Collaboration or participation
Interesting thought.As photographers,I think, we feed off the reaction of others in our work.Is it that the more the viewer can 'read' the work the more they will accept and 'like' the work? By the word 'read' I mean identify with shapes from previous visual experiences/memory.
At present I am working on a series of black and white images that use a hose to draw shapes in the paper.I am interested in the use of the hose as others will be able to identify with the object and reference this in past experience/memory.The fact that the hose has been the mark maker will register as a domestic object and then hopefully be forgotten and elevated in the viewers mind to an artistic tool.Once the register of domestic hose hits then the other more interesting mental version of the hose takes over.(PURE ART)
REACTION:EMOTIONAL CHORD
I feel that it is important to resonate with viewers in both negative or positive ways. This has given rise to a strike/reaction an emotional chord has been plucked.With this in mind I do find that art work in general is up for general debate.By showing works the artist is floating his ideas and expertise to the public to either accept or reject.
If all photography starts as a collaborative act, who, or what, are you collaborating with?Does all photographic art start as a collaborated act? Actually I' m not sure.Some photographic art is created purely as an outlet for personal satisfaction.There is no viewer:the outcome is purely created for personal reasons.Perhaps this also true for artists who are in 'flow' with their art and simply must create and move and develop their work constantly.
'The artist has accepted his fate with open eyes and I do not believe that he wishes any charity in relation to his self assumed sacrifice.'
Rothko ,Mark.2004 The Artists Reality,U.S. Yale
Are such strategies an unwelcome distraction?
Yes this my understanding.I feel that the ABSTRACT artist is free to create when there are no worries: no prejudice from others. No presumption of art to follow.A clear clean space in which to start or activate creativity.
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Zine_Making/Putting_pages_together
I was away when this project of creating a zine came up.I will try to improvise.
Week 3: Independent Reflection
As Ariella Azoulay (2016) noted, collaboration is photography's "degree zero". This means that its presence has to be articulated in our practices, regardless of how apparent it may or may not be.
In this week, we were asked to think about whether a photograph can be considered finished.
It is hard to know when an image is actually finished. The presence of a signature usually denotes finality.
If the image is then borrowed and re purposed does this mean that 'all' we are producing is regurgitation.I often find myself making work that is similar to something I have seen.
Any reconsiderations to the core methodology of your practice
I think that I also need to come away from the low tech idea that I have been having so many thoughts about.Almost as a hobby on the side I should work with digital cameras as relief and in contrast to the real paper photograms I have been working on.
The forms your project / photographs could take moving forward.
I feel that the work will grow if I step aside and start to use another set of technologies. Experimentation with different cameras and processes will be a new vein of work for me to go and work on.
I recently visited the MA final work at Central and St Martins Art School,London.I was surprised to find very little in the way of photography on display.
Instead I found very contextual work that made me question and think hard. I had a great and inspiring conversation with Conceptual Photographer Luke Payne.He had mounted a larger shredder on the wall of the gallery and had a brown leather suitcase nearby full of vintage photographs.
He then asked the public to choose a photograph to shred.This gives the viewer a participatary role in destruction/recycling.I found myself thinking twice on whether I should actually participate.I found his work incredibly four dimensional and challenging how I think about photographs.
More of his works can be found at www.lukepayn.com/
