Accessible Art Workshop

Fifty Four art workshops took part in the exhibition of artwork in Barcelona, all under the same roof. There are in abundance the kind which combines workshop with art-shop, where you can often see how these art work are put together and, if you should so wish, you can buy on the spot. Or commission to have what you don't see there done or made for you specially.

Especially those which are purely workshops, appreciate this bridge of communication directly with the prospective clientele, or simply with spectators who admire the work, with enough taste and knowledge in art to appreciate and revere, but not to buy for any number of reasons; lacking ready funds being a very likely deterrent. Nevertheless, their reactions and comments are welcome and serve to put the artist more in touch with what is in trend or in demand.

Some artists expressed their views that before the innovative idea of this exhibition, in which artists and clients can communicate face to face, and even discuss all aspects of art related views and opinions, keep them much more up to date with the market. Usually they work very much alone the whole time, pouring all their imagination and endless hours of work in their creation, only to find that the finished painting, sculpture or whatever other art objects, didn't seem to interest many, and they had little idea why.

I am not at all sure about "made to measure art" of any kind. Not if you detach yourself from the commercial side of their success, practicality or popularity that is. I feel art must come totally from the artist, from his imagination, his prospective, and his way of interpretation. If dictated to produce art of this and that dimension, restricted use of colour, limitation of theme or presentation ..... the finished work has little to do with the artist's own artistry any more, but merely the hired hand, skilful, but void of spirit that represents his talent which, in turn, shows in his work. It resembles a forgery, but with consent of the buyer, because the latter is the one with the idea, lacking only skill to transform it into art.

That's not to say it's wrong either. I also admire tremendously some forgeries, so very exact and supreme as the original, and often appreciated by thousands. Until, by chance or design, one expert comes along to say that it's not the real thing. It was immediately abandoned as if It's garbage by those who were prepared to pay millions for it just minutes before the pronouncement. Can anyone really say that these are not done by talented artists?

Tags:Art,Workshop,Exhibition,MadeToMeasure

Current Mood: Artistic

Philosopher & Philosophy

Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you either hear or are about to repeat a rumour.

In ancient Greece (469-399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance that ran up to him excitedly and said,

"Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student, let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued.

"You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really..."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"

The man was defeated and ashamed. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

It also explains why he never found out that Plato was sleeping with his wife.

Tags:Socrates,rumour,filter

Current Mood: Accomplished

PlayStation Blamed For Baby Death

Each time I thought I had been shown the worst and most cruel action one human being could do to another, someone else would appear to have done something far worse, more cruel and senseless. Luigi D.G. a local young man of 19 was in court this morning, having admitted he had beaten his stepson of 11 months to death. Simply because the baby had interrupted the video game he was playing. He blamed it all on the PlayStation!! Not sure whether he had been advised by his lawyer to plead guilty on grounds of temporary insanity; he had certainly quite readily admitted the fact that he had indeed killed the baby. He claimed that he was so addicted to video games, he couldn't help losing his head when the baby interrupted the game, just when he was about to reach the end, winning. The Game was " Mortal Combat ", in which one is to kill the adversary before he could get to the next level, and has to continue killing all in his way to become the winner at the end. The baby grasped his hand while he was just about to make a critical move, so he turned around, beat the baby on his head, his stomach, and his back, with all his force fuelled by fury, for a full 4 minutes till the little one collapsed, dead. Then, would you believe it, he cleaned up the baby a little, even changed his diaper, sat the limp body on the sofa next to him, and resumed his game! This odd sequence of actions alone was used against him by both the prosecution and the psychiatrist, that he was not insane at the time, but knew exactly what he was doing. They pronounced that the PlayStation was the excuse, not the cause. He is likely to get a 20 year sentence. Today's societies are weird beyond my understanding, like those murders of teenagers in London recently every few days, and to have people like Luigi, capable of killing his own stepson, a totally innocent little baby, in such violent act. And the incredible behaviour of the young mother, who had continued to stay with him while he waited for the court hearing, and now pregnant, seemingly matters little or nothing to her that she would be bringing another baby into the world, to live with this heartless and inhuman man as his father and her husband.   Tags:VideoGame,PlayStation,BabyKilling

Current Mood: Angry

Video Online - YouTube & Others

Perhaps you know already that YouTube is not the only one, nor the best video online. It has though, something for the rest of the sites offering similar service to envy. The vast quantity. Because of that, more visitors - and because of that, more merchandise attracting more advertisers - and because of that, more income - and because of that, YouTube is the most well known and successful video online to share life and interests. It has apparently captured 9 million users in a month, in Spain alone, according to the latest figures given by the Nielsen NetRating consultants. Each minute the YouTubers upload about 10 hours of images on the web. Their easy to use format has made them the major "Videoteque" on Internet.

But I found that some of it's contents are just plain disgusting and horrifying. In 2008 precisely, 3 young men from Spain were arrested by the police, for having posted 8 videos they had made with their mobile, and for 6 months displayed on YouTube, in these were shown how, all of them, bullied, humiliated and tortured a mentally handicapped man of 50, forcing him to take pot then repeatedly bump his head against some wall tiles. Until the tiles cracked open and the man collapsed on the floor holding his head screaming with pain, while the 3 of them leaping about laughing. YouTube boasted thousands of visits per day.

Shouldn't there be censors for what is posted up for all to see, including youngsters?? And this case is not the only one. Everyday there are new cases, and nobody at all does anything about it until some family members detected the video and reported to the police. So obviously many consider such exhibition entertainment!!!

A cruise round other video services online, I caught sight of several others perhaps better suited to those who place more importance on quality, purely to enjoy better visual / audio effects, as well as who use them to record some of their masterpieces with the quality that does justice to their hard work.

I used to receive in Multiply nearly everyday at least one or more YouTube videos, mostly they were all right for a minute or two of light entertainment, where quality of image and sound play secondary importance to the humour, or the message the sender wishes to put through in image rather than in his own words. But if I were to make a video of something which I had spent weeks or months to put together, I would certainly put as much care to preserve the quality.

For those who might think the way I do, here are some other sites you might wish to take a look at:

Stage6 - http://stage6.divx.com - Excellent both in visual and audio quality, including upload videos in high definition. This is possible due to the 2,000 Mb size for each video.

Then for those who look to make some money, there is:

Metacafe - www.metacafe.com - very good quality videos and many visits therefore many advertisers.

For good production and amateur series, one of the options is called:

Blip - www.blip.tv - with a rating of 8 out of 10, the tools are easy to use, and the site very well organised.

The other options:

www.dailymotion.com

www.revver.com

www.veoh.com

Tags:youtube,onlinevideo,quantity,quality

Current Mood: Awake