[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Saturday, 23 October 1999 Volume 09 : Number 753 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Maria Arango Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 08:41:47 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6349] Re: pretty pictures Phillip, I have not received a reply from the Printworks site owner, I'm too scared that I will. It is a HUGE site and a huge-er project and I got cold feet the second I sent the request for info--make that frozen feet! Dave wrote: > Am I worrying too much about this? Maybe 'pretty pictures' is what > we are all making. We're not laughing Dave. I think you have hit upon the ultimate dilemma of the artist. On the one hand, I would like to somehow be contributing to some ultimate goal of advancing the art form of printmaking; attempting to take experimental woodcut prints to a new height; maybe expressing the pain and solitude of human existence or another extremely deep subject. On the other hand, pretty landscapes and flowers sell very well and the dogs have to have treats! Not too mention how much I enjoy just "making" something, anything at all. Some of the printmaking societies (L.A. and California) request to be accepted as a member a "cohesive" body of work, specifically 6 or more prints that are similar in size, subject matter, approach. Alas! my scatter-brain approach has not produced that as of yet. I do tend to keep doing the same subjects and I have just started, but to think of myself as a woodguy-printmaker, or a desert-landscape printmaker...I don't know if I would like that at the end of my art life. An experimental-printmaker? I like that better. A plain, unqualified, printmaker? YES! As for "pretty pictures" once I had a fellow former student come by my booth at an art fair. He liked the rat series, but when he saw the woodcuts of landscapes he said: "you're selling out, making pretty pictures." I replied: "I'm selling, if that's what you mean." The fact that someone other than my mom wants to own a piece of my art--a piece of me--just gives me the biggest kick in the pants! I guess my whole point is that artists just need to do what we do, the trick is to let the artist take over and forget about the thinking about it. Some artists freeze, thinking whether they are making a strong enough statement with each image, or whether their imagery is deep enough or communicates a message or is contemporary enough or fits into the current trends or body of work... I think we just need to keep making art. Messages and human experiences will come through the images we choose, whether we like it or not. After all, we chose them because of something, no? It's a Freudian thing. Woa, a serious Maria-post, what have I done... Health to all, Maria ------------------------------ From: James G Mundie Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 12:53:25 -0400 Subject: [Baren 6350] coherence Dave wrote: > ... will they represent a > coherent body of work, or just a random assemblage of pictures whose > only common point is that David liked them? In your case, Dave, the work itself will have a natural coherence because of your intentions. You are reproducing works from a specific genre of print that appeals to you. Whereas each individual print is different -- a different designer, different subject matter, different textures and colors -- you remain the constant throughout the process. Your taste in choice of images and your skill as printer and carver come through in each print and that will be enough to insure that the body of work has a feeling of unity. > It could be that there really is no issue here; after years of work ... > after a _lifetime_ of work ... when one looks back on the prints > created, there will obviously be some kind of coherence, if only > from the stylistic similarity that will be present in the prints. Firstly, I think one needs to accept the maxim that beauty is its own justification. The "why" and "what" of these works may or may not be important to your own goals. It is important for any artist to realize a certain direction; however, I don't think one should avoid tackling a project seemingly different from the rest of one's work simply because one is afraid to upset the balance of that body in the long run. Where would Picasso or Michelangelo have been if they thought like this? Neither would have ventured outside of their initial styles and themes. For myself, I range over a wide array of different media and subjects. I "contain" them by working in thematically similar series of images. At this very moment, I have eight drawings from one series, two woodcuts from another series, and three landscape paintings from yet another series all under way. I haven't tackled it yet, but I have sketched out plans for yet another distinct series of prints. Each of these has its own "agenda" or message, but none of them are contadictory. Last autumn I had a solo exhibition at the University of Pennsylvania, which because of the number of works they wanted me to show had to become a sort of mini retrospective. Mezzotints, etchings, woodcuts, drawings and paintings had to be placed side by side -- portraits and landscapes together, as well. A daunting proposition, but all of the work held together as a whole. I was a bit surprised to see that, myself. Many "artists" spend too much time thinking about their art (the perils of MFA programs steeped in "art theory") and too little time actually making it. A friend of mine once worried that he was not painting enough and that he would be doomed to spend his life as a mediocre artist but a great art critic! [Shudder] I would recommend that you don't fret now over what will be the sum total of your life's work. That sort of pressure could paralyze you. Simply enjoy the making, trust your instincts and you will find your way. Now, if you don't find that arguement convincing, perhaps you could organize the surimono prints around a theme. Pick a certain subject that crops up in the work of many different designers and put them together... maybe something like images of geisha in Toshikata, Toyokuni, Hokusai, etc... boating parties.. fisherman... seasons... the list could go on and on. The very juxtapositions of the these images from different viewpoints would suggest many levels of meaning. Mise le meas, James Mundie Philadelphia USA ------------------------------ From: Bella1yopp@aol.com Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 15:29:36 EDT Subject: [Baren 6351] Re: pretty pictures This is a dilemma that I have been facing. How to do what I want and get paid for it... Well, not too many people want to hang scary (but very deep and conceptual) clowns in their living rooms. Kim knows what I am talking about. I went to Italy last summer and when I got back I had all these wonderful images ... since I've made a few woodcuts. But coming from making circus imagery with so much meaning to nice Italian landscapes ... that was too much for me. Am I selling out? What will others think when I show these and they have no "meaning" other than being pretty pictures and reminding me what a great time I had? These are all things that ran through my head. I thought ... well, at least they are more marketable ... hence art school's definition of selling out. But now I don't care. Oh, and the landscapes did not sell. I live in the desert so I should be doing pictures of cacti and mountains and coyotes... This is the new dilemma. I work in a frame shop and see these images everyday. Some very good, most pretty hooky. Should I join the true Arizona sellouts? Should I start pumping out the saguaros and sombreros? Well, I have put all that aside and decided to do whatever I want. If I want to sell Christmas cards with a saguaro wearing a Santa Claus hat (hey, don't steal my idea), I will. But whatever I decide to do, Maria is right, I need to do something. Get it out there, sombreros and all. Horacio, wonderful work. Your cuts are beautiful and characters are great. - -Amanda Yopp ------------------------------ From: "Philip Smith" Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 14:07:15 -0700 Subject: [none] We have "coastal" weather here today. Grey and chilly! Not a "pretty picture",..or is it? A point of view I guess. Fred Astaire said once is that all he did and would be remembered for were those shallow pictures he did with Ginger Rodgers [and a few other leading ladies],....regrets of a lifes work,...?? But what a lifes work!!! There was a song during WWll, "It Ain't Watcha Do, It's the Way Howcha Do It",... The hell with subject matter, selling out or not,....enjoy the process,...cut those blocks, print that paper,...and if you have to wear two or three hats, so be it! Two things to remember,1] Don't swet the little stuff, 2] It's all little stuff. Philip ------------------------------ From: John Ryrie Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 15:03:22 +1000 (EST) Subject: [Baren 6353] consistancy My computer isn't working so I'm using the Dos Email at uni so there may be more spelling mistakes than usual. On Daves subject of coherance in a body of work I tend to think in the oposit way I am constantly trying to go beond the limitations of my subject mater, medium and influences. I think that artists tend to fall into habits in compasition, choce of colour or subject. For me the creation of something that has never existed befor is what drives me on. What seams to be a leep forwould to me will not always be ovious to others. An artists work will always have a consitancy when vewed by another with hindsight no mater how new It may seem to that artist when its was created. John ------------------------------ From: John Ryrie Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 20:30:23 +1000 Subject: [Baren 6354] Re: Fred Astair Philip Fred Astaire was far to humble there is a three record set, (remember records?) Fred Astaire sings with the Nat King- Cole Trio" that I herd some years back. He was a great singer but could not bring him self to listen to any of his own recordings or watch his own acting which is a bit sad. I have a quote: Art reaches its greatest peak when devoid of self-consciousness. Freedom discovers man (or woman) the moment He loses concern over what impression he (or she) is making or is about to make. Bruce Lee. Some of you may be wondering what Fred Astaire or Bruce Lee have to do with woodcut printing. Well Bruce broke a lot of wood and Fred cut up a lot of floors which if only someone had the foresight to get a print off ...well? John ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V9 #753 ***************************