October 3, 2004
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YES, BUT IS IT ART?
I'm thinking of seriously updating the Yes, But Is It Art Gallery? on the AllThingsMike website. I even created a new composite image (above), which, now that two hours have passed, is really all I have to show for the effort. The original pages were updated earlier this year, but I still don't have an overall "theme" for the section, and I haven't really been promoting the "art" aspect of AllThingsMike since I redesigned ElectricPoetry, and began the arduous task of transcribing a lot of the poetry. Since my left hand has regained a lot of it's strength, I have been toying with the idea of perhaps making some pencil sketches, but I never have disciplined myself in the first place when creating my "sketches". Most of them are over 15 years old now. I began a digital "pencil sketch" yesterday, of a street scene in Nantucket which I had photographed with the express purpose of making a sketch from it, but that was nearly five years ago, and I didn't like the beginnings of what I started yesterday. The composites are easy. I'm always getting inspiration, just surfing the web. But staring at a blank paper on which a poem should appear is far easier for me than actually summoning up the inspiration to draw.
The "Yes, But Is It Art? Gallery" includes, on the Drawings page, thumbnails of a half a dozen or so of my best "pencil sketches" done in the early eighties. The sketch above is a self portrait, and the original drawing is 19" x 24". The images were photographed with the old JVC digital camera on video and then transferred as a still in a computer video program. I haven't attempted to photograph any of these larger works with the new camera, but again, there are plans not only to take new photos of the works currently on the site, but some earlier and later ones I recently found. I never just "drew pictures" on the fly. I usually had an idea, and then executed it. I've been obsessing over what kind of "drawing" to do for this post, which details the "artistic" side of AllThingsMike, but since I haven't actually "drawn" anytthing, I'm posting the links anyway. I'll update when I finally retool the Yes, But Is It Art? section.
The drawing above, from 1977, was a rather impressive piece of detritus from my "drug period". I composed quite a few "works of art" while on unemployment the first time after Ole's Home Centers let me go. I was on unemployment for three months, in the summer of 77, and also wrote a good chunk of my "autobiographical novel" "Goin' Crazy". By the way, I do not condone drug use, but my "generation" was immersed in the culture in the 70s, and I've never apologized for it. Besides, the drawing is pretty good, you've got to admit.
The image above is "Earth Mother" © 2004, totally created "from scratch" in the Micrografx Picture Publisher program, (except for the cloudscape, which is a composited image from one of my photographs) and my most recent "drawing". The original photo of the gal, who belonged to one of the Poetry groups to which I belonged, looks pretty much like the image as presented here. I didn't "cheat" but actually "freehand drew" the image using pen and pencil tools and my trusty Wacom artpad. What I wanted to "present" today was to have been "new art" created this weekend, but I got antsy, and didn't finish anything I started. The first "inspiration" was a sketch of an American Bald Eagle. I wanted to "technically copy", freehand, of course, an Audobon print, but couldn't find an eagle among the drawings available online, so saved a photo of an eagle instead. So, two attempts (including the Nantucket street scene), and two misfires, and no fodder for the Xanga post this weekend, but, if your'e reading this, you probably haven't seen the images I'm presenting anyway, the "Art" logo at the top IS new, and I still have the post I planned. Albeit in a different form. (Even if I havent' actually updated the website. Hey, I opened the Dreamweaver program.)
The last image here is derived from one of my "art projects", some of which I do plan to exhibit on line someday when I figure out the best way of getting the images in the computer. This is a still of my old six foot high inflatable plastic Gumby astride my motorcycle in about 1989. Yes, Gumby is wearing a black leather jacket. I couldn't figure out how to get my motorcycle cap on his head. I made a "video" of "Gumby" turning into my driveway by "stop motion photography" like an animated film. Think of Wallace and Gromit except with Gumby. (Actually, a bit of Cartoon Information: Art Clokey used stop motion photography on both the Gumby and the Davey and Goliath shorts in the fifties and sixties.) I even attempted to transcribe some of the video stills, which are on VHS from back when I photographed video with my VHS camera into an animated gif, but lost the file moving from one computer to another over the years. Well, I haven't really "been creative" this weekend, but thanks to my Xanga, I've "thought" about it, and that must get me points.
Comments (33)
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SS.
I see you write poetry as well.
Mike...I found this post most entertaining...I loved the drawing from your 70"s period...lol...it is great!I always love searching through your work here...and yes Mike...it is Art! :goodjob:
Nice stuff! I dig it.
I had a thought at the end of your post...
The Stages of Creation
1. Ingestion (Research, surfing the web, going for a walk, reading a book, etc.)
2. Digestion (SubUnConscious thinking about it, staring at walls, writing on blogs, etc.)
3. Regurgitation (Creation!)
4. Pride/Regret (Nice work!/That didn't turn out well at all! -- Back to the old drawing board...)
:coolman:
PS: Gumby RULES! He was once a little green ball of clay, but you should see what Gumby can do today! He can walk into any book, with his pony pal Pokey too. If you have a heart, then Gumby's a part of you! :fun:
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