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Thursday, 27 January 2005 |
Over the last few days I've talked about the relationship between art and photography, about how the technical aspect of photography might or might not be an integral part of the images, about stuff that shows that frankly, I think too much...
Where does my own work come into all of this ? Why do I make images, why do I take images of whatever it is I take images of ? The first thing to clear in this reflection is do I consider myself an artist ?
What the heck does it mean to be an artist ? This is a strange one, because many people who produce incredible works of art don't consider themselves artists, and many people who consider themselves artists produce well, crap... (some litteraly...)
I consider myself a photographer, which means that I am someone who takes photographs. Artist is such a loaded term that I find it hard to relate to it. Being an artist for means being part of the art community as a social activity, means trying to Be someone, being an artist has undertones of hypocrisy, contempt, considering yourself as a higher being, trying to be famous. I know very well that most artists are none of those things, but that's what comes into my mind when I hear the term "artist"... And don't get me started on "Artist statements" which are a tool of the devil, if you ask me... They are just a way for art historians to have an easier job classifying artists. They are a product of art schools. Art schools... Now that's a good subject... I understand the need of feeding on the experience and knowledge of experimented atists, I understand fully the reason for learning techniques and history and all that stuff, but someones doesn't become an srtist because he has gone through art school, and art school is far from being the only way to become an artist... (And then again, this reflection might be the voice of my own frustration at not being an "official artist" who's gone through the usual hoops...)
Now, back to being a photographer... Photography is a technical media, I've gone through that in the last few days, so in my opinion being a photographer means being in cotrol of the technical part of our work. Wether we stick to one receipe or experiment, a photographer needs to have some idea of what he is doing.  And my work of the last few years has been about getting this control, developping my technical skills, finding a "receipe" that works for me, and that will produce images of which I will be proud. There are already images in my work that I am pround of, this one here is a good example of one of my images I quite like. I am not denying the fact that it is an academic, classic nude, that it doesn't reinvent anything in the depiction of women in art, it's just a photo. It's an illustration of my learning process, in a way. One day I'll do better, I think. One day I'll find my own voice and produce amazing images which will be forever known and loved, and I will be famous, the most famousest of all photographers, living or dead. People will come from all corners of the galaxy to have their people taken by me... Or maybe not. I'll go back to my camera, and expose a few sheets of film I think... The rodinal must have gone up to my head... |
