Is it art

[GreyGhost]

Maybe she just needs a bigger nightstand, hamper and wastebasket ?

Gregg

[William G]

Short answer Yes

William G

[RKic]

Art if when you build a model you try to imbue it with a sense of time, place, function, and even beauty. This is done with thoughtful finishing, posing, whatever. It could be a diorama, it could be a model hung from a ceiling at just the right angle to make it look graceful or menacing, it can be a model of a small army's poorly armored tank made to look like a desperate but brave warrior.

It is not about technique, it is about expressing an emotion from a prefabricated kit, and making it into something more than the sum of its parts.

Truly artistic modelers use whatever techniques they need to express those feelings. These aren't the guys who go through the motions of "now I'll apply primer, now I'll apply a preshade, now I'll add basecoat, now ...." (you get the point). Though there is nothing inherently wrong with that approach, it is more a form of craftsmanship than artistry. Its much the same as in music; one can be a musician, or one can be in a cover band.

I'd say 90 percent of us are craftsmen. Sometimes some of us, maybe a few times all of us, cross the boundary into art.

I'm not certain I ever have. The closest I have come is with the way I posed one of my models on a stand. It "feels" fast and fragile when I look at it.

I don't know though.

The modeler that I will forever look up to, and who I can call an (extraordinary) artist without a second thought is Sheperd Paine. The guy is brilliant

http://sheperdpaine.com/

[HOLMES]

I THINK our very own JOHN REID who frequents the DIORAMA forum is similar to Mr Paine..{whose work I have seen on the web and he is BRILLIANT!}

Have you SEEN Mr Reid's work...

[GreyGhost]

I THINK our very own JOHN REID who frequents the DIORAMA forum is similar to Mr Paine..{whose work I have seen on the web and he is BRILLIANT!}

Have you SEEN Mr Reid's work...

Agreed as well as the Madman, Pierre !

Gregg

[niart17]

This has always been a fascinating subject to me. One of my professors insisted that a work of art had to be the conscious hands on action of the person creating the work itself. To that I asked him if in his mind architecture is art. He said of course it is. I asked him to then show me the piece of art that someone like Frank Llyod Wright created hands on? He pointed out falling water (which I agree is a complete work of art) BUT he had the actual piece of art constructed by other's (craftsmen). He probably did hands on drawings and models of it but the work was performed by others. So by his definition, to say that the actual building is the work of art, then you'd have to say the art part of it wasn't from the people who created the work itself, unless they too were artists. So I'd say art can come from anyone with anything at anytime. No matter what an art critic or expert will tell you. Otherwise, the Mona Lisa isn't art, it's just a very well crafted "snap shot" of a pretty girl. They just didn't have polaroids back then.

Bill

[made2000]

I agree with both sides. Understand I have no art degree at all but I can appreciate art in all forms. My girlfriend makes glass beads and pendants and to me that is art totally I've done it a few times and your creativity really comes out. But I have seen things done by artist that I wouldnt consider art even tho the artist does I respect the time the put into it but I just dont see art when I look at it. But on the flip side I have seen things people have done not thinking about doing art at all that I look at it and say wow and to me that is art.

To me anyway its more how you go into it. If your putting a plane together with the thought of I'm going to sell it and make a little money then its not art, but if you take the extra time to make sure its as good as can be for your skill lvl, because you want people to look at and say WOW ( to me if someone looks at something someone created and says WOW it moved them if nothing more than just the time and attention to detail you put into it).

But I agree with the above in that if you put a kit together and throw it in a closet then you dont think its art at all. But if you display it nice and turn it so the angle of light hits it just right or hang it so it looks like its flying, Or you might give it to someone because you know it will make them happy then why is it less art than a few brush strokes on a canvas that took 1/100 the time to create is.

Now keep in mind please all tho I appreciate art and enjoy it I'm not trained at all and to me those images about of the bed and the rest on that page doesnt make me say WOW. I appreciate the time that went into it but it just doesnt make me say WOW. But alot of the planes I've seen done on this forum makes my jaw drop and say WOW, So TO ME anyway those are more art than the images above.

Agiain my girlfriend blows glass and to poeple in the arts disctrict here that is pure art and I agree mostly. Alot of them make the same things over and over and over to sell in local shops no creativity goes into it anymore is that art still or production maybe. I cant decide but to me if those peices still move poeple that look at them and they say WOW then it is atleast to them.

I guess my final thought is the amount of time and detail that goes into putting a kit together to make it just right makes alot of poeple including me say WOW. So if your building a kit and think of it as a craft then its a craft. If you think of it as Art then its art. Me and my girlfreind went to a art store yesterday to look for something to hang over the couch I didnt see anything in there I liked things that cost 100 dollars or a little more. But outside there was a frog lol that someone just playing around did and I loved it you could just see the detail that went into it and I was just wow how was he able to do this.. I asked how much it was they said I was just playing around one day so you can have it if you want it. So I passed up art in the store that was done for purposes of selling that costs 100's of dollars for a practice piece that was free. Its just how you see it and what makes you say WOW.............. to me anyway

[A.C.Acikgoz]

it is a pure art ! art of building an 3d canvas and painting it realisticaly

[Wayne S]

There has been debate in the Video Game circles of late whether or not Games can be art ...

The debate mostly started because Roger Ebert, the film critic declared that video games unlike movies can never be recognized as art ...

I and many other people feel that some games have already achieved that distinction ...

No, I don't think every game is art nor do I believe every painted canvas or sculpted rock is art either ...

I truly feel that if a person, as an observer of a excellent model can be moved in some way, then that model is art ...

Gregg

I would think video games fall into graphical art design, which would put games into visual arts like film.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Wayne S

[Lucien Harpress]

This has always been a fascinating subject to me. One of my professors insisted that a work of art had to be the conscious hands on action of the person creating the work itself.

Bill

Did he realize that most of the "classic" works of art (Sistine Chapel ceiling [i think], many many MANY classical sculptures by such artist as Michelangelo, Da Vinci, etc.) weren't carved by the artist themselves? True, they designed the pieces, but had an army of craftsmen physically carve them.

[Expat Tomcat]

You guys bring up so many good points and all of your points of view have merit. Warhol produced art en masse, he even called his studio "the Factory" and many of his pieces were reproduced in volume. The Campbells soup cans, Brillo boxes, many of his two dimentional pieces were done in silk screen so they could be made over and over. With that said, I'd say also that there are those among us capable of producing works of art. Sheppard Paine, Dr. Young C. Park, Jerry Rutman, just to name a few. There are many more but I run the risk of leaving some of the deserving out, and it is not my wish to offend anyone. Take for instance Dr. Park, his work is simply astonishing. He doesn't use kits, his work is all metal and I believe he only builds in super-large scale. If you've never seen his work Google his name and check it out. There's really no other word to describe what he does other than art. Each of his works is a masterpiece, and one of us would be happy to produce just one on such a level. He's truly one of the few that works on a level beyond what mortal humans are capable of achieving.

The Royal Navy used to employ craftsmen who were tasked with reproducing each Royal Navy ship in miniature. If you've never seen any of these scale ships, they're incredible. They simply boggle the mind, each block and tackle, every bronze cannon, each brass monkey is reproduced in perfect working miniature. Art is what is achieved when one reaches beyond craftsmanship to a level that transcends craft.

Would any of you argue that a 1957 Ferrari Testarossa is a mere car. To me it is a masterpiece at the crossroads of where form and function meet. It's curves are beauty embodied, it is a masterpiece of the coachmakers art combined with the pinacle of the racing designer's technology of it's time. It is in a word, perfection. If a car can be looked upon as art, why is what we do such a stretch?

[dahut]

Its art, if you want it to be.

Indeed when you consider most of the tools we use are those of artists in several media, well... you draw your own conclusions.

[A-4Silverfox]

As I have said before;

The man that works with his hands is a laborer.

The man that works with his hands and head is a craftsman.

The man that works with his hands, head and heart is an artist.

[Expat Tomcat]

As I have said before;

The man that works with his hands is a laborer.

The man that works with his hands and head is a craftsman.

The man that works with his hands, head and heart is an artist.

Well said! I'd say if passion rules what you do it is most definately art.

[Miccara]

It's a subtle difference, but I believe model building is AN art.

The finished pieces can be considered art of course, and I believe some of them are art. As an example, I would go to my grave arguing that what this guy does is not only AN art, but the pieces themselves ARE art.

http://www.rojasbazan.com/B25Mitchell.htm