Friday, April 27, 2012

Thanks Google Plus

As of today I will not be able to post to this blog thanks to the fact my gmail address, associated with both this account and other google websites, is linked to a suspended G+ account - suspended mind you due to Google's crap attitude to pseudonyms... almost none of you whom are reading this would ever know me by the name on my drivers licence (which is the one Google wants me to use to unlock the account) and so would not know who the hell that person was if you met them online, unlike this name (quadrapop) which has been in use by me, quite legally, for 30 + years!




I have no idea if this will post - if it does at least you know why there are no more postings by me on any Blogger blog.

Sunday, July 25, 2010


Is This Art iPhone app... take a pic and submit...

Discovered via abc.net.au Artworks radio programme - info here

Friday, March 05, 2010

What is ART in virtual worlds...

I've not posted to this blog in a very very long time - but I have had a thought that fits this blog better than any of the others...

I am active in the virtual world of Second Life (SL) in the arts sphere - I co-host SL's current largest art competition in conjunction with the University of Western Australia's estate owner JayJay Zifanwe - and recently have found myself thinking about what constitutes art or rather Art (with the capital A) in SL and other virtual worlds.

Now in SL you can recreate parts of the real world (RL) quite faithfully and the majority of SL residents (users) do just this - they dress their realistic human avatar in realistic clothes and buy themselves "land" on which to "build" a realistic dream mansion, furnished with realistic dream "furniture" and art works.

To cater for the last requirement there are hundreds, if not thousands, of "art galleries" in SL. I've visited my fair share of these places during my travels and the majority are showing various forms of 2d art on a panel in SL - and frankly I have seen more interesting and stunning images on Flickr's Interesting slideshow(many of which are creative commons copyrighted in such a way that any resident could easily import them into SL and slap them on a prim for their virtual lounge room wall) or of you prefer virtual photography there are sites such as koinup which cater for virtual world imagery.

But what do we see on the majority of SL gallery walls?

Photos that, in most cases, would not get many views on Flickr and definitely would be unlikely to make the interesting page, pictures of mediocre paintings done by weekend painters and in some cases straight rip offs of RL artist's images found on the web (the latter being a situation that is likely to continue as the only way to get these things taken down is to get the original copyright owner (in most cases the estate or copyright holder of the long dead master's works) to lodge a DMCA with Linden Labs (the company that runs Second Life.)

This stuff on walls I do not class as SL art and most definitely not " SL Art" - at it's best it is advertising for a RL artist's commercial webpage.

There are stunning artworks in SL

Immersive, interactive experiences that are possible only in a 3d Virtual environment. These I class as Second Life Art, they are engaging and often thought provoking - in that wake you up at 3am manner - where the true meaning or portent of what you experienced only becomes obvious hours or days later.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

art is...


060505rock02
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.
sometimes about form...

and sometimes about what you see...

and sometimes is about pattern recognition....

Thursday, December 28, 2006

After Ruskin: what art is not (continued....)


060613leaves
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Art is not pure decoration
Art is not politics
Art is not made with an ideological motive as its prime reason
Art is not the sum of all life or experience



An aside that has little to do with the above but sheds some light on Ruskin


art is not...


greenlife
Originally uploaded by quadrapop.

Some thoughts on what art is not...

Art is not objects without anything to engage the viewer (this could be a contentious one)
Art is not objects that are banal, aesthetically uninspiring, or lacking in symbollic or informative conent - in otherwords meaningless
Art is not only process
Art is not mechanical

What is Art? An Opinion

Art exists as a method for the communication of various forms of
experience, be that emotional, intellectual, spiritual, political or conceptual. This occurs within a cultural environment. This communication takes the form of expression, physically and conceptually, of relationships of physical and/or conceptual objects, at one or more conceptual levels. Artistic expression is the result of intuitive invention undertaken with a sense of exploration, even of play, and a desire to communicate some concept or experience to others through a physical medium.

The people who take part in this intuitive invention identify themselves as artists. Art is what is encountered by any who come into contact with the objects or situations arranged by those artists. These people are considered to be the artist's audience.

To fully appreciate an art form the person experiencing the art may require some level of understanding - visual, aural, or conceptual - of the medium used, or its manifestation within its current cultural context.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

What is art?

A question that has occupied philosphers for generations and which is likely to keep many more generations of philosphers and artists busy in the future.

Here I will be setting out my thoughts, ideas and suggestions for answers to the question "What is Art?" and defining attendant concepts and terms.

Dont expect this to be a regularly updated thing (though if I get the time and inclination it may become so).

Do expect there to be images to illustrate concepts or points or simply to add atmosphere:-)