November 09, 2011

Are photographs of abstract art abstract art?

I very much enjoyed my stay in Venice, where old meets new, modern art meets "classic art". Interestingly the question arises whether photographing abstract art in itself creates abstract art!? Naturally not, because a reproduction of someone else's art will never create art in itself. But...
What is a reproduction? Does a shot of a piece of abstract art constitute an "objet trouve"? Well, I'm pretty sure it depends. And as all this certainly contains some degree of self-reference I'm also pretty sure that if you do it "right" you could create some imagery that simply is publishable.
But enough of the theory, I just incidentally went on a tangent before presenting two images I captured because: they are images of other people's "art". We may now philosophize endlessly but in the end all that counts is: Are these images worth your time looking at it? I (at least) hope so. Enjoy!

Mural Art 33327

Abstract Art 33318

But to come back to the initial question: Are photographs of abstract art abstract art? In this case I really don't think so. But "objet trouve"? Yeah, well, maybe ;-)