Wednesday, March 18, 2009

are my art alley photos art, or simply photos of art in an Alley


I took photos while I was out of town (March 13-18) but neer the internet and my computer at the same time.  So here are some pictures from Art Alley in Rapid City.

I guess this whole post poses the question as to wether these photographs are art or not.  Is my taking a photograph (forming a composition of color and shape) of someone else's work, and then editing it really art?  It was art in the public domain and I am not claiming the work as my own, so its not illegal or wrong, in any sense, but is it art?  In regards to the pipes that I photographed now and previously, were they art when I went in the dark room developed the film and the images, then used various darkroom techniques, or are my pictures art now that others have altered them, are they even art in real life?  Is the series of images of the pipes over time to crate a sense of time a body of art?  I don't know, but here are my photographs from the past 6 days.


This was gorgeous.  The piano keys with lyrics continue under the stair way but there were nice cars in the way so I couldn't get a better angle.  From the stairs must suffice. 

The Music Lives!
An over turned trash can in downtown Rapid (I don't remember where). 
This guy looked ridiculous.  I saw the cigarettes a couple feet away and it seemed like he could have at one pint been holding a cig.  I thought it was interesting to juxtapose the 3-D object and the 2-D image.
An interesting example of how art alley morphs (the tore background paper and the peeling sign, also the spray paint over top).  That thing in the lower right hand corner of the image is a dumpster.  It seems like there must be a deeper poetic meaning behind this scene as well (I haven't figured it out).  Any ideas?
The mosaic pieces were interesting.  I really didn't do the best at photographing the tiles, but then again I didn't really try.  I still like this.
I really like the shape that the black creates among the brightly colored background.

I have some B&W photography of these same pipes from 3-4 years ago, when there were only traces of some black paint that had dripped on them.  In that series there are some double negatives as well as solarizations.  


~fiji

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