Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Possibly The Greatest Venn Diagram In The History Of The World

Bobby Henderson, famed Pastafarian, created this amazing diagram to explain the motivation for his latest photography project:


(Image ©Bobby Henderson: Used for illustration only.)

Yes, it's Fine Art Taco Photography.

The exhibit has accrued much acclaim. For example:

"You are the Orson Welles of the taco photography world and this is your Citizen Kane."

All kidding aside, the photographs are actually quite nice, if you're into that sort of thing. Have a look.

Fine Art Taco Photography

Or click here to go to the main FATP gallery.

M

6 comments:

jimmyd said...

Nary a taco there that made me hungry. Maybe that's the point?

MarcWPhoto said...

Exactly. By disconnecting the taco-as-food from the essence of taco-as-object, he has isolated the elements of the taco which are artistic: the noumenon of taco, its intrinsic taco-ness, is revealed as a study of contrasting light and shadow. Instead of being a construction of essential objects, the taco has itself become an essential object, defined in wholeness by the contour of light.

jimmyd said...

I wonder if the photographer considered your explanation before approaching his subject? Which, of course, begs the question, "Is it the artist's job to offer meaning to his or her art? Or, is it the viewer's job?

MarcWPhoto said...

1) I doubt it.

2) No.

3) Yes.

Of course, those last two answers are based on the current approach to art, which takes as its base premise: "Everything is art, and I am a genius. If you don't see the art and/or genius in anything I do, the problem is that you are stupid." This is why although it's possible for me to produce a work which can't be distinguished by any known test from one of Pollack's blob-paintings, his is valuable art and mine is, well, blobs.

Can you tell I've worked with "artists?" One of my former co-workers was an artist of some reputation, who was married to an artist of quite some renown in modern art circles. She and I had some pretty interesting discussions about art and context. She insisted that there was some intrinsic quality of art which differentiated even totally abstract works by "real artists" from random doodles.

The funny part was that while she really thought this way, he was a good ol' boy from rural Illinois, who didn't buy a word of it and even though he was a tenured professor of art at a state university, thought such talk was hysterically ridiculous. He just made things that interested him, and really didn't think very much about why he did it.

Didn't stop him selling millions of dollars worth of art based on exhibitions and reviews festooned with such wordature. Country boys are practical.

M

Webspinner said...

They are gorgous. Marc, I may have to do a series of fine art roast chicken photography......

Rachael said...

These were absolutely too fabulous not to comment. I sent the photographer an email. I'm thoroughly intrigued.