[Fwd: long Re: CHECK THIS OUT!]

From: Steven Pollack (themissinglink@eznetinc.com)
Date: Mon Feb 15 1999 - 21:09:43 EET


attached mail follows:


How did this discussion become about art? Now I love to question and debate
"what is art?" and I will in the next paragraph but my initial forray into
this subject was whether there could ever be 500,000 commercially viable
fabbers brought about by cheap RP. I initially made the point that the
internet did not create 500,000 new publishers and I stand by that but the
counterpoint was also made that, indeed, there are millions of websites which
are like publications and I can sort of agree with that too. The point to me
though is that while I now have the ability to create my own publication, and
I can also peruse millions of other "publications", I still buy a newspaper, a
few magazines, and an investment newsletter. The hobbyist web publisher had
some, but not major, consequences for traditional publishers. Millions of new
"publishers" offer a limited quality of NEW information. Now many people did
offer to post their education and knowledge up to the internet, and I view
this as a massive encyclopedia of knowledge to be referenced at 37,333bps
which is in itself amazing, yet I could have always troubled myself to go to
the library for such information.. But I do not see that peoples creativity
was tapped. I do not notice people now being more expressive due to this
access to the marketplace of ideas. I see much aggregation of content
websites and the creative people now have a much better and direct access to
the consumer of creativity. Matt Drudge was always going to make it into
writing as he fought to gain inside access to a media job. The internet did
not tap or create his passion and skill at reporting, it enabled it. And my
view of RP has always been that it will level the playing field between
craftsman/artist and large manufacturer. It is a tool which knocks down many
barriers to entry and economies of scale. It is an enabling technology which
allows the small talented craftsman/artist to become financially viable as a
small enterprise instead of being forced into the creative department of a
monolithic multinational.

Now about art. What is art and is it different from craft? Is a Picasso
art? Is a numbered lithograph art? Is a mass produced poster of a Picasso
art? These three last questions lead to my decision that art is about
numbers. Art to me is anything which is one of a kind. A kohler faucet is
inspired by the same pit of creativity as a painting. The painter usually
means to sell his product as well as the faucet designer, so it is not about
commercial versus purist expression. I am a goldsmith. Jewelry is usually
relegated by the art world as craft. Why? If I spend twenty hours creating a
beautiful one of a kind piece, original design, how is it any different from a
sculptor whose work does get accolades in the art community and can be placed
in a museum? Is it because jewelry is "functional"? Many museums of modern
art have performance and situational art. Why would body adornment be
different? SO I disagree with the art world about what is art and view that
world as somewhat self protective. Is art about time spent on a project? An
oil which takes months versus an art fair wall decoration which is not
considered art due to is ease? If time spent on a project constitutes art
then CAD/CAM will be precluded. But serios museums include white pictures
with a big black dot on it so time spent must not be the answer. So does art
require making things the old way, with old tools? No. I reject the "art
world" as self protective exclusionary. Art is one of a kind, and original.
In my opinion. CAD/CAM can be art. Here is your piece and here is the disk.

Art requires the artist to constantly strive to discover what is new. Many
"designer name" jewelers like David Yurman never explore the new. They
develop a marketable look and spend years applying it to new products. It
reminds me of a wealthy lady who came into my store with her numbered Channel
ring telling me how valuable it was because it was number 358/2900. I sold
her a $4,000 one of a kind piece with the understanding that I would never
produce it again. 1/1. I never could have produced it again as I had built
it around a very unusually shaped stone. There is nothing more painful to me
than making the same piece twice. Just as there is nothing more exhilerating
than the challenge of a design I have neither seen nor tried before. It is
indeed hard to make a living creating and selling one of a kind pieces. The
problem is not that I run out of new concepts and ideas, but that there is no
economy of scale in doing one of a kind work. I can have a full box of work
and make a decent $40,000/year living by selling and creating $300,000 in
jewelry. But I can make no more unless I am willing to standardize and
reproduce some pieces using molds and assembly line practices. To me, that is
the day I go from artist to merchant. RP will give me the ability to be
rapidly creative. I let so many ideas slide due to lack of time. The wax
model takes 4-8 hours by hand. The idea takes 20 minutes. Now, I can make
3-4 pieces per week because that is all the bench time I can commit to with
all my other responsibilities, including sales. If I could wake up to a brand
new wax everyday, I could produce alot more unique pieces of art.

Yes, please post this entire discussion to RP.

Steve

michael rees wrote:

> Brock,
>
> You make a lot of nice points there. But I have to disagree with one
> that I hear all the time. It goes like this "Creativity is not
> widespread". Now I know I circulate in a world that is full of creative
> types, and that my opinion is slanted, but I see creativity everywhere.
> I see people just dieing to get it out. They're crying for it. As it
> becomes commonplace for people to work for several employers through out
> there life, this human value--creativity--will have greater expression.
> Most people get creativity banged out them because they're constantly
> told they can't make a living like that. Well I'm I struggle more than
> thrive, but I am middle class. AND I LOVE WHAT I DO! This goes back to
> something the German Artist Joseph Beuys said: "Everyone an artist,
> Everyone a human wealth potential." IT IS NOT JUST THE DOMAIN OF
> ARTISTS!
>
> My 2.5 cents.
>
> best,
> --
> michael rees SCULPTOR http://www.sound.net/~zedand00/
> 1212 w 8th St. Bldg B #2, 816 753 3020 voice zedand00@sound.net
> KC, Mo 64101 816 753 1542 fax

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