Monday, September 22, 2008

UPDATE ON AWS CONTROVERY

The American Watercolor Society has posted a statement on their website. There is a very thoughtful commentary on the statement and the situation by Katherine Tyrrell on her blog. By clicking on the title of this post, you will reach her blog. If you follow some of the threads, there is mentioned a place to learn about the legal ins and outs of using other material, etc. I think we all need to learn this information, especially myself. I think I am skating on thin ice photographing strangers. I need to check it out.

I'm sure you all understand that the excercises you are doing from the Frenchman photo are ineligible for competitions because it is my original photo. I am sharing it only for the purposes of learning.

While going through a few of her postings I found a very interesting artist who has been creating large portraits of controversial political and financial figures with a 'LINE AS TEXTURE" look (squiggly paint lines and drips) and then takes these paintings to a public place and has people write comments on the subject in the negative space around the head. Considering the dramatic events on Wall Street this week, this is a timely marriage of art and history in the making. He has auctioned these paintings off for major dollars. The blog address is below. Be sure and click on the individual images to read what people have written. What an interesting and creative concept. Wish I had thought of it! Darn, another great idea already taken by someone else.
http://www.theannotatedfuld.blogspot.com/

3 comments:

Nava said...

Well, I hope AWS will do something about it. They say they are pursuing it, but there's a big difference between pursuing and actually doing. It's time to deliver a strong message to those who are advancing their careers on the backs of other, genuine artists. I see too many such recurring cases, and jurors actually award such works rather than condemn the copying spree.

I find it highly interesting that the website of the gold-medal winner is down.

So, now we wait.

Making A Mark said...

Thanks for the mention Myrna!

The question I'd like to ask is how many jurors feel qualified to know when an element of a digital image or print has been involved in any stage of a painting!

I'm not sure what the answer is to your query about photographing private people in public places. I'm always very careful when sketching people NOT to sketch their faces too accurately.

Actually if you want a really creative test paint a figure and persuade me that it's a real person who you could describe without anything much in terms of form or detail on the face. Leaving out the face actually makes me focus an awful lot more on getting body shapes to tell a story.......

Just a thought! :)

Myrna Wacknov said...

The thing that interests me is the features and expression on a very specific individual, not a generic person. It is the uniqueness of each of us that fascinates me. I also love the gesture of the body, so there are times I may chose to leave the face more vague. We all fall in love with our subjects for very personal reasons and that becomes our passion and motivation to create.

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