Intro Spring 2021

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Boris the Butler photo by Ashley Martin c2021


Hello. My name is Ashley. You can call me Ash if you would like. I took a photo of my butler, Boris, as a stand in. I usually use my dog, but he's tired of having his photo taken. I am a fine arts major who has spent my life working in the creative arts from tattoo artist to photographer. I have been a photographer for about 23 years. It sounds awesome on paper, but is extremely boring in real life. There is little creative freedom when you work for "the man." I did enjoy tattooing, but I found it to be a difficult and restrictive medium. I did that professionally for about 10 years. Now, I just want the freedom to produce my own ideas. I went back to school to gain further knowledge and to explore things I would never think to on my own.

Daddy Longlegs of the Evening-Hope by Salvador Dali (image source)


As a self proclaimed anarchist, I will never answer to someone else's claim of what's beautiful. Unfortunately, we are all tainted by our own experiences, and have been trained for so long to accept a cultural ideal of beauty that it's almost impossible to explain ourselves on this front. I am going to use the painting above, by Salvador Dali, to help express what beauty means to me.

Without context, I find this work to be beautiful in a soothing, dreamy fashion. As I look over this piece I find it to be so melty that it puts me into a relaxed state. The color palette is appealing to the senses, and the curves add to the mellow atmosphere. Upon further examination, I am intrigued by the subject matter. My eyes move around the canvas in a curiously smooth trajectory until I find something worthy of contemplation. My mind is calm but seeking answers to this mystery. Themes begin to appear and I try to make sense of them. Life and death, war, wisdom, decay, all these themes make themselves known. Why is the landscape barren and why is there a partially flayed woman playing a cello with a mans head growing out of her? There are many questions I have without context, but the canvas is rich with its story. There is tension inside the juxtaposition of themes and line. The dark and light converge in a way that is intriguing to my mind, and the grotesque has been transformed into something sublime. 

All that I experienced while engaging with this piece has led me to believe that it is a beautiful work of art. I have become intimate with it and it has evoked a pleasant emotional response from me.  I like having the freedom to subjectively judge what is or what isn't beautiful even though I know it is culturally biased. If we are honest with ourselves, then we know that there is a fine line between what is a what isn't beautiful. The more those lines get blurred the more interesting and introspective they become. The painting above certainly blurs the line. If beauty were objective, then whose truth do we seek to understand it? Who gets to decide?  



Comments

  1. Sara YaunAugust 28, 2021 at 2:30 PM

    I would have to say that I agree with beauty being culturally biased. Different cultures have different ideals of beauty, art or not. All of our experiences and ideals can create how we see things, along with the people we surround ourselves with. Theres a quote that I really like from Jorge Luis Borges that says "I am not sure I exist, actually. I am all the writers I have read, all the people I have met, all the cities I have visited."

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  2. India AAugust 29, 2021 at 8:30 PM

    Hello Ash! I love both of your photos a lot! That is really cool that you worked as a tattoo artist, I would love to see your designs and your fine art as well! What kind of photography do you enjoy?
    Your description of beauty is amazing and I have never really thought of it that way but I love it, beauty is unique to everyone. It depends on what that person enjoys, what they have been through, and their state of mind too. I agree the painting truly is soothing and dreamy. Personally, it gives me a nice peaceful sinking feeling like sitting down after a long day of work. It is relaxing to follow the linework and the color choice into your own daydream.

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