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The Philosophy of "Paint-by-Number!
Art is really nothing more than a highly intellectual and emotional form of interpersonal communications.
In the communciation-cycle of art, the artist "makes a statement"...
and the audience/viewer "receives" that statement-- or rejects it.
From a communications "theory" standpoint, "Art" doesn't really exist--
unless it's accessable. In that context, a sunset is "art"--since it's accessable
by all who view it. Museum art collections are like a sunset. The viewer
has a limited time to appreciete the item...before closing time darkens the venue.
From a commercial standpoint, "Art" is what can be
sold to an appreciating audience: Collectors, admirers, etc...who can take
it home and enjoy it forever, on their own terms.
No communuications is complete without feedback (positive or negative), so, simply painting something, "For the joy of painting" is a nice hobby. Sure, it's creative... but "So what?" If nobody sees it, there's nothing "communicated", except (to/from) the "Artist" who created the "art" (and that person knew about "the vision"-- long before it was put on canvas or carved out of rock)! So what is it..."practice art"?
This "artist", for one, doesn't need to paint "fantasies"... just to "see them". I have ALREADY "seen them"(in my mind). And what I see-- in my mind-- is better than me or anybody could EVER paint them!
REAL ART, on the other hand, IS completed-- not "imagined"...not "dreamed up": When art is completed and installed somewhere public (like a gallery or museum or other viewing venue) an audience can see the artist's fantasy! THAT communications is an intellectual and emotional communication of CONCEPT... followed by the textbook elements of composition, form, color, etc.
And if the art is DONE WELL, then the "textbook"
elements (just listed above) disappear completely in the mind of the viewer...as he/she is
swept into the fantasy of the artist... becoming the art itself for just a
moment!
AND WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!!!
"Rattlesnake Medusa"
If you want REAL "Paint-by-Number", you really want a coloring book!
Fine! This artist also maintains another cartoon web site: featuring the character,
"Zero, Hitch hiker of the Information Highway". It's been reviewed by
people from Disney and Pixar and from every nuclear weapons lab in the
U.S. (they've downloaded the
Coloring Book!
Go check it out and have fun making (coloring) your own "artistic statement"!
You've heard the phrase, "If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it...
does it make any sound?"
How about this, "If a web page gets published and nobody sees it, does it exist?"
Or "If a painting is painted and nobody sees it, it is 'art'?"
The phrase, "Paint-by-Number" sounds hokey-- but it means business: In the context of producing and marketing serious, commercially-viable fine art.
For over ten years (1988-1999) John Guthrie never issued a print. Instead, he hand-painted, acrylic multiple-editions of his most popular work to make them price-attractive for collectors.
His philosophy was to give "hand-painted" value-for-money. THAT is "Paint-by-Number"!
He sold over 200 paintings during the first five years of his artistic career.
There is no way-- other than "Paint-by-Number"-- to enable the
simultaneous painting of six "One Eyed Jackies" (seen below, and now
installed in a home at Vail, Colorado).
By the time Guthrie painted "Six Pack Jackie" (above) in early 1991, he'd been painting only a little over two years. By then, he'd sold over 100 paintings and had gone from just one gallery (his first was on the south side of Prince Street in SoHo, New York City)...to three regional galleries in the first month (NY, Scottsdale, Palm Springs)...to 20 galleries around America in the first year (and representation in Europe by Paul and Marie Renoir of Belgium and Paris).
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NEW Works-in-Progress (2002)
ART PRINTS(2001) /
Early work (1988-2000) /
Pricing /
Please note: All works on this web site and at www.zero123.com are protected by U.S. federal Copyright Copyright Notice, 1977-2001, Laser Radio Inc.