Monday, May 04, 2009

Ballpoint art


Here's another entry in the "art or sport?" category.
Well, it's clearly art, but is that why it's interesting? I submit that it's interesting because all the work which goes into it and because of the fidelity to the photo. In other words, skill more than creativity. It seems to me you could get the same result with a mechanical device which made big prints of photos using ballpoint pins. (And there are actually printers which use pens.)

9 comments:

Ray said...

Printing methods: My little Canon Starwriter 30 word-processor uses a
thermal printing head without the usual individual character keys. It does everything electronically, and
if I run out of the throw-away one-shot carbon ribbons, it will work just as well using thermal fax paper. The fax paper, however, isn't as visually appealing as regular bond.

brian said...

There's more to art than just great technique. TEchnically this is very good, but art it ain't.

Alex said...

I'm disappointed to see "The Mail" use a phrase like "Bic money". Surely that's where the Sun and The Star were in the 80's. Has The Mail dropped to that level of journalism?

Is the trend universal? Is The Sun down to News of the World level, Is the Times down to Daily Mirror Level, and what hope is there for The Guardian? Did they replace the cryptic crossword with a 3x3 Sudoku puzzle?

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Funny you should say it, just yesterday I landed on the site of a Danish regional newspaper, and half the content was sex!

I think they are desperate.

Rich said...

"There's more to art than just great technique. TEchnically this is very good, but art it ain't."

This isn't art? Could've fooled me. Maybe it's not "your" type of art.

kronostar said...

Looking at samples shown in the article I'd say part of the art is the subject chosen especially as it'll take days to draw. I'm sure it's no coincidence that they were all of pretty young girls looking cute and innocent.

Anonymous said...

This isn't art? Could've fooled me. Maybe it's not "your" type of art.

Whatever helps you sleep at night. For me art must be more than "That looks cool, and required great skill to execute." If that's all you require, I pity you.

Timo Lehtinen said...

Anon emited: For me art must be more than "That looks cool, and required great skill to execute."

Funny, for me even "That looks cool" alone would suffice for it to be art. If a work looks cool, it by definition communicates something.

Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad. --Salvador Dalí

No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist. --Salvador Dalí

Anonymous said...

If a work looks cool, it by definition communicates something.

No, that doesn't follow.