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Review:Focal Point: Fine Art and Creative Photography
Maryland Federation of Art
shown concurrently with the Potters Guild of Annapolis
Dates: May 23 - June 15, 2014 at the MFA Circle Gallery, 18 State Circle Gallery, Annapolis.
"Art is not a mirror, but a hammer: it does not reflect, it shapes."
Leon Trotsky, Literature and Revolution (1924):
I go to photography shows for my own sake. I go, and then write about them, because every time I see some pictures that I like, it is an exercise of my critical sense to decide why I like them - and that sharpens up my own eye for any work I do in the future. Rarely do I write or even think about work that doesn't impress me; why bother?
As I see more and more, I have refined my criteria for what makes something impressive or good to me. In general I would much rather see a one person show or at least a show where each artist has multiple works. In a show where each artist is represented by only one piece, it is very difficult to see, think or say much about the artist.
That single work might be the absolute acme of that person's work, a lucky shot, an even-the-dumbest-blindest-squirrel-finds-an-occasional-acorn sort of thing. Or the picture might be the one 'thing' the photographer has discovered that works and which is worked to death whenever he or she shoots.
So a many person show, like the MFA show, is really a measure of the entire membership of the organization and, if I am lucky, I see something that I like that would cause me to want to return to other shows by the same organization. I learn, not about the artist, but the organization.
What am I looking for?
Art is creation, art is intent. I am not interested in the happy accident.
I look for pictures that show a creative mind and spirit, pictures that give me an idea what the photographer is thinking and why they framed and collected what they did. I am not concerned with technical execution as a goal, except that the execution should be so good as to get out of the way and leave me alone to look through the frame into the artist's creation.
What pictures do I ignore? Well, clearly the opposite, pictures whose entire worth is based on their execution, pictures that are a self-conscious trick, pictures that are essentially repetition of scenes or ideas you and I have seen a hundred times before. Pictures that have nothing to say except 'look at me because I've done something different.'
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The remainder of this post contains photos to which I do not hold the copyright and can be read at Lew Lorton Photography | Review: Focal Point: Fine Art and Creative Photography - MD Fed Art
Maryland Federation of Art
shown concurrently with the Potters Guild of Annapolis
Dates: May 23 - June 15, 2014 at the MFA Circle Gallery, 18 State Circle Gallery, Annapolis.
"Art is not a mirror, but a hammer: it does not reflect, it shapes."
Leon Trotsky, Literature and Revolution (1924):
I go to photography shows for my own sake. I go, and then write about them, because every time I see some pictures that I like, it is an exercise of my critical sense to decide why I like them - and that sharpens up my own eye for any work I do in the future. Rarely do I write or even think about work that doesn't impress me; why bother?
As I see more and more, I have refined my criteria for what makes something impressive or good to me. In general I would much rather see a one person show or at least a show where each artist has multiple works. In a show where each artist is represented by only one piece, it is very difficult to see, think or say much about the artist.
That single work might be the absolute acme of that person's work, a lucky shot, an even-the-dumbest-blindest-squirrel-finds-an-occasional-acorn sort of thing. Or the picture might be the one 'thing' the photographer has discovered that works and which is worked to death whenever he or she shoots.
So a many person show, like the MFA show, is really a measure of the entire membership of the organization and, if I am lucky, I see something that I like that would cause me to want to return to other shows by the same organization. I learn, not about the artist, but the organization.
What am I looking for?
Art is creation, art is intent. I am not interested in the happy accident.
I look for pictures that show a creative mind and spirit, pictures that give me an idea what the photographer is thinking and why they framed and collected what they did. I am not concerned with technical execution as a goal, except that the execution should be so good as to get out of the way and leave me alone to look through the frame into the artist's creation.
What pictures do I ignore? Well, clearly the opposite, pictures whose entire worth is based on their execution, pictures that are a self-conscious trick, pictures that are essentially repetition of scenes or ideas you and I have seen a hundred times before. Pictures that have nothing to say except 'look at me because I've done something different.'
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The remainder of this post contains photos to which I do not hold the copyright and can be read at Lew Lorton Photography | Review: Focal Point: Fine Art and Creative Photography - MD Fed Art