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Author Topic: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC  (Read 29383 times)

pixjohn

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Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« on: November 11, 2011, 02:12:10 pm »

They say a picture is worth a a thousand words, this picture is worth $4.3 million words.
I am missing something abut this picture?


http://news.yahoo.com/record-photo-sold-auction-set-nyc-182745446.html
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Graham Mitchell

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2011, 02:14:20 pm »

Nope, if you thought that it looked like a million other photos on Flickr that's because it does.
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amsp

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2011, 03:50:41 pm »

Actually, it looks like what 99% of people would delete after taking it. It just goes to show that the art world really has nothing to do with art, and everything to do with being hyped by the right people.
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HarperPhotos

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2011, 04:01:39 pm »

Hello,

Graham oh so true. I have the opportunity a few years back to travel around New Zealand photographing the work of Ralph Hotere. I visited art galleries and private collections and came to the conclusion that the majority of the work in them was crap and I am not putting Hotere's work in that category at all. I have seen art work done by high school students better the some of the so called art I have seen.

http://www.johnleechgallery.co.nz/artists/ralphhotere.asp

There is a saying “Any one can be an artist its convincing every one else that you are”

That’s my view.

Simon
« Last Edit: November 11, 2011, 04:18:47 pm by HarperPhotos »
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2011, 05:28:54 pm »

In my opinion art is a reflection about the society you are living in.
And that is a sad reflection on the state of our present society (and Gursky's photographs).

Eric
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2011, 05:43:43 pm »

Sour grapes, anyone?

mmurph

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2011, 06:47:53 pm »

No opinion on that image.

I can say that I saw the Gursky show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, perhaps 5-7 years ago?  Absolutely stunning work, I was totally blown away by it!

The huge exhibition catalog, with 8x12 in prints of the images looked like bad 12K JPEGs compared to the actual images.

The same was true of the Thomas Struth show, as well as the Jeff Wall show.  I was particularly predisposed to dislike Wall's work, because of all the post-modern "blah de blah"hype surrounding it.  I have to say - I was 100% wrong!

Now there was an Ansel Adams show at the Art Institute at the same time as the Wall show.  Left there with no emotion, no feeling, just really bored to death by the Adams work.

And Duchamp .... I spent a full week at the Philadelphia Museum of Art , every night for hours, looking at his work. Then years reading everything I could get my hands on during the 1990's.  Finally started to really grasp the many complex aspects of his career - including Étant donnés...  

After all that, I have to conclude that the title of one book about him - "Artist of the Century" - is dead on accurate.  Incredible vision, predated the complex directions of later art by almost 50-75 years ...

So ... Easy to say anything about "art in general." But when it comes to specific artists, there are many who have done incredible work that I admire, and who have been a great inspiration and who have added value to my life.  I don't care too much about the "art world" beyond that.

Cheers!
Michael
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fredjeang

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2011, 03:34:00 am »

Take a look at that woman: http://www.lisesarfati.com/index.shtml

Her pictures also could look like banal flickr uploads, but they aren't really.

You look at a pic out of a context and because it looks banal, the "I could do it" or my "sister in law could do it", doesn't give it any value.
It is not, or never the pic itself.

Everybody can do a black dot on a white canvas, therefore it should not be considered as art. But this is not, and never has been what art is about.
In fact it depends on who is doing it, why (the intention), how and the relevance in the context it appears.

Lise Sarfati is not one more flickr photographer because behind her imagery, there is a severe reflection on social codes, there is an conscient intention and repetitive investigation
on the same content. Those are not pictures without purpose, but carefully planed working path.

Then, I do not understand why it is so shocking that an image can be bought at an high price, wether it is a speculative intention or a real emotional response from a wealphy buyer, and it looks
more normal that people are actually buying Diamonded Leicas or Ferraris Hasselblads collectors.

Those people, like Gursky, rarely take pictures for taking pictures.

By the way, a quick meditation if I may: I've noticed that the more talented photographers I ever met, never take their cameras without a clear intention. They generally do not shot out of their work and generally have a precise idea about in what their work consist of.
Completly the opposite of the "I shootitall" nervous culture we are living in.

The definition of art, and the value of art can not be limited to what appears to one "correct" or "real art", like it happens in religion. There is no "real" art as such. And there is no logical monetary value, therefore it can be speculative, and it does very often.

So, if you you take that Gursky image, take a ruler, you'll see that the composition obeys to a fractal pattern and that the distribution of the h lines matches excatly without any centimeter error, to a mathematical and geometrical proportional scale. This is so precise that it can not be without purpose. Bingo.

It's not, I take my camera, wait for the sunrise to get a decent light and may have a printable pic on my Epson_. This is something else...  
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 04:16:45 am by fredjeang »
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cng

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2011, 05:46:42 am »

+1 everything Fred said.  Plus ...

I don't understand the controversy surrounding the sale of this image. Seems like a lot of sour grapes to me.

It is especially ironic considering that not many have actually seen a Gursky print in real-life and this is a site focused on landscape shooters who worship THE PRINT as the ultimate expression of the photographer's art.

I may not like all contemporary photographic art but I have been fortunate enough to view exhibitions by Gursky, Wall, Crewdson, Kawauchi, Demand, Sugimoto etc. Even if you don't like the work, your appreciation of it will change once you view the full-sized prints in real-life.  Everything looks banal when viewed on the web — this is the curse of flickr and the iPhone generation.

Also, I think the bulk of the jealousy is misguided:  This Gursky print was sold on the secondary market, so Gursky sees zero of the sale proceeds. Does that make everyone feel better?  Why do photographers always rag on other photographers?  We are our own worst enemy.
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ced

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2011, 05:48:49 am »

I must say the the small image we see probably doesn't do justice to what I believe to be a poster size original which is the one that was sold.
I am not excited too much about the image itself but most of us would not see these patterns as he has cleverly composed in the shot, the strip of green on the other side of the river looks as if it were stripped out of the frontside and displaced to the top. Then the proportions of sky, water and grass are flawless as remarked by fredjeang.
This pathway on the Rhine River is where Gursky does his jogging and he must have seen and thought about this over quite a long period so nothing by hasard.
Good for his pocket and reputation...
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Sareesh Sudhakaran

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2011, 08:21:21 am »

So, if you you take that Gursky image, take a ruler, you'll see that the composition obeys to a fractal pattern and that the distribution of the h lines matches excatly without any centimeter error, to a mathematical and geometrical proportional scale. This is so precise that it can not be without purpose. Bingo.

It's not, I take my camera, wait for the sunrise to get a decent light and may have a printable pic on my Epson_. This is something else...  

+1. Agree 100%.

On a lighter note, I don't see how that fractal pattern has anything to do with the subject Gursky was shooting; but I wish we had these exhibitions in India. Standing in front of the real thing might really be like standing in front of the real thing.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #11 on: November 12, 2011, 09:28:15 am »

I have stood in front of some of Gursky's prints. They were huge and, like the one in this thread, "minimalistic." But I found nothing exciting about any of the ones I saw, and I have no interest in putting one of them up on one of my wall at home.

Would I accept one as a gift? You betcha! And I'd put it up for auction instantly.

I've also seen an exhibit of Wall's, which I went to prepared to hate (being the grumpy old man that I am). But I found them quite stunning and I found myself pulled into each image and spending a lot of time exploring each.

Beauty --- as well as "Art" --- is in the eye of the beholder. I can't really explain why Wall works for me but Gursky doesn't. That's just my hangup.

Eric
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #12 on: November 12, 2011, 10:23:27 am »

Well said, Fred!

Ben Rubinstein

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2011, 11:17:56 am »

It's also been extensively photoshopped to remove the buildings in the background, there are some on this forum who would refused to even call it a photograph because of that. I like the fact that this with this sale, $4 mill says 'who cares what the purists and grumpy old men think!'
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bcooter

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #14 on: November 12, 2011, 04:00:32 pm »

The thing I love out a still photograph like this Gursky image is the viewer can interpret their own vision of the work.

Unlike films where most of the message is roadmapped a still image for the sake of only the image leaves so much to the imagination.

Is it worth 4 million? yep (That's Texan for yes), because somebody paid that.

Does it bother me he got 4 million?   Nope, ... I wish he'd recieved 44 million because it only raises the bar of what most of us can ask for our work.

Personally I think it's a beautiful photograph and will spawn a lot of imitators.

IMO

BC
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David Eichler

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #15 on: November 12, 2011, 04:44:07 pm »

Suggest looking at a variety of his other images: http://www.matthewmarks.com/artists/andreas-gursky/selected-works/#  I did not really understand what he was about until I looked at this photo in context. That said, I like a number of his other images better than this one.
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mmurph

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #16 on: November 12, 2011, 05:50:33 pm »

I have seen most of those linked images in exhibition.  It is quite an experience to stand in front of them, comprarable to standing in front of any other work on art.

That is, you have never "really" seen a Monet, etc. until you have seen the actual painting.  I think the same is true with Gursky, given that this image is actually 11 feet x 7 feet in size - call it 3.3 x 2 meters. This image just totally blew me away when I saw it. The detail goes down to a level to staisfy someone looking at it with a loupe.

99 Cent
1999
C-Print mounted to plexiglass in artist's frame
81 1/2 x 132 5/8 inches; 207 x 336.5 cm



http://www.matthewmarks.com/artists/andreas-gursky/selected-works/#/images/8/

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richardhagen

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #17 on: November 12, 2011, 06:21:47 pm »

i'm a big fan of AG but for the life of me i am try to figure out what this means:

"So, if you you take that Gursky image, take a ruler, you'll see that the composition obeys to a fractal pattern and that the distribution of the h lines matches excatly without any centimeter error, to a mathematical and geometrical proportional scale. This is so precise that it can not be without purpose."

What do fractals have to do with it?!

rh
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 06:46:29 pm by richardhagen »
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DeeJay

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #18 on: November 12, 2011, 06:31:09 pm »

Amazing. I'm so glad it sold for that much. Arts value is fixed by the person buying it.

Who cares what it means to anyone else.

I'm so glad that photography as an art form can fetch these brilliant prices. Hopefully they will continue to rise.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 06:33:25 pm by DeeJay »
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Steve Weldon

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Re: Record for any photo sold at auction set in NYC
« Reply #19 on: November 12, 2011, 09:03:43 pm »

 What a bunch of complete nonsense.  

First, those of you claiming "sour grapes" are way off track and this is such a tired response it only merits a response if that response shows criticism for lack of thought.   The comments have been to understand, to express an opinion.  Nothing more.  A little bit of intellectual honesty would go a long way in such discussions.

I looked at this image and my first response was "it looks like something my wife would delete from her point and shoot."  I only looked the first time not because it visually caught my attention, but because the price it sold for caught my attention.   I looked a second time and saw nothing to change my initial opinion.  To my eyes it's boring and lacking in so many ways it's not worth getting in to.

I am interested in the back story.  There much be a reason this image fetched 4.3 million and this reason holds far more interest to me.. than the image itself.  

Its immaterial how nice his other works is.  An image selling for 4.3 million should be able to stand on it's own merits.  

And it doesn't matter to me how big this print is, or how much detail it holds.  A large highly detailed image of a fresh elephant dropping is still just that.  An elephant dropping.  Which btw holds more interest than this image.  To me.

Get a ruler out?  Really?  Must be a new way to appreciate art I've never heard of, which frankly wouldn't surprise me.  But I'm not interested to get a ruler out and measure anything.  This image doesn't inspire me to do so.

I understand a Buggati Veybron Grand Sport at roughly 2.5 million.  I can appreciate it's art, it's engineering, it's function.  I can understand the visceral emotions it brings at the base level.



I can't understand this image.  And I'd bet money you could choose an image of Flickr by random and put it head to head in a public taste test and the random Flickr image would win.

If it makes some of you feel better to tell the rest of us "we don't get it" then fine.  You've found a value in a rather boring image.  But it's not going to make me pause for a second.  It is what it is.  
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 09:05:53 pm by Steve Weldon »
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