I have the assignment this weekend of writing an artist's statement. Which feels a bit disingenuous because I feel like a poser. I'm an art student, not technically an artist, and making that transition -- mentally, if in no other way -- is challenging. Anyway, I've been thinking about what I'm trying to say with my art, what theme holds it together (if any), blah blah blah. I was driving home thinking about Goodness, Truth & Beauty, the threefold of expression of The Trinity, and how I hope that my work reflects a spiritual dimension that's characterized, at least in some limited way, in some measure, by Goodness, Truth or Beauty. Then I arrive home, walk through the door, and am stopped dead in my tracks by the afternoon sun pouring over these simple pumpkins ... and I just knew that I was on track with my artist's statement. Which photo do you like best?
7 comments:
for what it's worth, i like the first one. there's something striking about the white pumpkins, light, and shadow in both pics but i like the closer up of the pumpkins.
I love both of these. They remind me of Vermeer. I think I'll go with the bottom one. I like the square in the top left corner and the diagonal line in the bottom right that parallels a line toward the top left (and now that I can't see them, I've forgotten if it's light or what).
Before I read what you wrote, I probably would have said I liked the top one best because it has more punch--more immediate visual power. But then I read what you wrote and looked again; the second one stopped me dead this time and I thought, "Yeah, that's it. That one says truth, goodness, and beauty to me." Not sure why--the space around the pumpkins, the darkness at the bottom, the asymmetrical arrangement, the light's limited but penetrating reach--all somehow give context, the same way truth, goodness, and beauty show up all the more gloriously in their everyday, sometimes shadowed or lonely settings, which should overpower them but can't. I love it. I'd buy a print of that.
What's weird is that my first thought was the top one. Then I looked again and realized I'd changed my mind and preferred the bottom one. I think that means they are both powerful and speak... but each on its own terms. Maybe the top one is immediate as "truth" and the bottom one draws you in with its less obvious goodness and beauty.
compositionally, i like the bottom photo better. more breathing room around the pumpkins and more room to let the sun stretch out.
but the top photo looks more like a painting...
Bottom one.
I like the second one; gut instinct, merely on first glance.
And - for the record - I think you ARE an artist...
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