art

Interpreting Art

by
Montreal Latin Quarter Art Exhibit, copyright Ellen Wilson

And what do you think?

No, no.  What do you think? 

I think it’s strange.  Great.  Abominable.  I love it! 

Throughout our knuckle dragging history we have always been fascinated with portraying the world around us.  From the caves of Lacaux, France, to the most modern of the modern embodied by the pope of pop, Andy Warhol, we have always sought as a species to render reality by what what we thought of it.

And what do we think of it?

Art can be classified into many different forms and types.  But who cares about that.  I’m not an art history major.  The question is, what does it do to us? Do for us?

Art has always:

Informed

Provoked

Challenged

Amused

Inspired

and Irritated

I can think of many instances where art has been banned.  Or many people wanted it to be.  But why?

Because it causes uncomfortable feelings.

I am one of those non-purists who think that photography is art.  Witness the great landscapes of Ansel Adams or the studio portraiture of Annie Leibovitz.  While Adam’s photos tend to inspire through the start beauty of his black and white landscapes, Leibovitz’s photos run the emotional gamut from what they are able to accomplish.  Just in the last couple of years Leibovitz has managed to:

Irritate the Queen of England when she asked her to take off her crown for a photoshoot

Challenge our view of social and racial stereotypes with the photo of Giselle Bundchen and LeBron James gracing the the cover of Vogue

And Amuse us with the public relations campaign to withdraw a celebrity protrait that was supposedly unacceptable of Miley Cyrus

Let us keep these things in mind as we take pictures.

Do you simply point and snap hoping to capture a great image?  Or are you alert – always looking for possibilities inherent in a situation?  Obviously the last question separates good from great photos.

If you want to photograph art, you must think like an artist.  While it is fairly easy to teach people camera techniques and tricks, it is much harder teaching people point of view and composition.  Point of view is colored by your philosophy of life, and composition is portraying that point of view.

Next time you take a picture see if you can’t capture your subject’s point of view or your point of view own reflected by your subject.

Photocredit: © Ellen Wilson

The Art of Seeing

by
Montreal Latin Quarter Art Exhibition,copyright Ellen Wilson

I told my eight year old daughter to turn off the TV, because too much TV was bad for her. She replied that she would eat carrots while she was watching TV; because carrots are good for you , and they therefore negate the bad effects of the TV.

That was pretty damn funny.

It seems we do this to ourselves a lot, though. We spend too much time online, digesting silliness. Or watching junk TV. We waste ouselves and do not give ourselves time to recharge. Instead, we divert our attention towards media goodies.

Of course we aren’t perfect. We just want to relax and not think about anything sometimes. But our society keeps us on hyperalert, claiming if we pay attention just a little bit longer, we can have it all.

It’s all an illusion. And I believe it! I for one am caught up in this online addiction. I think, oh, my, what does she say; what is he saying; I just know I’m almost on top of it all; and please, I must keep up!!!!

You really can’t. But because I am all new to this I throw myself into the delusion with gusto.

What a fool.

When I was little I learned the Art of Seeing. My dad is an artist and he used to take me to art shows and galleries. I used to go into his studio and push my hands into paint – stick them onto canvas and rub them all around.  I would feel, see, smell, and hear, the paint.  Hear the paint?  Yes, it would make popping noises when I squished it though my fingers.  I did refrain from tasting the paint.

The art of seeing is three dimensional. You have to soak it into your entire life, by using all your senses.

So, I say, turn off the damn TV. Go to an art gallery. Art will teach you much about life. Learn what an artist is thinking through her paintings. Feel what he has to say through the observation of his work.

But it is not passive observation. And that is the point. The artist is transmitting something extremely important to you.

We can look at photography and writing the same way – the Artist’s Way – the way of seeing. But that is for tomorrow.

Photocredit:  Ellen Wilson