I brought this up on my last post, but really wanted to revisit this topic in greater detail. Are we cheating ourselves out of fully enjoying and appreciating photography? When we were using film and paper, everything had to be printed and we were used to the idea that we would visit galleries to see beautifully printed photos. That experience could be a very moving one, as photographers took great care in making and presenting their work.
I have always thought, as the son of an artist, that viewing
any artwork - a painting, a sculpture, a photograph - was a most intimate experience, forged by the necessary connection between artist and viewer. The artifact we look at is directly from the artist's hand. Are we getting the same experience from a computer monitor?
As a photographer who has exhibited - and loves nothing more than to see photos exhibited - I think we're missing some intangible, but very real qualities that don't express well with a computer. Things like the texture of the paper, or the size of the image itself: is it on a grand scale that invites awe, or something small and delicate that draws the viewer inward? Art demands our attention, not just a fleeting glance.
Don't get me wrong, I shoot exclusively digital and am delighted at the potential for sharing images that it offers. These wonderful black & whites, recently made by my brother Jim Hutt, are a perfect example of that. But I'm hoping that we take time to develop our printing skills, taking advantage of the incredible media that's available to us, and taking the time to visit and encourage the galleries that
are exhibiting photographs.
Your thoughts? Mine do tend to ramble.....
I agree. Seeing a beautiful photograph hanging on a wall causes me to pause and consider it...enjoy it...study it. I tend to click "next" a bit quick when viewing a photo on a monitor.
ReplyDeleteWell, the thing is, I appreciate the existence of the photograph on the wall and on the monitor, it's just that they are different roads to the same destination. In other words, appreciating someones art on the monitor is different from appreciating it hanging on the wall--possession has a delight all of its own, and is a personal matter. Above all, however, is the relationship connected to the work of art.
ReplyDeleteAs the brother of a mentor-photographer-brother, who answers to the name of 'Veed, or Dave Hutt, feeling good about seeing my work, whether on a monitor or a wall, is also experiencing a powerful part of my relationship with 'Veed embedded within that piece of art.
Why? Because no one, including me, became the artist they are without the help of another artist. For me that was 'Veed. While I clearly can, and do, appreciate art from all corners of the world, and eras of history, my strongest visceral responses to art, photography in particular, have their roots in the relationships that are integral to the existence of the art. What's it all mean? I guess it means that I do not care where I see it--on a wall or on a monitor, because what matters is how it came to be. And without 'Veed, I have no meaning to may art.
Love that barn shot. I SO miss the process of printing black and white. Of seeing a photo come up in the developer bath. Of really studying it for the best possible print. That said, the first time I visited Flickr and just hit random, I was astounded at the quality of the photography, and of all the different perspectives, different ways of seeing the world. I just recently was looking at some National Geographic photo contest shots online, and while most were beautiful, the ones I loved were the ones that were different. Show me something different! We've all seen that picture of the sandstone slot canyon in Utah a thousand times. Or the star trails over the mountain peak or the lightening strike during the storm. So my appreciation of the online fire hose of images is that it exposes me to so much more than I would/could see in an art gallery. And it challenges me to change my own perspective, my style of shooting, and makes me try to operate outside my comfort zone. Not that I don't still love the experience of standing in front of a beautifully shot and printed black and white photograph on a wall, mind you. But it is not something I have sought out as often as I should have.
ReplyDeleteAs for knowing how art came to be, yes, sometimes the back story helps. But the great thing about art is that we bring our own filter to the experience, and what we see may not be what the artist saw, but the experience is no less moving for that. I am always interested at the shots of mine people respond to, and that they are often not my own favorites. I don't know your brother, but I love that barn shot because I love history and old homesteads and dramatic weather. I can feel the tension of what it felt like to stand there, in the pregnant pause before it all changed. And this may not be what it was actually like. But it doesn't matter. I’m still moved. XOXO.