Warhol’s art. He thought “the true substance of photography is the shadow cast by and on its subject. This was the essence of his major innovation, which still reverberates today: the reciprocity between painting and printing. The sheer graphic power of the silkscreen image … confers on any subject a drama of light and shadow, an urgent aesthetic bounty grounded in the photographic now.”
Ordinary, says Craig-Martin, is more famous than famous. Hence, “a light bulb is more famous than Marilyn Monroe”. This realization led to his signature style – precise line drawings and sculptures of ubiquitous objects. “My sculptures … aren’t sculptures of things, they’re sculptures of images of things. That play between my object and the reality is very interesting.” A good video (3 min) is here.
Brassaï and Stettner both cut their artistic teeth on street photography but from there they diverged. Brassaï avoided improvisation where he could, sometimes giving his images a “frozen” quality. Stettner, whom Brassaï mentored, was all spontaneity. His sympathetic images of New York commuters combine “theatrical composition and voyeuristic opportunism”.
A fine essay on Mapplethorpe’s art. “Was he an art-world dandy who used sexual imagery to boost his brand? Or was he using his exceptional technical skills to give pornography the sheen of high art? Neither was the case. [He saw] desire as inherently dignified and, as such, nothing to be confined to dark spaces or behind closed doors.”
John Cage sometimes put “indeterminate” sections in his music, inspiring his friend Steir to do the same in her art. Her works (“emphatically not abstract”) are not so much painted as poured and flicked, a result of “chance within limitations”. The writer thinks they are “gorgeous”: Steir says “In some way, the paintings paint themselves.” A video of Steir working (8 min) is here.