Permission To Suck

Did You Make Art Today? – The Swanko Solution

Monday, July 19, 2010

I have a friend who asks at the end of a shoot, “Did you make art today?” “I think so” was my typical response because I’m never sure what I did with my camera that day will be considered art. Thinking back, it’s probably because I’ve assessed too many contact sheets and digital proofs filled with prosaic visual records.

You Waiting for Permission?

Monday, June 7, 2010

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What is the street artist’s intent? Anti-social pop art with an extreme satirical point intended for consumption across all socioeconomic barriers, or is it hype driven brandalism by an artistic terrorist bent on pulling one over on a naïve culture?

The Vernacular Photograph an Accidental Masterpiece

Thursday, May 6, 2010

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Like colloquial speech is to literature, vernacular photography is any type that isn’t intended as art. "There are no accidental masterpieces in painting, but there are accidental masterpieces in photography." - Chuck Close

Your Art is a Personal Transformative Truth – Raghava KK

Thursday, March 25, 2010

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I think maybe we are fortunate to be living a global transformation. You’re trying to find solid ground and if you’re lucky you won’t find it too soon or if you’re Raghava KK you move on as soon as the ground stops shifting.

What I Learned from John Maeda, I Used on the Beach

Monday, March 22, 2010

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Complexity assaults me because I’m not close enough to what’s important or it overwhelms me because I haven’t stepped back far enough. John Maeda wrote the laws of Simplicity a few years ago and I pressed a few into service on a trip to Bulls Island, SC.

Finger Painting Is My Instrument of Survival

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

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In this video interview, Milton Glaser offers a definition of art, or at least what art isn't. “If it moves you to attentiveness it is art, if it doesn't it's something else.” - Milton

The Modern Kitsch Experience

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

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Defining art has never been all that controversial; it’s the "good" part that carries the debate. New tools have made discernment tougher still. It’s not all that hard to make the work appear good through imitation or mechanized craft and then assert its worthiness.

Food for Thought – James Geary’s Metaphor

Thursday, February 25, 2010

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Visual metaphor is not only the staple of advertising but the backbone of all art. James Geary points out in his TED presentation (embedded) that metaphor is when we perceive X = Y. Though, in our struggle to understand visual abstractions, I believe we search for metaphor rather than analogy. We adore closure.

Mapplethorpe isn’t famous for flower pictures

Thursday, January 21, 2010

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It’s not hard to find the uniqueness of Mapplethorpe’s work whether it’s a flower, a penis or a portrait. R.M. civilized the shock of sex, violence and race - localized our fears, lust and hopes with ambiguous well crafted works. He succeeded in such a powerful way that it’s spawned countless derivatives.

So Where is the Democratized Artistic Genius?

Monday, January 18, 2010

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Evidently neither technology nor egalitarianism does anything to stir the soul, yet, Rauschenberg erases beauty and inspires – or provokes - the heart of an artistic movement. Watch a short video interview with Rauschenberg about his erasure of a de Kooning masterpiece.