What is "Fine Art"?

[Arthurwg]

I would think it was meaningless.

 

[MattKing]

Here's a tip: when you cut your mat, have the bottom margin be larger than the top and side margins. That's helps me when I am showing abstract photos because sometimes I forget which way they go.

I put an arrow on the back of the backing, pointing up .
In the case of that print, my friends actually re-matted and re-framed a bunch of the photographs they had, including a few of mine.
I'm fine with that.

 

[KerrKid]

I’ve never written an artist statement in my life and wasn’t required to. For the life of me, I couldn’t think of a more expedient way to bore someone with my thoughts.

I have always done art - ceramics, sculpture, print-making, drawing, painting, and photography simply for the pleasure of doing so and possibly for want of some reason to exist loftier than just to eat, defecate, and have sex on my birthday.

That said, I have deliberately designed symbols that mean a whole heck of a lot. My Mokarano and IWNGQ symbols are examples of that. I think they would qualify as art, but hardly “fine” art.

 

[Vaughn]

Ah, but words are the art of thought.

 

[KerrKid]

Ah, but words are the art of thought.

Are there words that are the fine art of thought?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Certainly, “viewer completion” is an important part of many works.

Regarding the orientation for display, I had one of my photographs displayed in our school gallery a few years ago. It was from a series I did photographing shadows on concrete. I had installed the piece myself and due to some maintenance being done, it was removed and then reinstalled, up side down. When I saw it, even though I’d selected the original orientation with much intentionality, I actually liked it better.

When I shot this photo about 35 years ago, I thought it looked better and had more meaning upside down. So that's the way I've oriented it ever since also giving it a catchy title. Maybe one of our MFAs could give the required meaning analysis about it or me.


Mystical Horse in Storm by Alan Klein, on Flickr

 

[Arthurwg]

Are there words that are the fine art of thought?

We usually call them poetry.

 

[Down Under]

Ye gods, not another one.

We haven't even been able to work out what is 'Truth In Photography' yet, but we are off on yet another philosophical quest - much like trying to count the pixels on the head of a pin.

Looking forward to answers to all three...

 

[Arthurwg]

BTW, the so-called Artist Statement in grad school is very much for the artist as it might be for the viewer. Forming the statement helps the artist understand what he or she is doing, and it helps during the critique process. It's not usually shown to a gallery viewer.

 

[Sirius Glass]

BTW, the so-called Artist Statement in grad school is very much for the artist as it might be for the viewer. Forming the statement helps the artist understand what he or she is doing, and it helps during the critique process. It's not usually shown to a gallery viewer.

I must be missing something. When it comes to photography, but not limited to photography, I know what I am doing and what I intend to do without sitting down and drafting a statement. So what exactly am I missing?

Sometimes a photograph does not capture what I wanted to, but then writing an essay about it either before or after will not change anything. Thinking about how to rephotograph the subject is much more effective. So what exactly am I missing?

 

[bluechromis]

I agree that the term is confusing. I think that Ansel Adams thought his black and white work was fine art. I think the distinction was between fine art photography and commercial and applied work back then.

In some camera groups I belong to, the members make a dichotomy between "straight photography" which is more realistic and fine art photography which is not so realistic and may have a lot of manipulation, montages, fantasy, etc. They would say that Ansel Adams did straight photography whereas the late Jerry Uelsmann did fine art work. When members describe their work in those terms the other members nod like everyone understands and agrees with those definitions. For example, a member said, "With this image, I wanted to show I could still do straight photography and not just fine art work."

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

BTW, the so-called Artist Statement in grad school is very much for the artist as it might be for the viewer. Forming the statement helps the artist understand what he or she is doing, and it helps during the critique process. It's not usually shown to a gallery viewer.

Arthur: Is that so the artist has an answer for a patron who may ask him questions about what his photo means and what it says? I can't imagine an artist responding, "Ah. What it means? Ah... What it says? Ah..."

No sale.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I must be missing something. When it comes to photography, but not limited to photography, I know what I am doing and what I intend to do without sitting down and drafting a statement. So what exactly am I missing?

Sometimes a photograph does not capture what I wanted to, but then writing an essay about it either before or after will not change anything. Thinking about how to rephotograph the subject is much more effective. So what exactly am I missing?

Well, I would offer you less money if you couldn't give me a Freudian description of your own work. Get with it, man.

 

[jnamia]

Arthur: Is that so the artist has an answer for a patron who may ask him questions about what his photo means and what it says? I can't imagine an artist responding, "Ah. What it means? Ah... What it says? Ah..."

No sale.

have you ever gone to a gallery opening and talked to a photographer or the gallerists who represents them? the statement is a jumping off point / 30 second elevator pitch to talk about what the images are about and why they were made. if you had a series of 20 of your best images that were part of a series would you be able to write a paragraph about what the images are, and why you took them, other than "I'm interested in this stuff so I took these photographs". that's the point of an artist statement.. might sound pretentious to some but for others it's the reason why and gives insights.

 

[Vaughn]

Are there words that are the fine art of thought?

No...there is no need to separate the two on the brain level...the art of thought is always fine to me. But the art of the word? Is there a difference between the famous haiku about the jumping of a frog, and a sales jiggle on the telly that catches your ear? Is one 'fine', the other commercial?

All in fun, fun with meaningless words. I am off on the road! I'm giving a workshop in Yosemite this week, going to play with making Jello prints...it's a tough life, but ya gotta love it!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Well, I would offer you less money if you couldn't give me a Freudian description of your own work. Get with it, man.

I do something that others might not bother to do: I talk to the people who buy my photographs. First we talk for a while, before we even start to look at the photographs together. Once they tell me what they are looking for, I show them appropriate photographs. Then we discuss the size, matting and framing. I do not need the income so I do not care whether or not my photographs sell.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I must be missing something. When it comes to photography, but not limited to photography, I know what I am doing and what I intend to do without sitting down and drafting a statement. So what exactly am I missing?

Sometimes a photograph does not capture what I wanted to, but then writing an essay about it either before or after will not change anything. Thinking about how to rephotograph the subject is much more effective. So what exactly am I missing?

But you're certainly not doing art. And while you may think you know what you are doing, if you care about it, it helps to formalize in writing that understanding of what you are trying to accomplish. It's called self-analysis. Being able to articulate clearly what your photography is about is very helpful to being able to show and sell it to others - had I not come up with a clear, concise artist statement about my historical slavery in the modern landscape project, A: I might well have wandered around taking photos that were not useful in moving the project forward, and B: I would not have been able to explain the project to a gallery owner who gave me a solo show based on that body of work. If I couldn't talk about the project, I never would have gotten the appointment to show the work to the gallery owner.

 

[MattKing]

There seems to be some confusion about when one prepares an Artist’s Statement.
You almost never prepare one in relation to a single photograph. It is usually prepared in relation to a photographic project or a collection of work put together for a photographic purpose.
It is used for the following purposes:
1) when prepared before the photographs are taken, it helps direct and organize and focus the body of work that makes up the project. It is not unusual for the Statement to evolve as the project proceeds;
2) when the project is at or near completion, the Artist’s Statement is a critical component in that which is necessary to convince gallerists and curators to provide you a space to show your work to potential viewers;
3) the Artist’s Statement can be used to promote the show of your work to those who might wish to come see it; and
4) once people arrive to see your work, the Artist’s Statement can help people understand and appreciate your work and, more importantly, what additional significance it might have as compared to another pretty picture on the wall.

 

[Renato Tonelli]

Apparently, it's not 'Fine Art' unless there is an Artist's Statement and a Certificate of Authenticity to go along with your images; I find it a bit annoying, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I currently have three photographs in a group exhibit; the gallery required an "Artist's Statement". From what I gathered, it is the shortest they've seen but they were OK with it.

 

[VinceInMT]

There seems to be some confusion about when one prepares an Artist’s Statement.
You almost never prepare one in relation to a single photograph. It is usually prepared in relation to a photographic project or a collection of work put together for a photographic purpose.

I was just about to write the same thing. It describes the project which is usually a series of individual works that are on some common theme.

I just had my senior show and I provided an “exhibition statement” that put the work in a context that many viewers might not pick up. It allowed me to explain the personal nature of the work and what inspired it.

BTW, it was all abstract done by drawing, painting, mosaic, with one tradition photograph and a couple drawings with embedded cyanotypes. Without the statement someone might say “What’s with all the circles?”

In fact, during my oral defense, one of the faculty said that since the circle represents the female and the square represented the male, she saw two of my works, concentric circles in a square frame, as some kind of male domination of women. I told her that my work is primarily about form and I am influenced by the early Modernists who saw the circle as the perfect form and I certainly didn’t see it that way nor was that my intention. She wasn’t convinced that I wasn’t up to something. Sigh…….That’s OK, I am still graduating Cum Laude.

 

[Craig75]

But you're certainly not doing art. And while you may think you know what you are doing, if you care about it, it helps to formalize in writing that understanding of what you are trying to accomplish. It's called self-analysis. Being able to articulate clearly what your photography is about is very helpful to being able to show and sell it to others - had I not come up with a clear, concise artist statement about my historical slavery in the modern landscape project, A: I might well have wandered around taking photos that were not useful in moving the project forward, and B: I would not have been able to explain the project to a gallery owner who gave me a solo show based on that body of work. If I couldn't talk about the project, I never would have gotten the appointment to show the work to the gallery owner.

Lol says who?

 

[Sirius Glass]

But you're certainly not doing art. And while you may think you know what you are doing, if you care about it, it helps to formalize in writing that understanding of what you are trying to accomplish. It's called self-analysis. Being able to articulate clearly what your photography is about is very helpful to being able to show and sell it to others - had I not come up with a clear, concise artist statement about my historical slavery in the modern landscape project, A: I might well have wandered around taking photos that were not useful in moving the project forward, and B: I would not have been able to explain the project to a gallery owner who gave me a solo show based on that body of work. If I couldn't talk about the project, I never would have gotten the appointment to show the work to the gallery owner.

I am doing art, but I am not doing photographic project or a collection of work put together for a photographic purpose. There is a difference.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Apparently, it's not 'Fine Art' unless there is an Artist's Statement and a Certificate of Authenticity to go along with your images; I find it a bit annoying, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I currently have three photographs in a group exhibit; the gallery required an "Artist's Statement". From what I gathered, it is the shortest they've seen but they were OK with it.

People who write and use an artists statement want the world to believe that one can not do art without one, however from cave man on through the Reconnaissance and up to now people have produced are without an "Artist's Statement". Hence an "Artist's Statement" is not an "if and only if" requirement. I seriously doubt that Picasso or Gaudi ever had such a document. If they did not need on then I do not need one.

 

[Don_ih]

But you're certainly not doing art.

The main problem with this thread is the fact that people think there is some kind of magic that makes one thing "art" and another "just a product of whatever you were doing". That attitude is why people are incapable of talking coherently about art and artistic activity.

There is no magic that makes one thing art. Art is the product of artistic activity. Art can be considered good or bad, depending on the criteria of judgment (which depends on a great many things, least of which is taste).

 

[jnamia]

Lol says who?

sadly whomever it is that TFC is talking to I can't see, but to quote a guy who bought a run down bungalow / house about 3/4 a mile down the road from me to flip in the early 2000s ( after he mowed the lawn and planted some flowers ), and he ran through a different realtor every 2weeks for 4 or 5 years, and eventually took a bath in his losses. I spoke to him on the phone once and he told me "there are realtors and there are realtors" ... Maybe TFC is referring to "fine art" that is sold in fancy galleries where the gallerists and their staff have certain expectations to be met in order for one to be audiences by the staff, very much like what stock agencies used to do by submitting like 4000 chromes before they would even consider talking to you. Like Renato said it is what it is... It doesn't really matter if it was last week, 2 years ago or 100 years ago, if somebody is going to retail your work they need to know what you were thinking and why you made the photographs so they can express these things to the potential buyer. they'd have to be able to say more than "he likes puppies" even if they were all photographs of puppies.

and besides. if someone says someone isn't making "art" that's their opinion, isn't it ? there are people who don't believe for 1 second Ansel Adams was making art, or someone like gary Winograd, and others who believe that's all they were creating. and never mind people like Rothko someone said in a thread here last fall that he was a hack kind of like saying they were making crap a 1st grader could make ... it's just option... trash treasure and all that.