Art Philosphy 101 - by Bob Bauer

 (Hey...You Asked.)


(1) I like color. I even like bright color. I don't care if it's not trendy. Let the trendys follow their leaders and keep looking over their shoulders like they always do.

(2) I prefer sharp resolution and detail. More information to me means more meaning. Let the others pretend that what they are doing isn't really photography, and try to run away from the medium's strengths. Fuzziness is neither necessary nor sufficient in the production of photographic art.

(3) I don't believe that photography should be relegated to 'photo only' galleries. Give me one good reason why that all too common idea makes any sense. Especially now that giclee' (aka inkjet) prints are archival to over 100 years and acceptable to the greatest museums and galleries in the world.

(4) It is the finished artwork that matters, NOT 'the process'. The 'process is paramount' idea (and it's evangelists) drive me to distraction. The artist who spout this one are in my opinion usually either A) Bad at what they do, or B) Afraid of criticism.

(5) I believe the orderly and inevitable 'PROGRESSION' of artistic movements and styles is an untenable myth. Facts of history do not equal 'forward progression'.

(6) Art, (and its messages and associations) are achieved from the perception by the viewer of the actual finished piece, NOT from its comparison by the viewer to a standard of NEWNESS or Innovation. 'Newness' quickly becomes 'Oldness'. Does that make the artwork not worth perceiving anymore?

(7) My advice: All Artists must beleive in what they are doing and like what they produce. If one loses touch with the personal judgement filter that tells each of us what is good and bad, one has lost it all. Never give up your taste, no matter what others tell you. You can change your tastes, even constantly, but you have to truly believe in your own personal judgements.

(8) It is clear to me that great 21st century works of art can be produced within the framework or iconography of so called 'old styles'. It is just as possible to produce a great 'impressionist' or 'surrealist' work today as it was in the nineteenth century or the 1930's. Why? Because what is primarily important is the perceiver's relationship with the associations of the CONTENT of the piece. Not the trendiness of it. The perceiver's relationship with the 'movement' is only an afterthought.

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