ART - not just pretty pics

It's been rather quiet on here of late!

I wonder what this lady would have made of HS2?

Tissot - Waiting for the train.JPG
 
For those of you who have a need to label non utilitarian visual work either as 'art' or 'not art' - here's an image for you to ponder on. If you recognize the face but can't quite place it - it's a portrait of the U.S. actor Kevin Bacon. First off, decide whether or not it deserves to be classified as art. If you think it warrants the art label, then decide how good you think it is.

565baconbacon.jpg

So, now you've looked at it, what's the verdict? Art or not art - good, bad or indifferent? The next question is: does the media that the artist used to make the portrait affect your decision? If it does, why? (These are rhetorical questions by the way - no need to post your answers!) The reason for this question is that if you've looked at the image closely you'll notice that the entire portrait is made from rashers of bacon - 15lbs of it. Clever eh, but is it art?
Tim.
 
An extremely interesting picture! (#305) Quite remarkable that it's made from bacon. Just looking at it, it's evident that it's done in an unusual medium but I don't think that detracts. Possibly, it looks a lot different in the flesh. But as far as I'm concerned I don't care whether it's considered to be "art" or not – if you like it, it's great; if not there's bound to be something else along soon that will suit.

Good on you Timsk for providing something different and a relief to all the cr@p politics that is going on at the moment. While we are on about art, here's a guy who painted some really nice pictures IMHO – Hugh Brandon Cox - specialised in Norfolk scenes. I've attached a sample of his work but the most remarkable thing is the guy himself – suffered numerous family setbacks during his upbringing and had a distinguished WW2 record. He decided he was interested in Arctic birds – so he went and lived with a Lap family for a year, and subsequently made natural history films for the BBC – now that's what I call walking the walk. Anyway, I'm off to Norfolk tomorrow to pick up one of his best pictures that has just been put up for sale by its original owner. HBC died in 2004, Biog here (very interesting read) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1453549/Hugh-Brandon-Cox.html

HBC.JPG
 
Kev in Bacon....whatever next!

Sorry couldn't resist.

I'll detract from making further rash comments.

OOps, here we go again.
 
Norfolk Art

sminicooper said:
An extremely interesting picture! (#305) Quite remarkable that it's made from bacon. Just looking at it, it's evident that it's done in an unusual medium but I don't think that detracts. Possibly, it looks a lot different in the flesh. But as far as I'm concerned I don't care whether it's considered to be "art" or not – if you like it, it's great; if not there's bound to be something else along soon that will suit.

Good on you Timsk for providing something different and a relief to all the cr@p politics that is going on at the moment. While we are on about art, here's a guy who painted some really nice pictures IMHO – Hugh Brandon Cox - specialised in Norfolk scenes. I've attached a sample of his work but the most remarkable thing is the guy himself – suffered numerous family setbacks during his upbringing and had a distinguished WW2 record. He decided he was interested in Arctic birds – so he went and lived with a Lap family for a year, and subsequently made natural history films for the BBC – now that's what I call walking the walk. Anyway, I'm off to Norfolk tomorrow to pick up one of his best pictures that has just been put up for sale by its original owner. HBC died in 2004, Biog here (very interesting read) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1453549/Hugh-Brandon-Cox.html

View attachment 247710
Click to expand...

Another Norfolk artist that has been overlooked or forgotten. Fantastic oil or water colour paintings from a man who began life in precarious health.
http://www.portlandgallery.com/artists/30911/edward-seago
 
timsk said:
For those of you who have a need to label non utilitarian visual work either as 'art' or 'not art' - here's an image for you to ponder on. If you recognize the face but can't quite place it - it's a portrait of the U.S. actor Kevin Bacon. First off, decide whether or not it deserves to be classified as art. If you think it warrants the art label, then decide how good you think it is.

View attachment 247708

So, now you've looked at it, what's the verdict? Art or not art - good, bad or indifferent? The next question is: does the media that the artist used to make the portrait affect your decision? If it does, why? (These are rhetorical questions by the way - no need to post your answers!) The reason for this question is that if you've looked at the image closely you'll notice that the entire portrait is made from rashers of bacon - 15lbs of it. Clever eh, but is it art?
Tim.
Click to expand...


are noseclips provided ? :rolleyes:
 
timsk said:
For those of you who have a need to label non utilitarian visual work either as 'art' or 'not art' - here's an image for you to ponder on. If you recognize the face but can't quite place it - it's a portrait of the U.S. actor Kevin Bacon. First off, decide whether or not it deserves to be classified as art. If you think it warrants the art label, then decide how good you think it is.

View attachment 247708

So, now you've looked at it, what's the verdict? Art or not art - good, bad or indifferent? The next question is: does the media that the artist used to make the portrait affect your decision? If it does, why? (These are rhetorical questions by the way - no need to post your answers!) The reason for this question is that if you've looked at the image closely you'll notice that the entire portrait is made from rashers of bacon - 15lbs of it. Clever eh, but is it art?
Tim.
Click to expand...

It's not art - it's not even a Full English.
 
timsk said:
For those of you who have a need to label non utilitarian visual work either as 'art' or 'not art' - here's an image for you to ponder on. If you recognize the face but can't quite place it - it's a portrait of the U.S. actor Kevin Bacon. First off, decide whether or not it deserves to be classified as art. If you think it warrants the art label, then decide how good you think it is.

View attachment 247708

So, now you've looked at it, what's the verdict? Art or not art - good, bad or indifferent? The next question is: does the media that the artist used to make the portrait affect your decision? If it does, why? (These are rhetorical questions by the way - no need to post your answers!) The reason for this question is that if you've looked at the image closely you'll notice that the entire portrait is made from rashers of bacon - 15lbs of it. Clever eh, but is it art?
Tim.
Click to expand...

I can't see it being sold for much (not that that means anything at all) as its shelf life is rather short.
 
White Cliffs

White cliffs.JPG



Here's a picture which wasn't painted by one of the world's leading artists. However, he was an accomplished playwright, composer, director, actor and singer in the day job: Noel Coward (1899-1973) – his art collection was auctioned at Christie's in 2015.
 
sminicooper said:
Here's a picture which wasn't painted by one of the world's leading artists. However, he was an accomplished playwright, composer, director, actor and singer in the day job: Noel Coward (1899-1973) – his art collection was auctioned at Christie's in 2015.
Click to expand...
This is an excellent example of a good amateur painting. It has a naive charm and nice brushwork as far as I can tell from the small low res' image. For me, what prevents it from being really good is the composition. I assume the post title 'White Cliffs' is also the title of the painting? Certainly, this would make sense, because if they weren't there or painted in medium to dark sludgy colours - the painting would be very dull. The white cliffs are what this piece is all about. Without them, it would be like Toad in the Hole without the toad, or Fish Pie without . . . So, what's my beef - or do I mean bacon?

Well, the issue I have is with the tree in the foreground - mainly the branch in front of the white cliffs. Rather than leading one's eye towards the cliffs - i.e. the painting's whole raison d'être - it detracts from them. The bow of the tree competes with the cliffs rather than complements them. To illustrate this point, imagine you were standing in front of the scene in real life and wanted to photograph it with a standard mobile phone. The phone's automatic focus function would select the tree branch rather than the cliffs. To get it to focus on the cliffs would not be easy. Not convinced? Okay, try this. Imagine the painting is a photograph taken with the mobile phone. What has the phone focused on: the tree or the white cliffs?

Is it art? Yes, I think so, just not great art.
Tim.
 
Last edited:
Agree with Tim's comments at # 317 – it's good to have comments from someone who's had some art training. The painting does have some sort of charm about it but the thing that leaps out straightaway to me is that it is so typical of so much amateur art. You see it all the time at amateur art exhibitions – interesting pictures that someone has put a lot of effort into but they just don't "have it". If I could paint a picture like that I would be very pleased with myself but it still would be very amateurish and not in the big boys league.

I always find with art – and it's funny how it nearly always works for me with the acknowledged great artists – that you look at it and you just know that it is "right". And you stand there and wonder how somebody could have so much talent to be able to produce something like it. I find it is a bit like charts in trading – quite often you just look at the chart and you know it's right for trade and other times it's just obviously not.
 
I'm going to have to start reading this thread again after being alerted to the last two posts !
 
I agree with Tim 100%.

"the acknowledged great artists " I find this too, although knowing someone is "great" makes me look harder to see merit if it doesn't strike me immediately.
 
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