Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Fake?

Estranged

How many times have we heard this word being stamped on your artwork?
Or are pictures different?

This brings us to an interesting question. How do we decide whether an artwork is real or fake?
Does real mean a fresh out of the box idea? Or an old idea presented in a new way? Or the same idea presented in different ways?

What about pictures?
What is 'real'. Someone shouts out 'something that is not worked upon with software tools'. But then what about digital paintings? Is all that fake?
And that makes all the CG movies 'worked upon'. and fake.

And what about paintings? How would a painting be real? Only if you used brush and color? what if you used a spray paint, would that be fake too..? Adding clay in paint makes it 'worked upon' ? and what about re-touching a painting to add some more color.. Definitely fake i would say!

Why is there so much hue and cry over what is original?
When you see a photograph, does your emotion depend on which software was used to re-touch the picture? Does using external flash also makes it fake? and what about white balance.. is using long exposure fake too?

Where do we draw a line?
Why can't we just respect the time and effort someone has put to make his art look good.
When will we stop seeing the physicality,
When will an emotion overcome us,
Is it not our failure to observe, sense and absorb.
Why can we just not feel the art?
Why can we just not shut up?

2 comments:

Meghana said...

There are purists and there are purists. There will always be purists.
A picture should not be seen just as a picture taken. It says. and if a perfect, untouched pic says nothing, then it's utterly worthless.
There are times when an artwork is not accepted, but thats just a shallow understanding and appreciation of work. The attitude is - 'if it's not like mine, its not acceptable.'
Be true to yourself, what you are best at.
This pic says it's not fake.
And sorry... I can't shut up! :p

Unknown said...

March to the beat of your own drum,dear blogger.Self proclaimed purists have allowed their creativity to be limited by what they can see.They think not of what can be.If an image were to only capture a moment the photographer is merely doing a clerical job.God created.You came,saw,clicked.Big deal! Where's the vision.A pretty picture says nothing about your thought process.And there isn't any work involved.If making a good thing better were a crime,stalwarts who've done cover versions of songs should be dragged over hot coals.You're stuck in a rut and you like it there.So stay put,dear purists and shut the f up.Fear nothing,blogger.Do things your way.For that is who you are and nobody need tell you who to be.