Just a couple days after PetaPixel posted back to back articles on two very dedicated practitioners, I stumble across the work of Markus Brunetti. What caught my eye was a small photograph printed in a recent The New Yorker magazine. Out to the 'net I went to do a bit of research.
M.Brunetti creates large highly detailed prints of the facades of buildings. His work concentrates on western European religious structures such as cathedrals, basilicas, and churches. At first the images seemed simple, almost simplistic. Yet there is something quiet and vaguely compelling about what the artist has achieved.
Looking to understand M.Brunetti's work, I found this critique. The author considers Brunetti's work in the context of photo, architectural, and art histories. It's a long article and the author has a lot to say about topics that I tend to reduce to "if I can't feel it or if I need to have it explained to me, then you've lost me and I'm ready to move along." I was ready to drop it and try something else. But for some reason I recognized I might yet again be headed down that familiar path and wondered why I shouldn't stop and think and read and ponder. So that's what I've done.
Toward the end of the critique the author talks about Orson Welles 1974 film F is for Fake. In the film Wells asks questions about art, its nature, and our relationship to it. The more I thought about the questions, the more I realized their potential importance in helping me grapple with the what/why/where of photography.
In the original text, the Welles questions ran together in a long paragraph and I was quickly lost in a sea of words. For this blog entry I have broken each question out into their own standalone paragraph. It helps me see more clearly and helps me concentrate my considerations, musing, thoughts, theories, and answers.
What do we want from art?
What do we want from artists?
Can we know the deepest secrets of creativity?
How far will dedication and technique carry us?
Can we ever know the full meaning of what we create?
Why do we value the maker when what they make is intended to outlast them?
What is a collective artistic endeavour?
I have no answers to any of the above. Not yet, at least. But something tells me these are indeed some of the best questions we can ask.
M.Brunetti creates large highly detailed prints of the facades of buildings. His work concentrates on western European religious structures such as cathedrals, basilicas, and churches. At first the images seemed simple, almost simplistic. Yet there is something quiet and vaguely compelling about what the artist has achieved.
Looking to understand M.Brunetti's work, I found this critique. The author considers Brunetti's work in the context of photo, architectural, and art histories. It's a long article and the author has a lot to say about topics that I tend to reduce to "if I can't feel it or if I need to have it explained to me, then you've lost me and I'm ready to move along." I was ready to drop it and try something else. But for some reason I recognized I might yet again be headed down that familiar path and wondered why I shouldn't stop and think and read and ponder. So that's what I've done.
Toward the end of the critique the author talks about Orson Welles 1974 film F is for Fake. In the film Wells asks questions about art, its nature, and our relationship to it. The more I thought about the questions, the more I realized their potential importance in helping me grapple with the what/why/where of photography.
In the original text, the Welles questions ran together in a long paragraph and I was quickly lost in a sea of words. For this blog entry I have broken each question out into their own standalone paragraph. It helps me see more clearly and helps me concentrate my considerations, musing, thoughts, theories, and answers.
What do we want from art?
What do we want from artists?
Can we know the deepest secrets of creativity?
How far will dedication and technique carry us?
Can we ever know the full meaning of what we create?
Why do we value the maker when what they make is intended to outlast them?
What is a collective artistic endeavour?
I have no answers to any of the above. Not yet, at least. But something tells me these are indeed some of the best questions we can ask.
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