Wednesday 28 January 2009

Photograph or Painting?


Well, it's a photograph actually - from a collection of about 300 I have taken of walls over the last few months.

Sometimes people say to me that they don't understand the language of modern art as if it's some kind of 'secret squirrel club'. Well, I am not sure what there is a great deal to understand and, sometimes, I think that I must live in a parallel universe! This photograph could easily have been of a painting - so what is reality and what is abstract? Is it really so different from the monoprint below this post?

13 comments:

jafabrit said...

No, not really different. What a great example of the fine line between reality and abstract. A great photograph Phillip.

thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. I feel so much better already just not thinking about the biz side of art.

Philip said...

Jafabrit

Thanks - I am finding a new interest in photography which is also inspiring my painting.

I am sure you feel the same as me - I would just love it if someone else did all the art biz and I was free of it! I'm really not remotely interested in that side of things.

Ed Maskevich said...

"I may not know art but I know what I like!" When I was a young student my dad told me that about my art and I thought he was a stupid old man. The older I got the smarter he became. Some of the most beautiful paintings I've seen are walls where paint is peeling. It may not be art but I recognize beauty when I see it.

Philip said...

Ed

For me I happy to accept anything anyone presents as art to be art. I think a lot of people confuse their personal taste with the what is art. Don't know if you agree?

~Babs said...

Enjoyed visiting your blog!
I love the monoprint, and Ice post in the previous posts.
I couldn't agree more,,,,anything presented is art,,,if only to the one presenting. I celebrate it all,,,whether it's 'to my taste' or not.

Chris Sotiriadis said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chris Sotiriadis said...

I think a lot has to do with context when it comes to reality and abstract. After all, a finished abstract piece is in and of itself a part of reality or real.

Ed

Your comment makes me think of Mark Twain and his comments regarding fathers ...

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

31 January 2009 20:06

jo horswill said...

I actually thought it was a monoprint, until I read your post.
I like this image allot.

Philip said...

Babs

Thanks for visiting. The ice project was certainly fun to do. Art can be fun sometimes!

Chris

I never thought of that! Very interesting thought and one I will quote in the future.

Jo

Yes I like it too. On Facebook where I posted this and many others this one received no comments. I often find what I think of as my best work does not appeal to many others.

San said...

Two stunning examples of "wall art." Art is in the eye and in the soul and probably even in the fingers. People who say they "don't understand the language of modern art" have erected a kind of wall between their eyes and what they "think" they're seeing. A wall of pre-conceived notions.

Philip said...

San

Yes, I blame the education system!

Juan Bielsa. said...

You are right, Philip, this painting could have been a painting, and a good one.

What is art? What is not? Maybe each one of us have a slightly different approach to art, each person I mean.

For me great works of art are those which are perfect for celebrating Beauty, perfect for celebrating happiness and inner joy, perfect for concentration and contemplation. And, ultimately, maybe true Art can't be defined.

We never are tired of watching to a great work of art.

Yes, Philip, I agree with you. Many times we can find great works of art humbly clothed.

Saludos cordiales, Philip.

Juan Bielsa

Juan Bielsa. said...

Hi Philip, you have a nomination for the Scribbler Award on my blog.