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A massive large format capture. Surely, It must be art!

Jim Galli

Member
Feather.jpg

feather

5,000 X 3800 pixel 5X7 inch capture. Does many pixels = fine art?
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Even small!

I think this is wonderful. Now let's just work on that? Why could this be wonderful art?

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
No Cem,

Nice try, but that's IMHO, not what might make it art. Imagine, and assume, just for this thread, to humor your friend that art, (apart from commercial art, perhaps), has a fundamental value for humans that has been conserved and developed through the emergence of man from his origin. Then look at my question on this image of a feather as it appears here or 3 meter high in a 10 meter high gallery. What then?

Asher
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
...Nice try, but that's IMHO, not what might make it art. Imagine, and assume, just for this thread, to humor your friend that art, (apart from commercial art, perhaps), has a fundamental value for humans that has been conserved and developed through the emergence of man from his origin. Then look at my question on this image of a feather as it appears here or 3 meter high in a 10 meter high gallery. What then?...
Hi ASher,

What part of sarcasm in my post wasn't obvious? :)

Cheers,
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi ASher,

What part of sarcasm in my post wasn't obvious? :)

Cheers,
None! None my friend. I just thought it's now worthwhile going beyond that. The picture of a feather, as made by Jim, is worthy of being considered as art. But why? That's my serious question to this special image.

I think this picture is, in fact, one of the best one could choose to ponder such a question. Our answers might be revealing. I would certainly like to know other people's opinions.

Asher
 

Cem_Usakligil

Well-known member
None! None my friend. I just thought it's now worthwhile going beyond that. The picture of a feather, as made by Jim is worthy of being considered as art. But why? That's my serious question to this special image.

Asher
OK, got that :). Basically, we are about to revisit the (in)famous thread about what constitutes art.

So being serious, I consider this picture to be art in my own terms. It is done craftfully, elegant, pleasing to my eyes. It has an intent, albeit not obvious to the looker, but this is the case with most of the art we see around us. If printed as a nice silver gelatin print and framed/matted nicely and signed by the artist, I'd consider hanging it on one of my walls.

Cheers,
 

Jim Galli

Member
I'd love to see this at 40X40 inches on a white wall. Actaully if I got serious the large file needs more dust removal :~'))
 

Jim Galli

Member
Oh, the original capture?

I was walking back from a meeting and the feather was laying on the sidewalk. I figured I'd have a little fun with y'all so I picked it up and dropped it on the Epson scanner. Scan was 5X7 @ 720 dpi for a 105 meg file. After rotat-a-mation and file fiddling I cropped to nearly square. If I printed it at 40X40 it maintains 96dpi which at a normal viewing distance for that size of print would be fine.

:~'))

Time in project with the exception of me being a turkey here is about 105 seconds.

jg
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Feather.jpg

feather

5,000 X 3800 pixel 5X7 inch capture. Does many pixels = fine art?


So why do I like it?

It's attractive of course, just as as a feather is. That is, after all, what was imaged and that's executed well. But, "So what?" you may well ask! That gives us picture but not necessarily art, in the sense that I would now offer.


What's there?

The pictures shows repeated elements, the veins and the black regions crossing the whole structure one set to one side and a matching set opposite and balancing the first. However there is not perfect symmetry as disorder disrupts the expected positions of things. Veins break ranks and bend backwards in an apparently wrong direction.

The entire feather sweeps from left to right. It twist its torso like a flamingo dancer, but only when I tell you so. There's nothing annoying or exciting about this feather. However it is attractive.

How might it work? Meditative Art!

With this picture enlarged to 40" x 40" the little feather becomes visible in a different way. The sub-structure is revealed and is enticing. One can get lost in following different paths and then moving somewhere else. It's in a way a kind of Rorschach landscape, a window to no immediate or biased imperatives, in which our imagination can wander. In fact, it has the potential to be open to planting our own ideas and questions of paths we might have taken or need to take. So such a picture can become a gymnasium in which to test and exercise our own issues. The feather itself is, (in this particular case), art that is neutral to any cultural or other position in life we might take.

Other art may give mostly entertainment, ratify our ideas, celebrate the celebrated or seek to push us in one direction or another. However, after getting our attention, art should invite is back to re-look and "see" more each time we visit. In that "meandering with out mind" is the rich potential of art as I see it.

In this case, the art is attractive, decorative, easily in harmony with most decor. So for sure it would be pleasant to look at. More important for this picture by Jim Galli is what might occasionally come next. For in this photograph, I believe there's a unique potential for giving us more if we reciprocate the effort. The detailed structure of the feather might get us to stay longer and so take us to get to another place, something we create. This is still a modest picture. It doesn't call attention to any immediate meaning, message or obvious sensuality. However, on further consideration it can be all that and more. I'd call it meditative art!

Asher
 

Jim Galli

Member
Actually, kidding aside, and I held my breath for a bit hoping I hadn't caused an offense, it does combine some interesting assymetry with the traditional 'S' curves we find beautiful. As a large print I think people would perhaps take a second and third glance, perhaps enjoy it as an object of beauty that you don't often get close to, but ultimately, it might be dismissed with the elevator music.
 
Can you show a section of 100% crop so we can see the detail in this huge piece? I like it and as far as my eyes and my brain are concerned, it is truly a piece of art. I derive a great pleasure from gazing upon it.
James
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi, Jim,
Fine as frog hair!
Must be those 0.0014" pixels!
Art is not the pixels. It's what's between the pixels. So in the case of the frog's hair, it would be the fleck on a speck on the frog's hair, not the hair itself :) So yes, the .00014 is about right. However it's not even that but the integral of that.

Asher
 
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