I was going to post this under photography, but its remit is actually potentially wider and perhaps it can become a thread of interesting links that might otherwise be missed, or overlooked by many SFers
One of my favorite places in Paris. And one of the last places I took my mother to (not counting UK) and somewhere have a photo of her in same place as Rabindranath Tagore with the blossom. You can buy prints of some of their photos, which are on nice paper.
Havenāt been since re-opened after their restoration.
(And I am now going to have to spend the rest of the night looking for that photo!)
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Hereās another debate - Is grafitti art?
I feel it can be but not every fool with a spray can is an artist. Some who are
Thanks, for making me think a bit!
First thoughtsā¦
The articles starts off by by being over-ambitious and the definitions could probably be better considered - for instance I feel uncomfortable about formally commissioned public sculpture falling within the subject.
Iād prefer a definition of street art that retains its characteristic edginess - something along the lines of āunauthorised visual interventions in public spaceā, rather than trying to do it by categories of medium/technique.
Some time back we went to a new nearby museum of street art, MAUSA. It was a guided tour just for us and two friends and was fascinating. The guide, hugely knowledgeable, really made us understand the āartāin street art and look at graffiti in a new way.
Sadly the whole thing then foundered in debt and disputes.
https://street-heart.com/PM-D39230-01%20Mausa%20Sellieres.htm
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Iām very ambivalent about it in formal situations, because once itās āauthorisedā it becomes incorporated in a much broader canon of art and most of it doesnāt hold oneās interest. Nearby Decazeville has a street art festival every year and the work is invariably technically accomplished but iconographically derivative and superficial.
By contrast since the mid-Seventies, Iāve had a soft spot for those little, informal French spray paint and stencil urban interventions.
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MAUSA was great, a huge sprawling complex of semi-derelict buildings with people doing their own thing all over the place.
Glad you enjoyed it and Iām sure a lot of others did too, but in a French fine art context. Iāve got a lot of reservations. But did do a Google image search to check out MAUSA.
Forty years ago, I was interested in, and made work influenced by Figuration Libre of the time and invented BD type narratives, but I subsequently moved on. By contrast a lot of French figurative painters havenāt developed further and are still stuck in the Eighties, just as the previous generation are still stuck in Fifties pastiches of Art Brut and Ab Ex.
As you might have guessed, Iām not a big fan of most current French painting.
Reminds me a bit of Belfast in the 80ās
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I agree. I expect the article was written more for an introductory audience and seeks to pigeon hole artworks for easier consumption.
I enjoy witty street art that says something. I would much prefer to see, even less accomplished images rather than all those silly taggers who leave only their stylised names over surfaces.
āSay something, people!ā (And maybe a bit more than āMacron la puteā.)
The buildings were a metalworks factory making fireplates and stoves, and this work reflects that. So not that far off!