PhotoLedger: Painting – Photograph

A painting looks like a photograph; a photograph looks like a painting.

I like paintings because it is the headline of art. It’s the prominent art form that I first think of when ‘art’ is brought up. It’s meticulous and expressionist.

I like photographs because they capture real life moments. They are testaments of how the world looked like.

I like it when painting and photographs cross boundaries, you don’t know which is which. It’s impressive to create one that rims in the slim distinction between painting and photograph.

This artwork is by Frans Lanting:

This artwork is by Alyssa Monks:

Whose work is painting? Whose work is photograph?

Graffiti is Art, is Not.

Some are pleasing to see, while many are appropriated as vandalism.

A modern city, with clear cut architecture, black and white picturesque, is lacking color. Art is a wonderful output of humans, yet less space is allotted to it.

You cannot hang a painting on the streets – it’ll get stolen in a heartbeat. People can’t perform on the wall as if in a theater – it’ll increase the crowd. So in what form can art be in the city? Graffiti is a debate.

Is Art.

Photo from Fabrizio Morroia’s flickr

Have you seen a wall? It’s as boring as it gets. It’s a blank vertical, too simple to insinuate anything other than set a boundary. It’s like a canvas; the purpose is served in the event of art creation. Graffiti makes a wall interesting, deserving a longer glance. Even appreciation.

Photo from Nagarjun Kandukuru’s flickr

Is Not.

See the Graffiti above? Our perceptions may differ; but for me, this looks dirty. There is even more intense drawing than that, which I chose not to coalesce in this post to maintain decency. Kyla Brooke asked if Graffiti is really an art, or vandalism. I think it is vandalism when people mess up with a wall that is not their property. Yet, if it is your property and you put up a design that’s funky and overwhelming, would we accept it as a “design”?

Art, vandalism, design, where would you put Graffiti in?

PhotoLedger: Flying by Sachigusa Yasuda

Sachigusa Yasuda, an artist from Tokyo, features a desolate perspective on being an elevated ground. 

She takes us to the view of looking down the earth from a skyscraper through her digital photography. And it was excellent.

The experience of her Flying photos was as if you were on the edge of a building’s window, your eyes coordinating with your mind in magnifying the distance to the ground. Some people feel nauseated by the photo, fearing the heights.

What do you feel about this? I’m kept between praising human’s brilliance of industrial design and longing for the natural view we should be seeing but obstructed by these buildings.

The Art For You

There is at least one form of art you don’t like, yeah? And you have your favorites.

21st Century Art Appreciation. Photo from artsbeatla.com

I opt for the art of writing, especially writing for a blog. It is because there’s freedom to write all that sprouts out of my moody mind. At times, my posts will have less than a hundred words while you can find articles that have more than a thousand words. As long as I don’t force it, I don’t care. Writing all of it is fun, and reading all about my interests is fun as well.

I have different masks for the art of literature. I fancy short story and novel; however, I don’t dig poetry, especially the one’s you just knit your brows and say “is this about something or just a jumble of vocabulary words?” The artsy and literary ones are repelling for me – those that only the author and a few nutty writers could understand. I mean, it defeats the purpose of writing when majority of the readers couldn’t grasp the message of the text.

PhotoLedger is a category I put up in this blog to give appreciation for the photos that stood out in the windows of my eyes. I’m a photography aspirant myself, and I believe that the most creative captures I got are out of my crazy probing. However, I’m not sure if photography can be in the shelf of art because it’s damn easy. Any person with a camera could call themselves a photographer, which is everybody.

Leonid Afremov’s Painting

Paintings are the least I appreciate. Yeah, I see the beauty in it. I stood witness of the artist’s passion in his or her masterpiece, and it’s a noble profession since most artists’ greatness will only be recognized as time elapses; sometimes they have already passed away. But in an exhibit, I will only look at a painting for a second (literally, I timed it) and move on to the next. There’s no need for me to come back, take a closer look or a longer time. But then, you’ll see my house with paintings because it’s more valuable than just a typical photograph.

I must say I have a young infatuation with Abstract paintings. Probably because it manifests the irrefutable complexity of life, but mainly because it gave my doodles a hope to be called art. At some point I though I was good at drawing, then I showed it other people and then they didn’t say anything (maybe my art takes longer time to be appreciated!). Animated movies and video games, which are still series of drawings, are plain fascination. I see the effort to take something from reality and present it imaginatively.

I sing and dance, but I don’t show it. I act everyday, in front of people and in front of mirror. Performing arts are the best, if you ask my preference. I love film and theater, and it will be moments of ecstasy for me when compelling storylines and true music are rooted in it. I say true music because the prevailing music of today was fake in a sense that it only resonate each other – the music’s industry is for the money, not for the art.

From sculpting to crafting and designing, what form of art do you mostly appreciate?

More Moments for you:
Artist Apprised: Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors
What If.. Earth is Purgatory
Life’s Best: Feel Good Movies

PhotoLedger: Bubble

Reflex should be faster that the burst of a bubble. 

Bubble Photography. Photo from crookedbrains.net

You know bubbles. It is just air entrapped by some kind of liquid. We loved it when we were younger as we try to pop every single we see. A mere touch will explode it, so capturing the action in a photograph is a deal with timing.

Bubble photography amazes me. It takes a simple act of joy to the level of immense creativity. Tom Falconer’s flickr has a great set of bubbles in photos.

More Moments for you:
PhotoLedger: Camera View
PhotoLedger: Starry Night
Life’s Best: Sun