What is 'Fine Art'?

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JulesP

JulesP

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May seem a daft question but I see lots of photographs tagged as 'fine art'. I also see lots of completely computer generated images tagged as 'fine art'.

What exactly does 'fine art' mean? who decides the criteria? Some of the images I see labelled as this are in my opinion at least quite average to be honest. The majority of images I see described as fine art seem to be rather heavily edited, relying more on PC skills rather than camera skills.

Am I missing something?
 
JulesP said:
May seem a daft question but …
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Not at all!

I define fine art by:
"The mastery level in the technical execution of the graphic elements, and the
creativity and maturity in the artistic intent of a rendition.
…may it be photography or imagery.

Now, these being only words and my own opinion on the matter, I see, like you do,
that "Fine Art" is used very freely by anyone for anything. A smart phone shooter
wants to be a photographer, the entry level gear owner may want to use "pro" tag,
and others use, not always rightful so, the fine art tag.

The only thing I know is:
"As long as you're asking yourself these questions, they won't fool you!"
 
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Good question as you do see fine art photography, fine art printing methods,paper for fine art printing so I typed in Fine Art Photography and got 'Fine art photography is photography created in accordance with the vision of the artist as photographer. Fine art photography stands in contrast to representational photography, such as photojournalism, which provides a documentary visual account of specific subjects and events, literally re-presenting objective reality rather than the subjective intent of the photographer; and commercial photography, the primary focus of which is to advertise products or services.'
I thought it was a hopeful human behind a camera:confused:
 
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Kodiak Qc said:
A smart phone shooter
wants to be a photographer, the entry level gear owner may want to use "pro" tag,
and others use, not always rightful so, the fine art tag.
Click to expand...

Most words are abstractions - that is to say they have no concrete meaning that is universal across all. You have used two yourself there - 'photographer' and 'pro', and in your context, when you unpack their meaning, it would appear to have a bearing on the equipment level being used. Others may not have the same understanding, but that doesn't invalidate yours.

The same is true of 'fine art'. Even through you will find 100's of eloquently argued positions on the matter, each one is just an individual perspective at the end of the day, and as an abstract term, there will be no true consensus.

The only definitive resource on such matters are Yorkshire folk. They have an implicit understanding of the truth of things, and can be trusted to be the final arbiter on all matters of consequence.
 
I did A Level Art in Fine Art and as far as I recall Fine Art is something that is created to try and look good and have some meaning, rather than just to perform a function. For example a picturesque image of a sunset vs a sales product photo.I also don't think Fine has any relation to Quality.
 
Oxford dictionary defines it as: Creative art, especially visual art whose products are to be appreciated primarily or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content:

So as opposed to those used for editorial, marketing, commercial?
 
Byker28i said:
Oxford dictionary defines it as: Creative art, especially visual art whose products are to be appreciated primarily or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content
... as opposed to those used for editorial, marketing, commercial?
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Yes that about says it, I think.

But it's a b*****d term, really, and one that smacks of humbug. After all, it tends to be used by those trying to sell stuff ... probably the same type of people who affect to call inkjet 'giclée'.

(This forum has an automated asterisk function - I didn't put those there!)
 
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Yep you did but the swear filter will soon be updated by the forum hamster;)
 
its what people study at university if they want a career in Mcdonalds ;)
 
AshleyC said:
just heard that Brian Sewell popped his cloggs over the weekend. Maybe not everyones cup of tea but i always found him interesting.
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He was precocious, and acted a bit 'precious', but also had a crucial kind of honesty ...

Not always 'right', but he made you think ...
 
Complete and utter tripe b******t nonsense most of the time
 
alexkidd said:
Complete and utter tripe b******t nonsense most of the time
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Not really, just because you don't understand doesn't make it what you described. That's fine if you don't like some of the art produced, there's a lot that doesn't float my boat, or that I don't understand, but there's a lot that's thought provoking, interesting, has more depth.
Fine art is just a term used to group a genre of work, heavily used by some galleries to define the types of work they display or sell. Sometimes there's a crossover, I've seen a fine art gallery with a display from magnum photographers.

An easy example is have a look at the work of Christopher Schultz, sculptures mixing a shark and assault rifles. Interesting work, we're more scared of sharks yet the weapon kills more every year.

Shark-Gun-Sculptures-By-Christopher-Schulz-3.jpeg


I saw in in a gallery in San Francisco. Quite impressive
 
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Byker28i said:
An easy example is have a look at the work of Christopher Schultz, sculptures mixing a shark and assault rifles. Interesting work, we're more scared of sharks yet the weapon kills more every year.
Click to expand...

But isn't that art rather than fine art?
 
Some of my graffiti has been considered fine art by some top people. The judges gave me a "fine" on several occasions. So I must be doing something right.
 
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Fine art ... commercial art .... applied art ...
 
Byker28i said:
Not really, just because you don't understand doesn't make it what you described. That's fine if you don't like some of the art produced, there's a lot that doesn't float my boat, or that I don't understand, but there's a lot that's thought provoking, interesting, has more depth.
Fine art is just a term used to group a genre of work, heavily used by some galleries to define the types of work they display or sell. Sometimes there's a crossover, I've seen a fine art gallery with a display from magnum photographers.

An easy example is have a look at the work of Christopher Schultz, sculptures mixing a shark and assault rifles. Interesting work, we're more scared of sharks yet the weapon kills more every year.

Shark-Gun-Sculptures-By-Christopher-Schulz-3.jpeg


I saw in in a gallery in San Francisco. Quite impressive
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I don't have a fiance with a masters in fine art, who teaches it at degree level that has exhibited at the Venice biennale amongst other published gubbins ;)

I have no idea about fine art

But relative to photography it's invariably marketing nonsense imho so I'll stick by my original sentiment :)
 
alexkidd said:
Complete and utter tripe b******t nonsense most of the time
Click to expand...


Too much stupid in this thread. This is old ground... search the threads.. we've done this to death, and the outcome will be inevitable. This platform does not lend itself to art of any kind and far too few people in here appreciate it....


Countdown to Emperor's new clothes in 3....2....1....



Zzzzzz...
 
Pookeyhead said:
Too much stupid in this thread. This is old ground... search the threads.. we've done this to death, and the outcome will be inevitable. This platform does not lend itself to art of any kind and far too few people in here appreciate it....


Countdown to Emperor's new clothes in 3....2....1....



Zzzzzz...
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Aye, everything has already been done, we might as well roll over and die eh?

Stoopid is as stoopid does
 
alexkidd said:
Aye, everything has already been done, we might as well roll over and die eh?

Stoopid is as stoopid does
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Re-read what I wrote. I never said everything has been done. I said this conversation has been done.. many, many, many times on these forums. Why have the same arguments with the same people. Just do a subject search before starting a thread. This argument is tired now.
 
You're tired and the reason I stopped posting so much on the forum, dim on dumb sprinkled with intolerance, stupidity and yawns.

If you don't want to join in then don't, or is that a really complicated concept?
 
I might actually do that, it's a first encounter for me, I'll mull it over tonight
 
Alex, I'm not sure that simply posting that in your opinion fine art is rubbish really adds anything to the debate. I've seen countless threads on this topic come to nothing because of asserions like this from people who admit that they are ignorant and prefer to remain so. This may not apply to you, of course. I'd have a higher opinion if reasons were given, but then I prefer reasons to blind faith. I'll freely admit that there are some subjects where I have an opinion that the sommon consensus is wrong, but where it's not important enough for me to research it. And in those cases, I don't bother entering into debate.
 
I CBA with another art debate but i would concur with alx that a lot of what is dubbed fine art in photography is rubbish (this doesn't mean all fine art is) , its rather like "reportage style" can mean " I take badly composed crap with peoples heads cut off" but doesn't have to
 
Just to be clear - when I started the thread, I DID do a search for 'fine art' and nothing came up in the first 50 or so thread titles that looked anything like relevant hence starting a thread.
After all, as far as I'm aware, that is the way forums work - do a search and then post if nothing relevant.
 
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