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I’ve been thinking about the premise that everything in art needs a back story, or some form of "hidden depth" in order to be successful. We've even talked about it here on "Mary's Page" on more than one occasion. But is this really true? Can’t we just consider the art for its beauty? Is there anything wrong in doing so?
Perhaps the garden floral scene is just that, a lovely picture. Something that might look appealing hanging on the wall in our living rooms. Do we really need to be defiant, dark, brooding or delusional to convey our artistic sensibility?
In support of this beauty for beauty’s sake discussion, I found this blog contribution by the artist “Woi” from Poland.…
Within the Lines
What if there was nothing to discover? No story, no thousand words, no answer to a non-riddle? What if it was really, really, just a game of forms and colors? Would it be a sin?
Does this lady need a past? Is it really so bad for something to be "just" a pretty picture?
We know of the danger of beauty, we know the seductive spectacle means flirting with submission, yet is it really so immoral?
Does having a story constitute a challenge? Or is it just because we like the indolence of layered thinking, the safety net of there being "something else", so as to let our imagination ride a little further...? But haven't we turned it into a rule for (a lot of) contemporary art? This story-telling capacity?
What if it's a pretty picture? What if it's pretty, pretty, pretty, a thousand times pretty? What if it's so damned pretty you don't want it to be a story, to go beyond it being pretty?
Of course, I have the right to omit the depth. And then also, every good story is many stories deep. But some of the best works I know present a fascinating resistance to storytelling. They are like a stone, at once attractive and opaque. They make me want to read within the lines.
Source: Art News
What’s your take?
Further...
What Would YOU do if...
Here’s the scenario - You venture to the art museum for a Saturday afternoon refresher. Inside the museum you come across a display pedestal with nothing on it. (The art piece has been removed for cleaning.) No one is watching, security is lacking. As an artist do you see this moment as an opportunity? If so, what (if anything) would you do with the space? What would be your objective?
Write me.
"Virgin of Guadalupe with Moon and Stars"
"Chicano Prison Art"
A prominent form of Chicano prison art is called "panos" illustration, a variation of envelope art that grew out of the Chicano barrios and Southwest prisons of the early 20th Century. Designed with ball-point pens on white handkerchiefs, pillow cases and sheets, "panos" can actually afford a great deal of detail and complexity, telling a story of a prisoner that cannot be expressed through words alone. Because many Hispanics, Chicanos, and African-Americans within the prison system at that time could not read or write, they found an expressive substitute in elaborate illustration.
Panos is rooted in defiance, rebellion and cultural pride. Artwork is passed down from prisoner to prisoner, one generation to the next, and possesses its own unique styles and techniques. Prisoners record panos by maintaining files of images drawn from calendars, magazines, and tattoos, all traced onto the handkerchief and colored in with pen, colored pencils, wax crayons, coffee, shoe polish or felt-tip markers. Prisoners send out artwork to families and loved ones, or within the prison to fellow convicts and friends, sometimes commissioning the art in exchange for goods from the prison store.
Much of the imagery of Chicano prison art includes barbed wire, serpents, bannered names of girlfriends, and roses. Aztec imagery and Mexican gods are also popular among the younger generations, as well as pre-Columbian symbols, colonial religious icons, and Mexican historical and revolutionary figures. Depending on who the recipient is, the image will change. For mothers and grandmothers, images are usually religious, and depict images of Christ with a crown of thorns or the Virgin of Guadeloupe, the symbol of motherhood. For children, one illustration portrayed a father teaching his son how to ride a tricycle. For lovers, there are often roses and ribbons. For sexual fantasy, there are images of buxom, long-haired, large-breasted women with wasp waists and seducing eyes, as well as vintage cars and heavily-muscled men in old, sometimes 1950s-era clothing. Depictions of prison life include skulls, candles, prison bars, and gun-towers. Other examples include Aztec warriors, tattooed gang members, saints, pinup girls, motorcycles, teddy bears and cartoon characters, such as Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse.
There are also landscapes of the Mexican countryside, peacocks as symbols of masculinity, roses of beauty, and images of barrio life and gang affiliation, the hourglass and Aztec motifs. Also included are hypnotic, sometimes hallucinogenic expressions of dripping eyeballs, hypodermic needles, and dragons. Religious themes are also popular, most of which seek to express themes of sin and salvation many common to prison life.
Chicano prison art, or Panos, has captured the interest of even the more conservative of art-lovers, and has gained enormous exposure following its recent display across national galleries across the US. It has also captured the imagination of youth, acting as a warning sign for those at risk of entering a life of crime. The Albuquerque Journal cites one boy, who said: "These pictures really show it like it is...These guys go in (prison) one way, and they're not going to come out the same way."
Source: Inside Prison
See more "Prison Art" on: Google Images
In-Box:
In response to "The Ethics of Digital Manipulation" (MP 8.16.10) Submitted by:
H. Gay Allen (hgayallen@eathlink.net) on Monday, August 16, 2010
Comment: "I manipulate photography not to deceive, but to enrich my original photograph. I feel no guilt, ethically, in doing so, because I am no longer a journalist, I'm an artist. I am creating an objective, artistic experience, for me as the artist and for the viewer.
I have been both a journalist/photographer and an artist since I was in grade school. And although the line may be a fine one at times, between ethical judgement and artistic freedom, it has never been difficult for me to know at any one time which side of the line I'm on.
Living according to a set of ethics takes a moral decision and CONSISTENT practice, until the behavior becomes ingrained. Because of your ethics, you have a basis for knowing how to act in sometimes difficult circumstances.
Whereas, fulfilling one's responsibility to creative talent takes an ongoing, active, artistic decision and a great deal of committment to EXPLORATIVE practice. This cultivates in you visions of creative possibilities. So, you do not know, spcifically, how or what you are going to perform in your next creative endeavor. You only know that you can and should trust your artistic sense; and then you just hang on for the ride. And that is what makes it so much fun!"
This page posted August 23 2010
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