I have not been in the peak of health recently, and have taken NyQuil to counter-act many of the unpleasant physical symptoms of having a cold. Some of you know exactly what that means. Some of you may be about to find out. This week's Friday post is a race against my digestive system to get something coherent written before the medicine kicks in.
The Bechdel Test is a test for media and the depiction of women in it. There are three rules:
1. There are at least two women...
2. Who have at least one conversation...
3. About something other than a man or men.
Mostly this is used as a rough measure of feminism for film critiques.
Recently I have also discovered it is a good measure to see if I'm going to enjoy something or not. I realized today that probably 99% of my favorite movies and TV shows pass this test (Star Wars does not...even though I get Princess Leia rescuing the dashing rogue Han Solo from the vile Jabba the Hut).
I've also found I loose interest in TV shows when they stop passing the Bechdel Test (I'm talking about you, Castle, House and Royal Pains. Shame on you. Stop pairing off all of your female characters).
I think this has more to do with the nature of the writers who manage this rather than feminism though. Writers who use their female characters as more than accessories to their male characters tend to also be more interested in telling new and/or unique stories and writing interesting and witty dialogue. They tend to want to explore all the imperfections and humanity of characters (and all the idiosyncrasies that go with it) rather than rely on established labels and stereotypes to compose a character.
Media that passes the Bechdel Test is more often character driven over plot driven, which is my preferred form of storytelling.
Links!
http://thehathorlegacy.com/why-film-schools-teach-screenwriters-not-to-pass-the-bechdel-test/
Friday, March 25, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
New Artist Crush Monday: Darrell K Sweet
 |
| Cover Art for Guards! Guards! by Darrell K Sweet |
Anyone who has known me long enough knows that I am a pretty big fan of Terry Pratchett. I've recently (over the last 3 years or so) been slowly collecting his work. While I love the content of the books, I have been disappointed by Ben Perrini's cover art for Harper Collins editions of the Discworld series.
To my great delight, one of my friends was pairing down his book collection and was getting rid of a whole slew of old ROC editions of Pratchett's work featuring the cover art of Darrell K Sweet. I was stoked to a) be getting a large chunk of my Pratchett collection completed for free and b) that it would be featuring the work of Sweet. The Sweet books (pun totally intended) have made it onto my list of 10 things to grab if I have time should my house be burning down.
Link!
http://www.sweetartwork.com/
Monday, March 7, 2011
New Artist Crush Mondays: Candy Chang
 |
| Image from "It's Good To Be Here" by Candy Chang |
Candy Chang is a public installation artist. I love her work because I find that her art is on a level ready for the every-day person's consumption. One of my big beefs with public art is it requires a study of art, art history and art movements to understand why a pile of metal scrap in the middle of town is a significant statement.
By contrast, the meaning of Chang's work is immediately apparent and serves to enrich the environments in which it is installed. Much of it is also interactive, allowing the people who actually use and live in the space to influence the space as well. Rather than having an outsider come in and tell the residents what they need, Chang gives them a platform for their own voice.
Link!
http://candychang.com/
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Random Word Generated Fridays
Random Word: Processing
CLS
phrase$ = "Hello World!"
LOCATE 13,40
PRINT phrase$
END...yeah...
This is officially the nerdiest blog post on the internet.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Why Art is Expensive (or so it seems)
One of the things I have had to justify a couple of times, both working at a gallery and as an artist, is why a piece of paper with chalk smudged on it so it looks like a dog costs upwards of $300 (prices, of course, vary by gallery, artist and region).
The studio and visual arts are one of the few sections of the fine art worlds where what is purchased is the product of the performance. As such, while you as the audience may spend 15 minutes looking at an image, that's not even close to how long it took to create. A "speed painting" done by a talented and experienced artist can still take 2-3 hours. Personally, most of my finished larger works can round on 16 to 20 hours of work for me.
Now, I've been to school to learn art, so if we assume that I kept track of an hourly wage, it's going to be more like $15-18 an hour because I didn't take out student loans to be paid minimum wage. So if I spend 16 hours on a piece, that's $240 in labor cost. Throw in the cost of materials (again that's gonna depend on the medium of the piece) and you can be looking at anything from an extra $20 to $60, as if you want to work in color lasting professional quality paint, the pigment count goes up (brands like Crayola use a lot of filler substances in their paint, which is great for kids, but it also doesn't have as bright and clear color as an artist grade) and you can be talking about $5 for 10oz of paint. So just by me finishing a piece I've invested something like $260 in it.
Then we take it to a framer. Some artist do their own framing, some of us salvage frames from re-sale shops, but it's unavoidable that sooner or later, an artist is going to have to go to a professional to get their work ready to hang. I've had basic matting run me $50 and a basic mat and frame closer to $100. If I want glass (and some galleries won't accept certain kinds of work without glass) I can be talking about a framing cost anywhere between $150 and $200. So now we have a piece costing $360.
If you're looking at art in a gallery, then the gallery is taking a commission on the work. At the Vertin we take a 40% commission on sales, this is actually not very much. It's more typical that a gallery takes a 50-60% commission on work. So if I want to make my $360 back, I'm gonna price my work at $600. So we're looking at a $600 price tag just so I can make back my investment, if I want to make a profit, and pay those self-employment taxes to the government, it's going to be more.
And now you know how art can cost thousands of dollars and the "starving artist" lifestyle still permeates an artist community. For every $1,000 painting sold, the artist is making $200 after taxes.
The studio and visual arts are one of the few sections of the fine art worlds where what is purchased is the product of the performance. As such, while you as the audience may spend 15 minutes looking at an image, that's not even close to how long it took to create. A "speed painting" done by a talented and experienced artist can still take 2-3 hours. Personally, most of my finished larger works can round on 16 to 20 hours of work for me.
Now, I've been to school to learn art, so if we assume that I kept track of an hourly wage, it's going to be more like $15-18 an hour because I didn't take out student loans to be paid minimum wage. So if I spend 16 hours on a piece, that's $240 in labor cost. Throw in the cost of materials (again that's gonna depend on the medium of the piece) and you can be looking at anything from an extra $20 to $60, as if you want to work in color lasting professional quality paint, the pigment count goes up (brands like Crayola use a lot of filler substances in their paint, which is great for kids, but it also doesn't have as bright and clear color as an artist grade) and you can be talking about $5 for 10oz of paint. So just by me finishing a piece I've invested something like $260 in it.
Then we take it to a framer. Some artist do their own framing, some of us salvage frames from re-sale shops, but it's unavoidable that sooner or later, an artist is going to have to go to a professional to get their work ready to hang. I've had basic matting run me $50 and a basic mat and frame closer to $100. If I want glass (and some galleries won't accept certain kinds of work without glass) I can be talking about a framing cost anywhere between $150 and $200. So now we have a piece costing $360.
If you're looking at art in a gallery, then the gallery is taking a commission on the work. At the Vertin we take a 40% commission on sales, this is actually not very much. It's more typical that a gallery takes a 50-60% commission on work. So if I want to make my $360 back, I'm gonna price my work at $600. So we're looking at a $600 price tag just so I can make back my investment, if I want to make a profit, and pay those self-employment taxes to the government, it's going to be more.
And now you know how art can cost thousands of dollars and the "starving artist" lifestyle still permeates an artist community. For every $1,000 painting sold, the artist is making $200 after taxes.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Raving Review for Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol
 |
| Book 1: Crawling from the Wreckage |
Before I start telling you how much I like the Doom Patrol and why, I first have to admit something to myself: I am not much of a comic book reader. Growing up, I always liked the idea of collecting comics, but lacked the financial means. As an adult (and still lacking the financial means...silly art career), I have always found comics, particularly American superhero comics, intimidating to jump into. Thus, everything I know about any standard superhero was gleaned from their Saturday morning cartoon.
Recently (relatively) I made a friend who is well steeped in the comic culture and has begun versing me in how to jump into comic reading and collecting. When I asked him where a good place to start was, he rattled off a number of titles and mentioned The Doom Patrol. Which he immediately took back because The Doom Patrol is not something you recommend to someone lightly. Then, lucky for me, he changed his mind and decided to lend me the first two books from the Grant Morrison run* of The Doom Patrol.
I cannot begin to tell you how glad I am that he did that. The Doom Patrol is to superheroes what my group of friends was to high school. After everyone else is sorted out into their cliques, the nerd, the jocks, the goths, etc. we were everyone that was left over. We were a rag-tag group who had come together only because we didn't fit in anywhere else, which was pretty much the only thing we had in common. That also made us unequivocally weird.
The series begins normal superhero-ey enough, there is a global threat and only a select group of individuals is equipped to deal with it. Sure, the threat is a dimension based on a philosophical paradox and the entire group of heroes is made up either hospital or mental patients, but the beginning seems regular enough. Somewhere between that story and the end of the second book, there is a slow, spiraling decent into madness that I didn't even notice until I pulled away for a moment and realized that absolutely none of it made sense at all. (and for my bonnie William, there is an entire sect of villains that speaks in anagram)
I marveled at the writing and artistic mastery that could have lead me down the path into complete non sequitur insanity without me even noticing. It is unlike anything else you are ever likely to come across, a grand fusion of 21st century art ideas, storytelling and superheroes that shouldn't work, but does. I strongly encourage anyone who has ever been an outsider, a weird one, or takes being called a creeper as a compliment to read The Doom Patrol. I know you won't regret it.
*American comics are grouped together in "runs" that are named after the writer (not unlike Japanese history periods being named after the ruling emperor). Since many characters have been written and drawn by a number of people since their inception, readers and fans often refer to particular runs of a comic being their favorite or their least favorite. Since the version of The Doom Patrol I read was written by Grant Morrison, it would be referred to as "Grant Morrison's run" or "Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol". At least as far as I understand the terminology. Feel free to correct me in the comments if you know better.
Tomorrow's Post: Why art is expensive.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)