G. Steve Journal

A True Photograph

A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words

                                                                                            Ansel Adams

Time, Distance and Clarity

Frank Bruni's excellent op-ed column in today's TIMES is about his regrets for not being fully present as he made his way in the world.  As one year ends and a new one is around the corner, it's an opportune time for all of us to consider his call to be more aware and appreciative of our surroundings.  He writes:

"... it’s also true that we’re often just plain oblivious to the scenery right in front of us. By being closest, it’s farthest away."

Very true...

Inexplicable

I was leafing through the second edition of MOMA Highlights - 350 Works From the Museum of Modern Art New York and came across the early (1943) Jackson Pollack painting, "The She Wolf." It's a very layered, busy and disturbing image in which the editors claim "... [Pollack's] focus is a compound of mythology and an iconography of the unconscious."

However they go on to note that Pollack himself made no such assertions:

"She-Wolf came into existence because I had to paint it.  Any attempt on my part to say something about it, to attempt explanation of the inexplicable, could only destroy it."

Images are...

The December 5th issue of the NEW YORKER features a column about the new film "The Artist" -- a silent film.

"People come nervous to it," the film's writer-director, Michel Hazanavicius, said recently ... "They're afraid it's going to be intellectual.  But it's language that is intellectual -- images are about feelings."

... set it aside.

Marketing guru and generally wise human Seth Godin has a great post today on his blog entitled "Tools vs. Insight" in which he makes an important distinction:

Knowing about a tool is one thing. Having the guts to use it in a way that brings art to the world is another. Perhaps we need to spend less time learning new tools and more time using them.

Every week I speak with someone in the gallery who has conflated the tool - in this case the camera - with the creative process and is convinced they need the newest one to allow them to adequately express themselves. I often suggest that Keith Richards (or any legendary guitarist) could go down the street to the Salvation Army store, purchase a guitar for $25 and make you wish you could find a guitar as good as that one.

Vasari's "Lives of the Artists," contains the observation: "Learn the craft, then set it aside."  Exactly.