Discussion - is this guy an artist?
KellyR (525 pencils) | Thu, 2009-12-10 20:33I spotted this video on Yahoo news today.
The images and the artwork are fabulous, but I have to object to their terminology calling him an "artist who paints himself". It is clear in the video he has OTHER artists painting him. Maybe I'd call him a willing canvas with some great ideas with a team of talented artists. (I'm sure he directs what he wants, but again, he's not the one doing the photo-realistic painting on his body. He just sits there while others do the work on him.)
What do you think?
Neat images and ideas, though.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=17067606&ch=4226713
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If an artist is a brush yielding person, then no. If an artist however is a person who takes an idea/ concept/ etc. and turns it into reality, then yes. Who's the artist: Steven Spielberg or the camera crew?
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You don't need an idea or a concept to be an artist, just pure skill in something suffices aswell e.g. some painters who paint photorealisticly are still real artists.
I'm not sure weither the cameracrew of Spielberg needs to be really skilled though. If anyone can do the job, it's not an art.
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i'm pretty sure his camera crew is skilled and not just anyone could do it (at least not as well).
By all means, I'm not trying to reduce the skill of the videographers involved in Spielberg's productions... they are in the credits after all... my point is just because he's not holding the camera blah blah...
I'm not so sure about the skill thing though. Skill being your ability to wield your instrument - you can apply all your skill and still "create" nonsense.
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That's a good point, too, Mintsauce.
I think it's a collaborative effort by all - maybe they'd get my seal of approval (like that matters at ALL, haha!) if they announced it as an artists' group lead and directed by him, instead of pinning all the credit entirely just on the guy in the photos.
To me, it takes skill to paint photo-realistic. A larger skill to do it on a human body which would provide a pretty odd canvas. And even more skill to be able to meld that canvas into a background so it almost disappears.
Take Emma Hack, for example. She does the same thing on models, and it's fantastic. The model isn't receiving all the credit. The skilled painter is.
The man with the idea but that's just my opinion.
Surely he is just the subject? He does not paint himself and does not take the photo therefore he is just the subject.
Was Lisa del Giocondo ( Mona Lisa) the artist ? um... NO.
16 billion colours and you choose the one i cant create !??!
Maybe the idea was his.
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Actually, I think the Mona Lisa *was* the artist! Honestly, I firmly believe she is a self-portrait by Da Vinci. Do a mirror image of the portrait, as Da Vinci liked to do with his writings to be secretive or just clever, then layer it somewhat transparently over the known self-portrait that Da Vinci sketched in his old age, and you'll see a perfect match. That's the joke behind Mona Lisa's mysterious smile. I'm positive about it. Da Vinci loved to yank people's chains that way; some even say he was gay, which would kind of make the joke even more meaningful. Someday, someone famous will posit this, make a bloody fortune, and I'll feel vindicated, if not rich.
Mara
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The concepts and ideas are outstanding and indeed art but I think the photographers and the actual painters deserve just as much credit.
If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.
The reaction to the man's work (ie: this thread) proves he is an artist. Label him however you wish (painter, performance artist, whatever) - but obviously he falls into the very broad category of "artist".
I disagree that Mona is Leo in drag.
"Art -- the one achievement of Man which has made the long trip up from all fours seem well advised." - James Thurber
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Opinion of this particular person and others. I still lean towards a subject rather than self.
Quote drawn from Wiki:
"The sitter's identity was ascertained at the University of Heidelberg in 2005 by a library expert who discovered a 1503 margin note written by Agostino Vespucci.[12] Scholars have been of many minds, identifying at least four different paintings as the Mona Lisa[13][14][15] and several people as its subject. Da Vinci's mother Caterina in a distant memory, Isabella of Naples or Aragon,[16] Cecilia Gallerani,[17] Costanza d'Avalos—who was also called the "merry one" or La Gioconda,[15] Isabella d'Este, Pacifica Brandano or Brandino, Isabela Gualanda, Caterina Sforza, and da Vinci himself have all been named the sitter.[7][18] Today the subject's identity is held to be Lisa, which was always the traditional view.[12]"
Guess you really had to be there to know for sure.
"Art -- the one achievement of Man which has made the long trip up from all fours seem well advised." - James Thurber