Rembrant and the agument of the value in art

Here is a post in one of my new found art blogs that I posted about recently. After reading the post, looking at the picture and then reading the comments, I started to think, 'well this is very interesting'.

It's an argument (all though I'm not sure what side of the argument I'm on at the best of times) that I often have, sometimes just with myself if necessary. The argument is about the value of art and where it derives from. In this particular instance linked to above a painting of Rembrandt that experts have decided is not a self portrait by him, but rather a painting of him by one of his students has just sold for US$4.5 million instead of the predicted US$3,000 that would have been more appropriate of a painting of Rembrandt. So then the article and comments go on about how perhaps this buyer knew something no one else did, as a real Rembrandt can and does sell for US$25 million, in which case he got a bargain. And they say how it does look very much like a Rembrandt...

Well, this is the point of question for me. Should an art piece be worth something for who it is by or for its quality? If this painting was of a quality that it was almost impossible to tell that it wasn't a Rembrandt, then should it not be worth the same as Rembrandt? For what is it that made Rembrandt’s worth so much in the beginning, his talent, style etc?

The other side of the argument is of course that Rembrandt was the creative genus behind the style, and the copier of that style was just a copier. And of course the fame side of things comes in to play too; after all, most people would rather have a date with a famous person rather than someone that just looks like a famous person.

In reality, I would much rather have a real Rembrandt rather than a copy of a Rembrandt, but isn't it interesting, how much value we can put onto something and why!

rock

After not being too inspired to make many images of landscape type images for a while, when we drove past an area in the South Island, to my own surprise my camera almost jumped out of its sleeping bag. This image and the last several before it are all from the same area. My attraction to a very industrial landscape is evident here. I'm not sure why I like industry aesthetically as in general I'm a bit of a hippy (so I'm told anyway). Nonetheless I always come back to it, perhaps it is the age old 'man vs nature' that I like about it.

dream home

"As I progressed further with my project, it became obvious that it was really unimportant where I chose to photograph. The particular place simply provided an excuse to produce work... you can only see what you are ready to see - what mirrors your mind at that particular time.

-George Tice

Not too long ago I finished reading a book that I had been meaning to read for some time - Susan Sontags on Photography. Overall, it can be summed up to be a very good book on photography, written even though in the late 1970s it still pertains to today equally well. There were certain parts that I thought were overly verbose, and others that I thought were just plain opinion and not correct (according to my opinion anyway). But mostly, it had some good ideas and points, most ideas I had heard of or considered before, yet still really good to see it all worked through in words on paper. I will have to read it again, as it contains a lot of theory that can really only be absorbed upon repetition. The above quote is out of the book, and is one that I quite enjoy.

concrete (2)

Here is another image taken a few meters further down from the previous post concrete.


I think I'm almost starting to think of myself as an application writer rather than an artist. Just when I thought I'd done all of the ones I needed to do for this year, one more comes up. But I'm almost done now, and I was thinking, well, what do I do now. Then I realised, oh that's right... take photos! Ha! Very exciting.

Edward Winkleman

A new blog has come to my attention, I have found two posts that have caught my attention already, this and this.

Do have a look.

concrete

This was a very spooky kind of place, concrete looked as though it was dripping off almost everything. Concrete dust settles over the environment, and when it rains, it sets. Spooky also becuase of the number of Do not enter signs I had to walk past to make this image.

The penis tree

It seems that one of the recurrent themes on this blog has to do with phallic findings. I'm not entirely sure what this says about me.

Here is an interesting statement from this blog.

"There is little in the world of art more deflating (aside from the news of another $100,000 plus auction for a Tim Storrier work) than hearing an artist tell you what a work represents. This ascribing of absolute meanings to a work of art by its creator really puts the kibosh on any of the allusive, associative detective work that makes art fun, dare I say it, worthwhile even. Indeed, the idea that an artist sits in their studio and decides that they are going to create a work that “stands for” something is vaguely nauseating. The language games of the art and text people aside, shouldn’t art be doing its best work when it stands beyond the interface of meaning and identity beckoning us instead into the deeper water, where we can stand no more? Where we might drown? Choking our last on the pure waters of a “meaning” beyond attribution, distillation or comprehension? Otherwise we could all save ourselves some time and have the artist email us their wall texts."

baby

This is an image I took quite a while ago, but past over it, for some reason. I was looking through my files the other day and found it, it caught my eye. It's interesting how images can do that, some that I once liked, I don't, some that I onced ignored I now like. Time and circumstances can change our perception of what is good and what we like.

collectors special evening show

NZCP and Photospace had a special opening at Shed 11, for a special show. The Shed 11 Collectors' Evening.

artists included were the likes of - Peter Peryer, Ans Westra, Peter Black, Anne Noble, Max Oettli, Robin Morrison, Andrew Ross, Andy Palmer, David Boyce and... me!