the continuing question of (f)art

Again, is it “art” if one of the tools used to create it has a mind (algorithm) of its own? Is it “art” if it is just well crafted? Is it “art” if it has no purpose other than to break up space on the wall behind your couch? I think it makes no sense to be so divisive. That is, until divisiveness is in my own best interest, and then I’m all for it. One must fight art disease at every turn. [The term art disease was coined in the 1970s by conceptual artist Richard Olson who defined it in terms of “the hardening of the categories.”]

With that bit of stupidity out of the way, I present to you a recent example of my electronic drawing, painting, and/or print making. The question is really, “does it make you feel anything? Is there an emotional response?” (and, again, not a rhetorical question.)

“I Am” Electronic Print. ©2016 Stuart Dummit

 

preposition proposition

March 14, 2016

a.k.a. Pi Day, or even better, Rounded Pi Day     3.14 16. 𝛑

Here I am, sitting in my chair near the kitchen window. If I were to write instead, “Here I am, sitting in my chair at the kitchen window,” how would that make you feel? What would that communicate to you? Is it a matter of fact, or a matter of style? Is there some information here that is essential for you? These are not rhetorical questions. This is an inquiry.

I want to be able to communicate in both broad, lustrous strokes as well as fine, elegant painted-in edges. I seek a way of writing that moves effortlessly from macro to microscopic and then back again. There is a dream in me, not fully realized, that shifts frames of reference with silky ease and with brutal crashes. There is a hope, a desire, and as stated earlier, a dream, to coddle and coax and bash and fuck language, the language I am most familiar with, American English, like clay or steel, oil paint or waßerfarben, and reveal layer after layer of emotion, meaning, intent and wonder. And to that end, I ask a question: can the mere substitution of a preposition either subtly or outrageously influence the flavor, not just the meaning, but the olfactory memory of a scene?

Concern

This is another drawing that has been manipulated by one of those generative apps used by thousands to make their pictures more “unique” and “individual,” like all the others. I’ve been using them as a midpoint in the process to drive the image in a different direction and then to use the choices I’ve made and the choices made by the app algorithm as creative nourishment. It is all so absurd when I think about it, but the point is to, a) express something within me, and then, b) elicit an emotional response within you, the viewer. If it is working, then I’ll continue until I’m bored or have nothing left to say along these lines. If it isn’t working, well, then somebody better tell me. Thank you.

Per usual, this image is ©2016 Stuart Dummit. All rites reserved. ▽△