Friday 28 January 2011

But is it Art?

This week, my photo book Trafalgar 200 Through the Lens, was made available as an ebook by Amazon. In this format it can be very cheaply read in colour on PC, MAC, ipod, ipad and Kindle in black and white. Quite a significant step for the book, but perhaps not such a significant step for me, "an artist".

Trafalgar 200 Through the Lens
Tall Ship Grand Turk re-enacting the role of HMS Victory

Having prematurely retired from a health destroying career as a capitalist puppet, I decided to attempt to discover my philosophy, redefine my life and do something "useful". Photography seemed to be a suitable and readily available medium for me to enter the art world; particularly as I had been attending a fine art photography programme at Brighton University.

Having equipped myself with some pretty impressive pro photographers kit, I managed to nag my way onto a formal Royal Navy press accreditation list, competing with the likes of Reuters, The Press Association and Rupert Murdoch's Titles and amazingly got myself formalised as an independent Trafalgar 200 photojournalist. The Royal Navy gave me the red carpet treatment, affording me access to helicopters and just about everyone I requested, from the most junior naval rating right up to the First Sea Lord and from a distance, Queen Elizabeth. Trafalgar 200 Through the Lens was the result, a book of 400 photographs.

Since then five years of intensive fast track art education and experience have led me to question this book. Can I declare it art? Does it work as art? Is it valid for such a book to have duality of purpose, as an editorial journal and art?

For me, to qualify as art, my own work must be intentional and have a clear reason for being. Both achieved through a mix of research, intensive consideration, action as a consequence and self criticism. Much, if not all of my work aims to subvert conventional or establishment thinking. To present an alternative view for audience consideration. Many of the pictures in Trafalgar 200 Through the Lens are in line with this philosophy but my own text and captions subvert me and irritate me greatly. The texts and captions were written soon after my retirement from business and and reflect my establishment conditioning. My textual subversiveness meekly shows through in statements such as "Photographs will always be read in different ways depending on contextual, social, political and personal factors". This  attempt to have my audience read between the written and visual lines was feeble and ineffective. Today it would be different.

First Sea Lord Admiral Sir AlanWest
Today perhaps I would juxtapose Warlord with Accountable Human Lord

There has been an overwhelming temptation to withdraw the book and reissue it with new hard hitting social comments. But, that would be disloyal to the book, a denial of its status as an artefact, of myself and where I come from; my uneducated, rebellious Belfast roots through middle class indoctrination through to artist.

The book has had first class editorial reviews. The only art world comment invited so far was from a Cork Street Gallery owner who generously suggested, "it is an excellent editorial journal with some very good fine art content".

Amazon UK

Amazon USA

Addendum: For readers new to the never ending, "but is it art?", debate by the artworld, this link might perhaps be a useful starting point:  Marcel Duchamp, a short video on art on YouTube.

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