(embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
from a Taxidermy exhibit at the Adirondack Museum ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
(embiggenable) • iPhone
AS IS USUALLY THE CASE, AS OUR TIME AT Rist Camp is soon coming to end, Autumn color is heading toward peak color. By our departure at the end of this week color should be at or around 70-80%.
In any event, I recently came across the following call for submissions...
As an artist, I have always been intrigued with the invisible – seeking out connections between science, environment and human behavior. Yet the world has transformed exponentially. We are experiencing a change....where invisible threats have become illuminated within our global society. Through visual art, how does one explore, engage, or connect in the midst of such intensity and turmoil? Has science effected your perspective of the world, either physically or emotionally? Has your perception been altered? Do you feel you’ve gained new insight? Within loosely interpreted boundaries of Art + Science, I ask you to consider themes for this call that are a result of your shifting perspective, placing emphasis on the Heart of the Matter.
...a call which left me perplexed and struggling to decipher exactly-or even approximately-what kind of picture I might make (and the judges might like) that would illustrate "the invisible". I mean, how the hell can someone toil in a visual medium-that is, one connected to the "real" world-and make pictures of the invisible?
Which is not to write that it is not possible to make pictures of intangibles, aka: a concept. Considered the "concept" of love....I have never been able to touch love but I have felt a lover's touch-an act which can be pictured. Such a picture, when made with insight and sensitivity would stand a good chance of being perceived as an illustration / illumination of the the concept / idea of love. But, then again not always cuz, given the medium's amibguity, some-dependent upon a viewer's emotional, mental state and life experience-such a picture might be viewed as violation of personal space or, in cases, as pornography.
re: the medium's ambiguity - because the idea of what a picture might mean is primarily dependent upon what a viewer brings to the the viewing thereof, a picture is often accompanied with a caption / title. iMo, the simpler the caption / title the better, inasmuch as the medium is a visual art, not a literary art. And therein is my ptoblem with the aforementioned call for pictures...
It should be obvious to most who follow this blog that the call for pictures was issued from the within ranks of the Academic Lunatic Fringe school of picture making. A school of picture making from which, to my eye and sensibilities, I have rarely ever viewed a picture or body of work that is truly visually interesting. And, in fact, a picture that is not accompanied by a 1000 words-artpspeak + narcissistic pyschobabble-or more in an attempt to explain what the picture or body of work is about.
All of that written, I will not be answering the call for pictures. However, if anyone out there has any ideas about a suitible referent for the making of a picture about the "invisible", feel free to leave a comment.