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All I got
Topic Started: Dec 10 2008, 11:31 AM (105 Views)
Devilsadvocate
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This is the one piece I ever made which I would regard as 'Art'.
This Lino-cut came to pass after we had a group of people here teaching about Native American culture.
What they taught impressed me greatly; and even though I found later on that they were moving in the wrong direction (They ended up being what the Native Americans themselves call "Plastic Shamans"- people who are trying to make money out of things which are thousands of years old and which are not theirs to sell),
what they said was genuine back then-
as were my feelings about it. So, it still captures a certain truth...

I had to scan it in several parts, and tried to fit it back together in a graphics program; sorry about the shambles I managed to make of it.
(Makes menthal note: "Learn how to use a computer, Eejit...")

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painter
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Hey, DA!

I like it. Very much. Especially the way the light seems to emanate from the center, drumming area and above. I like the 'architecture' of the composition with the tree roots and limbs -- like a cathedral. You've done an excellent job of conveying movement, gesture, form, light and a lot of other things using the variety of cuts and angles of cuts.

I always feel a bit weird even saying good things about another persons work. I can "critique" visual works but I'm not sure it is a good thing to do. Not exactly sure what all lies behind that. Part of it is this notion that "art" has to meet some sort of "standard" that is established by an "elite". I've been in the art world long enough and have seen what goes on there close-up. Most of that (I say most, not quite all) is nothing but market manipulation. If a noted and wealthy collector walks into your studio and buys one of your works, then automatically the appraised economic value of your work is doubled or more! The collector can't loose -- he knows that just by purchasing one of your works he is making it worth more than it was before he bought it. Gallery dealers know this, too. So do museums. Of course, he may not walk in and may never buy one of your works. Does that mean they are worth less? According to the market system, yes. It is SUCH bull sh!t ... but it is the system we have.

I guess, to me, the important thing at this point so far as most people go is that they exercise their creativity. I don't care what medium they use and I don't care what it 'looks' like or 'sounds' like or what have you -- I just want people to get out of the habit of thinking that 'art' is something that belongs in galleries and museums or concert halls and theaters and not their lives. Some of the best and most powerful visual art of our time is being created out on the street by young people with no 'art training' at all.

The truth is as I see it that "art" doesn't exist outside of ourselves. It doesn't exist in the physical context within which it is displayed or performed; nor does it exist in the painting, the sculpture, the book or the performance. "Art" either exists in us or it doesn't exist at all. Same is true for "meaning" and "truth" and "beauty" and many other things. I'm not saying there is NO relation between the 'thing' or the 'artifact' or the 'work' and the 'creator' and the 'audience' and the 'context' within which all this comes together. Clearly there is. But this relationship isn't static. It is dynamic and the most fundamental aspect of it is a certain quality of sensitivity. If "art" should do anything, it should help us develop that sensitivity to ourselves and the world of which we are apart.

Hopefully forum member "Walker" will come along and say something regarding plastic Shamen.
Edited by painter, Dec 10 2008, 03:16 PM.
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