civilized ku # 2298 ~ it's time for next
Thursday, August 9, 2012 at 05:22PM ;)
Clothesline ~ Stone Harbor, NJ • click to embiggenWhen asked if he pays much attention to what is happening in contemporary art, Robert Adams replied:
No. I suppose because of my commitment to subject matter, because of my lack of interest in process, and because of my conviction that useful pictures don't start from ideas. They start from seeing.
After years of struggling with the idea of making idea/concept-based pictures - pictures the likes of which dominate the contemporary photography art scene, especially the institutional art scene - I have arrived at a point where Adam's statement comes remarkably close to my conclusion / feelings on the matter of idea/concept-based pictures. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed The Landscapist over the years, inasmuch as I have frequently stated that I picture what I see.
While Adams did not parse his use of the word "ideas" - and this is where my caveat, re: his statement, originates - many of my pictures are made based upon an idea/concept. However, that said written, I do believe that had Adam parsed the word, his use of the word would, in fact, be similar (if not identical) to mine.
I believe that to be so because Adams has stated many times the general principles which drive the making of his pictures. Those principles have to do with ((but not limited to) beauty, form, light, and seeing "the facts without blinking". To my way of thinking those driving principles are nothing if not ideas/concepts. Point in fact, Adams has written extensively (Beauty in Photography and Why People Photograph, to name just 2 of his books) about the medium, his ideas about it, and, ultimately, what is the driving force(s) / idea(s) in his picture making.
In any event, IMO, what Adams meant by his use of the word "ideas", and most certainly what I would mean, is to describe the picturing practice so prevalent in the academic world and with academic-trained practitioners - that of concept over referent. The referent being "merely" the means by which an academic art-world concept is addressed.
FYI, if the concept of idea-based art eludes you, think of Marcel Duchamp's Readymades, common manufactured objects which Duchamp selected on the basis of "visual indifference" and about which he stated "...it was always the idea that came first, not the visual example".
Why, you might ask, am I stating the obvious, re: my pictures? Well, the answer has to do with the future endeavors of The Landscapist, the person, not the blog....
I find myself with increasingly little to write about the medium of photography and its apparatus (aka: conventions, traditions, temporal socio-political affected meaning and understanding, etc.). After 6 years of almost daily posting, I have touched upon a very wide variety of topics. The archives are full of the stuff. However, in the short attention span, what's-happening-now world of the internet, all of that is just so much lost to history never to be (re)visited again. And, to be honest, it's that lost to history notion that has me thinking and planning for a new direction for my communication endeavors.
NO. I am not shutting down The Landscapist blog. However, how I use it will undergo a change, mostly likely in the more pictures / less writing direction. Much like one of my favorite sites, More Original Refrigerator Art, which I visit daily just to look at the pictures (if ever there were a picture maker whose pictures start from seeing, this guy is one of the poster boys - pun intended). Although ....
... as I have mentioned, I'm tired of web-based picture viewing wherein every picture is mashed up into a screen-o-tized version of the real thing. The real thing being a printed version of a picture. I most definitely prefer my pictures as objects - objects with surface and character unique to the substrate on which they are printed. Consequently ....
... please read this IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT (a PDF, best viewed/read at 100-125%)
More information to follow in the next entry.
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comment: Svein-Frode wrote: "Certainly gonna miss the blog, but looking forward to the new mag..."
my response: To all concerned: the blog is not going away. While, eventually, it will undergo some changes, for the near term future - at least 2-3 months - nothing much will be different.
The magazine endeavor is in its early formative stage. Much remains to be resolved (its mission statement) and refined (the how to of production and reproduction - establishing a relationship and workflow system with a high-quality POD provider). In addition to those tasks, I want to have enough feature portfolios / work from others on hand to cover the first 4-6 issues.
So, rest assured that The Landscapist, as you know and love it, will continue in its present form for the foreseeable near term.
Reader Comments (5)
Awesome! Looking forward to the magazine.
Certainly gonna miss the blog, but looking forward to the new mag. All the best!
The readymade link didn't work for me. Here's an alternative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readymades_of_Marcel_Duchamp
Been reading and learning from you since 2007 and plan to keep on. Best of luck in your new venture.
Could be another Ag. Chris Dickie, the one man show’s one man died last year and that was the end of a lovely magazine. Bravo!