or paintbrushes instead of lens-based media?

How good are ***you*** at recognizing photos?

Cognitive Daily ran an experiment to find out how good people were at recognizing famous faces and other things in extremely low-resolution photos.

The results were rather impressive, even with only a few sparse pixels' worth of information. Researches found that people can recognize faces using just 12 × 14 pixels' worth of information. So they decide to go back and see if that number could be further reduced.

So how'd they do? Find out here: scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2007/03/casual_fridays_we_can_identify.php

Why the Camera Adds 10 Pounds

We've all heard the phrase "Cameras don't lie." So then why do people often look heavier in photos than in real life?

The short answer is a combination of bad lighting, odd angles, and the focal length of the lens being used. To learn more, read this article from Slate: www.slate.com/id/2160377/?GT1=9129

Dianne Levine Opening This Coming Weekend

My friend Dianne Levine will be having a reception for "INSIDE OUTSIDE"
at the Jefferson Cutter House, 1 Whittemore Park, Arlington MA this coming Saturday from 3-6PM. Not only is she an exceptionally talented artist, but also a gracious and interesting woman. It's definitely worth the drive.

If you're unable to attend the show, I highly encourage you to visit her web site at
http://www.dlevineartist.com

NHSPA Show Closes Today

I drove out to downtown Exeter today to pick up my two pieces from the NH Society of Photographic Artists show. While waiting for the show to close at 4, I poked around some of the local shops. (There's a fine crafts gallery that alone is worth the ride out there, even in the blistering cold.)

After that, I came back and worked on some more roses photos. (Which is getting tougher now that they're starting to fade.) Here's my favorite shot, which I can't wait to enlarge:

Everything's Coming Up Roses

My daughter sent me some roses yesterday to celebrate my acceptance into law school.

I've been playing around photographing them in a darkened room, lit only by flashlight. (yes, we photographers can't merely enjoy flowers: we must also ***document*** them.)

Here's my favorite shot, cropped two different ways:





My favorite part of both photos is the membrane-like top petal right at the "center of the center" of the bloom.

Just a Random Thought....

A recent article in the San Francisco Examiner stated that of the estimated 7,600 languages known in the world today, half are endangered and could be lost forever within a few decades.

If/when that happens, surely something else must take its place. And especially for a generation that is "thinking global" more than any of its predecessors ever did, what will this mean for the place of visual arts as a communicative tool?

Library Closed Due to Nor'Easter

But you'll still have 12 other (hopefully) snow-free days to see my show at the Nashua Public Library, ending Tuesday, February 27, 2007.

Is Your Art Collection Worth More than $600,000?

The San Francisco Examiner recently reported on a California woman who decided to sell the painting over her piano.

"All the seller had hoped for was a couple thousand dollars to help pay for her daughter's tuition at UC Berkeley," says the paper.

But "on Super Bowl Sunday, someone gambled more than half a million dollars at an Oakland auction that the painting is the lost work of a 17th-century Italian master."

The painting is untitled and unsigned. No one knows for a fact who painted it or when. But it appears to be the work of a 17th-century Italian artist named Pier Francesco Mola. It was sold to an unnamed art dealer in the New York area.

You can read the entire story here.

Here's to hoping that fien art photographs will be so avidly sought in the future...

NPL Featured Artist - George Eross

This posting completes the series on my guest artists at the Nashua Public Library show, running through Feb. 27.

Currently a Nashua resident, George Eross was born in Budapest, Hungary, came to the US at the age of 8, and grew up in Pittsburgh, PA.

A self-taught painter, he recently studied welding and metal sculpting with John Weidman at the Andres Art Institute in Brookline, New Hampshire. George works primarily in oil, concentrating on portraits and landscapes. He also sculpts in metal and creates intricate wire frame drawings.

George has two pieces in the library show:

• a metal sculpture with great tonality (so make sure to "ping" it when you go --- it's allowed), and
  
  
  
  
• a wire-frame mandala (which I didn't realize he was bringing and which complements my photo mandalas nicely)
  
  
  

Is Art Anything That Someone Says It Is?

You be the judge:

MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA) will be hosting a project called "Of All the People In All the World" from Feb 10 -25, 2007.

The venue will be shipping in 16 tons of rice -- that's 875,000,000 grains, or approximately one grain for each person in the Americas.

Mass MoCA says that the rice will be "sorted into piles representing a range of human statistics." It promises that a pile representing the number of people living in gated communities will be placed side-by-side with a pile representing all the people in prison – and adds that "they’re almost the same size."

A team of performers will sort and re-sort the rice into different piles (to represent different statistics) during the installation. They will talk with visitors touring the installation.

So is it "art" or just a super-sized geography project? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this...

NPL Featured Artist - Amethyst Wyldfyre

I first met Amethyst a few years ago at her Nashua gallery, also named Amethyst Wyldfyre. The shop was filled to the brim with books, CDs, jewelry, and original artwork. It once would have been called "New Age", but today, it supplied all the necessities for awakening and leading an enlightened life.



Since then, her store has carried my wall prints and note cards. And over that time, Amethyst has provided advice and insight into my intertwined artistic and personal lives. Each time I entered her store, I was met with a wide smile, a generous hug, and a genuine inquiry as to how things were going for me. One of Amethyst's many gifts is her ability to turn a retail establishment into a welcoming santuary.

Unfortunately for the community, her "bricks and mortar" store is closing, but Amethyst will continue to provide her artwork through a new Web site.

In addition to the work at this show, Amethyst is also the featured artist at Gallery One (Nashua Art Association's art gallery) in Nashua through the end of February. There will be an artist's reception for Amethyst at the gallery this coming Saturday afternoon,(Feb. 10), and I encourage you to visit and see her newest paintings.

NHSPA Show Gallery Posted

I just starting posting photos to the 2007 NH Society of Photographic Artists Members Show gallery. Check them out here. (Additional images will be added on an ongoing basis.)

Boston Globe Delivers

A writer for the Boston Globe called me today to obtain a photo (of the photographer)that will be running next week on Boston.com to promote the library show.

I did NOT send her the M&M picture below. :-)

NPL Featured Artist -Colette Guimond

If that name sounds familiar, it should: she's not only a phenomenally talented artist, she also happens to be my mother.

She was my first art teacher: in fact, one of my earliest memories is of sprawling on the floor, coloring... while she sat at our kitchen table creating a drawing in colored charcoal pencils.

She's the proud owner of my earliest artworks: most posted at one time or another to the Refrigerator Gallery. (In fact, I had to wrestle away an absolutely "butt-ugly" painting I made in college from her when she and my dad moved last fall.)

She's the one who taught me the value and beauty of being surrounded by art... and she's the one who didn't have a meltdown when I announced that I wanted to study art in college. (My degree's in English, but I concentrated in visual arts.)

What's more, she's the one who made me understand that I can do anything I want to in life.

In short, she's quite the masterpiece herself.

Media Mention in Today's Telegraph

Kind words from Teresa Santoski at the Nashua Telegraph on the ongoing library show:

Let the images transport you past seasons, past time, into the artist’s vision, where with a click of the shutter, one person’s mundanity becomes another person’s mystery and details become works of art in their own right.

Ice Storm photos

These are the types of photos I love shooting:

NHSPA Dropoff

Yesterday, I drove out to Exeter to drop off two photos for the NH Society of Photographic Artists (NHSPA)Annual Members Show. I was very excited to see the quality of submissions for this non-juried show. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, Jan. 20 from 1-4 at the Exeter Town Hall, 2nd Floor. Hope to see you there!

NPL Featured Artist - Keith Spiro

I first met Keith at Chimera Gallery (Nashua, NH) a few years ago during part of its provocatively-titled show "The Art of Sex". As a brand-new photographer, I'd submitted extremely tame pictures that I thought were over the top at the time: black leather masks, red lace thongs with a cherry on top, etc.

Keith encouraged me to join a group called the NH Society of Photographic Artists. Several meetings later, I'm now their webmaster. (Or "web dominitrix" if you'd prefer to continue the analogy of the Chimera show.)

Like me, Keith has a sales and marketing background, so he's a wonderful resource for any questions I may have on promoting and pricing my work. He's also been the driving force behind a series of critique sessions, where he and I and other artists provide feedback on each other's works.


Here's how one of his photos looks on the library wall:

NPL Show Publicity

I've been overwhelmed by the generosity of the local press in covering my show at the Nashua Public Library. Last week, the NAshua Telegraph's "Encore" section prominently featured this photo, entitled "The Offerings: Earth":

The Union Leader reportedly ran something in its Thursday entertainment section last week, but I didn't have a chance to see it.

My eagle-eyed guest photographer Keith Spiro also e-mailed me this AM to let me know that the "Offerings: Earth" image was featured in this week's issue of the Hippo.

And keep an eye for a feature article running this Sunday in the Sunday Telegraph by Tom Mungovan, himself a very talented artist.

A Staggering Statistic

This article by Photographyblog.com quotes a research firm that predicts that there will be ***130 million*** digital cameras by 2010!

More incredibly, that won't be the total number in existence.. instead, that's the number that will ship that year alone!

Classifying Photography

I find it interesting that photography seems to be the only art medium where one is more concerned with the tools with thich the image was created (i.e, digital camera vs. film-based one, etc.)that which category the image falls (landscpae, portrait, etc.)

Therefore, it's refrshing that a number of art books covering photography are using the traditional genres to describe the works. These categories include portait, landscape, narrative, object, fashion, documentary, city, etc.

"Documentary" has been the hardest genre for me to understand. On one hand, it looks very much like the commercial genre photojournalism, in that it attempts to document "real life". (Albeit a "real life" that leans toward the shocking or heartwretching.) On the other hand, many of these scenes are set up with a care usually seen only in theatrical productions. The fact that "real people" (as opposed to professional models) are used in these images doesn't diminish their inability to effectively capture and record a moment of actual life as it happens.

Of course, there are those who will argue that the staged images were inspired by real life and capture a reality that does exist elsewhere. I'd argue that they go take a look at a Salgado exhibit and learn how a pure, communicative vision can be portrayed just by recording actual events. His work define what true "documentary" work should be.

Even street photography -- an activity which can undertaken by anyone dumb/brave enough to hang out some really seedy areas with a very expensive camera -- is a more honest art form.

Now let's say that the creator of a staged "documentary" image makes absolutely no attempt to represent the image as anything other than what is really is-- an act of artifice. Does it then qualify as art? And does the fact that an image is staged disqualify it as art? I think anyone reading my earlier post on the ParkeHarrisons already knows my answer to that one.

Other People's Art

Below is a snapshot taken at Elizabeth's Art Gallery in Nashua, NH. I attended an art opening there yesterday, for my mother's two person show. She's the lovely woman on the right; on the left is her friend Pat (the other artist in the show) and in the middle is gallery owner Elizabeth Biga.




Images like this can be hard to set up, because of the height differences. As the gallery owner, Elizabeth deserved the spot in the middle, leaving an unfortunate "staircase" effect no matter how the picture was composed. And because it's only a snapshot, I didn't pay much attention to the reflections: it was more important to me simply to capture a moment.

NPL Featured Artist - F Ellis Merrill

I first met Ellis at the Wednesday Breakfast Group, a gathering of artists who meet once a week at the Nashua Borders bookstore. After the meetings, we'd sometimes go for "cheap eats" at the nearby Papa Gino's. There, we'd talk a lot about the business of art. As a newbie, I had much to learn from Ellis, who has spent made his career in photography.

Since I went back to work fill-time, I haven't had the chance to spend time with the Breakfast Group. Luckily, Ellis also attends meetings of the Nashua Area Artists' Association, so I get to see him there.

Below is a snapshot of the wall where his photo is hung at the library show. It's the image on the far left. Trust me: it's worth the trip to go see it in person.

More Show Images

More to come next time...

NPL - Entrance to the Show

This image is called "Mermaid Dancing in a Sea of Fire" and was featured this past fall at Amethyst Wyldfyre during Firefest.

More on the NPL Show

Many non-artists believe that once an art exhibit is hung, that the work is all done. Not true! Over the next few days, I'll be building the show binder, putting out a guest book, interviewing with local press, submitting press releases, tying up any loose ends, etc.

Trying to keep the excitement building over the next few months is challenging. The first few weeks are especially important, as newspapers don't like to cover shows that have already been up for a month or more.

Due to other commitments, I won't be holding an opening reception. I am flirting around with the idea of a "virtual reception" where attendees can sign a guest book, view an online verison of the show, etc. (The food won't be as good, though... ;-) )

Hanging the NPL Show

Tonight, I hung work for my Nashua Public Library show, which will be running though the end of February. The show features 29 pieces of my photos and photo-based artwork. The waiting list to have a show there is very long: I signed up in early 2004!

Special guest artists joining me are Colette Guimond, George Eross, Ellis Merrill, Keith Spiro, and Amethyst Wyldfyre, all from New Hampshire.

There's no way I could have got this show hung in the alloted time without the help of my dear friend George Eross. His ongoing good nature as I stressed and griped about assorted "nothings" kept me sane throughout the evening. George also happens to be a very talented artist who has two pieces in the show: a metal sculpture and a copper wire and wood multimedia wallpiece. Both artworks are exceptional and I highly encourage you to attend the show and see them in person.

Towards the end, we were joined by my photo buddy Keith Spiro, who stayed around and helped us complete the installation just as the library closed for the evening. Keith is a well-known area photographer who showcases his work at(and is on the board of directors, I believe, for) Nashua's Chimera Gallery. I'm pleased to have his work in the show as well.

Each week, starting next Monday, I'll focus on one of the guest artists in the show and tell you how their work inspires me and has influenced my own work. I'll also share images from the show in future posts.

Photo of the Month

"Exterior II/Star Island" (2006)

Limited edition of 25; image size 12x8", matted and framed to 20x16".

Retail price: $125.

Acquire this and similar images directly from the photographer or at any of the galleries that represent her.

Other sizes also available; ask for details.

Optical Unconscious

In 1936, a German art critic wrote an groundbreaking essay entitled "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction". In discussing the work of Surrealist photographers and their forebears, he talks about the "optical unconscious" and the ability of photography to open up spaces that previously existed only in dreams - things that had never been consciously seen, let along reproduced.

Perhaps earlier than most, the author appears to recognize photography's rightful place among other fine art media. For art - no matter what tools and techniques are used to create it - rises above the world as we see it... and shows the world as the artist sees it.

Happy New Year!

Just a heartfelt wish that 2007 brings you much hope, love, laughter.