Despite how ridiculous MySpace has become, there are still a few diamonds in the rough. I found this Paris based artist the other day by complete accident. Brilliant work.
Have a look at:
http://www.myspace.com/priscatemporal
http://www.priscatemporal.com
Barney Davey has posted an interesting article on absoluetarts.com, examining the life of the professional artist:
“The point of this essay is not to pity the artist, not to belabor the difficulty of the work and sweat involved in creating art and an art career. The point is to celebrate the artists you find a connection with, to honor them with not just your vocal appreciation of what they have done, but to put your money where your accolades are and buy their work. This Absolute Arts site is a shining testament to the abilities, hopes, creativity and determination of artists from all over the globe. Your one job as a visitor here is to take time to explore the site, to find a gem of an artist, to discover a piece of art that resonates like a finely tapped tuning fork in your heart and brain and to reach out and bring that art home.”
Read the full article at http://blog.absolutearts.com/blogs/archives/00000372.html
Or visit Barney Davey’s own blog at http://barneydavey.blogs.com/
While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.
-Dorothea Lange
If it’s a likeness, alone, it’s not a success. If, through my portraits, you can come to know the subjects more meaningfully, if it synthesizes your feelings toward someone whose work has imprinted itself on your mind–if you see a photograph and say, ‘Yes, this is the person,’ with a little new insight–that is a beautiful experience.-Yousuf Karsh
It fascinates me that there is a variety of feeling about what I do. I’m not a premeditative photographer. I see a picture and I make it. If I had a chance, I’d be out shooting all the time. You don’t have to go looking for pictures. The material is generous. You go out and the pictures are staring at you.
-Lee Friedlander, “Documentary Photography – LIFE Library of Photography”
Making pictures is a very simple act. There is no great secret in photography…schools are a bunch of crap. You just need practice and application of what you’ve learned. My absolute conviction is that if you are working reasonably well the only important thing is to keep shooting…it doesn’t matter whether you are making money or not. Keep working, because as you go through the process of working things begin to happen.
-Elliott Erwitt
To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.
-Henri Cartier-Bresson
I’m not a collector at heart. I’m never tormented by the longing to possess things. I’m quite happy with my pictures. I’ve been cohabiting with them for years now and we know each other inside out, so I feel I’m entitled to say that pictures have a life and a character of their own. Maybe they’re like plants they won’t really flourish unless you talk to them. I haven’t gone that far – not yet anyway. Lots of them behave like good little girls and give me a nice smile whenever I walk past, but others are real bitches and never miss any opportunity to ruin my life. I handle them with kid gloves.
-Robert Doisneau, “Three Seconds of Eternity” by Robert Doisneau
The element of discovery is very important. I don’t repeat myself well. I want and need that stimulus of walking forward from one new world to another. There is something demoralizing about going back to a place to retake pictures. You can no longer see your subjects in a fresh eye; you keep comparing them with the pictures you hold in your memory. [The] world was full of discoveries waiting to be made…(as a photographer) I could share the things I saw and learned…you would react to something all others might walk by.
Margaret Bourke-White, “Portrait of Myself” by Margaret Bourke-White
Let us first say what photography is not. A photograph is not a painting, a poem, a symphony, a dance. It is not just a pretty picture, not an exercise in contortionist techniques and sheer print quality. It is or should be a significant document, a penetrating statement, which can be described in a very simple term – selectivity.
Berenice Abbott, in “Infinity” magazine, 1951.
“The name of Leonardo da Vinci will be invoked by artists to prove that only a great artist can be a great technician. The name of Leonardo da Vinci will be invoked by technicians to prove that only a great technician can be a great artist.”
Alex Gross, East Village Other (1968)
Everytime I turn the camera on these guys I’m amazed at what comes out. Makes me wonder why I ever decided to grow up. Being an adult is over rated. Here’s to hoping that some of their childish ways will rub off…