RE: Presentation Question

I agree. But by "proper" what I meant was the basic, (reputedly) immutable
standards, like working around the golden rectangle, using the rule of
thirds, and striving for permanence, for example, as a starting point.
Sure, there are some who view art as a transient thing, and for them, a work
that fades and changes over time is a good thing. Even those thick black
frames might work in another installation.

Back to my original issue, I think a visible artist's imprint actually ends
up detracting from the real artwork for most casual viewers (does anyone but
an appraiser really need to know what print this is of an edition?), and
it's actually there as a selling point most of the time. But for me, it's
interesting and informative just to see the artist's handwriting, so that
adds to the experience. In this case, I didn't want my work to come off
like one of those blown-up supersaturated color prints with the
photographer's signature in gold marker on the image that seem to fill all
the photography galleries around here, nor did I want to do anything that
might cause harm to the print over time.

That said, I don't think we should be constrained to hard and fast rules, as
long as we understand why the rules evolved. After all, we're
non-conformists by definition, since we aren't producing photographs and/or
art in a mainstream way.

-Schuyler

-----Original Message-----
From: Judy Seigel [mailto:jseigel@panix.com]
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 8:06 PM
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
Subject: RE: Presentation Question

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004, Schuyler Grace wrote:

> .... And if the final product isn't presented
> properly, all the effort expended on the process can be wasted ...

My alarm bells ring for this one... if we are supposed to be freethinking
creative artists, we ought to be able to present work according to our own
freethinking creative sensibility, not by what is all too often a lifeless
convention.

I recall some time around 1980, the first show of work I'd ever seen by
Bea Nettles. I *loved* her work in books, but when I walked into the
gallery all I could see was a row of same size black wood frames the
length of 3 walls. The work, neatly matted inside, was invisible.

So today you probably wouldn't put your work in thick black frames... But
that was the "proper" thing then. Beware...

Judy
Received on Sat Sep 11 02:10:18 2004