Walter Logeman: Journal
I have some prints for sale on the up and coming, rather wonderful New Zealand website FELT. An online shop & Gallery that specialises in hand made arts. I selected these as they are diverse , fresh, and because I think they have a personal touch in their line, my hand is in them.
Here is one from my Thousand Sketches, click on it to see the others I have there. There are five in all so far. The editions of 25 are exclusive to Felt.
#0939 Pear Lemon Apple
Felt
Barry Humphries will go head to head with his alter ego, Dame Edna Everage, tomorrow in a public battle for artistic appreciation. The 73-year-old Australian star, who is recovering from peritonitis that almost killed him earlier this month, has decided to go ahead with the launch of his innovative online art gallery. Humphries has painted seriously since his teens and has agreed to be at the centre of a new art project that will allow internet users not just to download his work for free, but to alter it.
Free paintings and the right to alter them. I wonder if you can also sell them on!
I am interested as my own copyright is loose, but more restricted.
There is one difference, he has the original, in the case of my digitals you can access the actual original. (ask me for the URL)
I am looking forward to seeing these, when I find them I will make another post.
North Canterbury
A new project. Landscapes. Unsure as ever but need to follow this. As in the Earth Crosses the starting point is Thousand Sketches. One or two are coming straight over as part of the new series, but mostly I am redoing old ones and making new ones. I want to find about a dozen I like.
Some new aspects I am noticing. The calligraphic lines, all of them in this series. while digital, will have this, I am pursuing this. The other new thing is that I will use these sketches to make oils. I will post them as I do them but on the whole I’d like to present a selected set of them, digital images and corresponding oils.
What I like is that via the blog the unity of the work is maintained. These images can “phone home”.
I wrote this to a friend who commented on my work:
“The whole cyberspace side of it is important to me, I think it will impact art more and more. The objects, even when one off and in paint etc, can have a ‘virtual life’ as well, they can forever be linked to the artists words and to other items in the project or series… books & letters did it occasionally, but it was complex, hit and miss. I think it is a significant step in this era. So I am glad you noticed that aspect of the work.”
I listen occasionally to Brooks Jensen’s short podcasts on photography, they often apply to all art and creativity, he is a thoughtful man. The Lenswork publication is beautiful. The website is beautiful. He has a great piece about printing images, all of which I fully concur with.
Here is the full archive: LensWork Recent Podcasts
I just listened to this one: LW0405: Considering Content, Considering Medium
It talks about the presence of the hand of the artist. So that is right on topic with the stuff I was looking at re Walter Benjamin recently. The useful point he makes is that some art is more hand-dependent than others, I am not sure if that is his word or not. Painting is at one extreme, and photography on the other.
Which makes images that are made by hand, but digital an interesting case in point. The hand is more there in the file, but when it comes to reproduction it is much like a photo.
My sketches work quite well if they are just printed on some machine in a store, but they loose a lot. The prints I make are another whole story, it has taken me a long time to perfect my technique, and there are rejects as I learn. I have found better paper, and I now have better mastery over the software, ie the colour.
So when I sign a print it means I am satisfied it is as good as I can do it.
The great masters of the darkroom probably have a strong hand in the work as well. Look at this by Sally Mann for instance.
There are a few twists to this reflection…
One is that my printing of the images influences what I make when I make digital images. In some deep way where medium is the muse, but I will tweak an image to make it work well as a print, and then the final version is posted on the net. This means it works well on my combination of screen, software, hardware paper & ink. That will be hard to replicate ever again! (I can’t always do it!)
When I do sign something that is 100% hand-dependent.
The other thought I had is that somewhere, sometime, someone and they may have already done it for all I know one of my images is presented in a way that is just wonderful. My hand, their craft.
I have been thinking about my lines & pleased with this little sketch:
This image is availalable printed in a limited edition. It is available exclusively on Felt, a New Zealand Art & Craft website.