What Makes an Artist.

I have been photographer for years now but I can honestly say that I have never been part of the "art scene". I have been reading and looking and learning more about it everyday and during the week of July 13-17 I came across some articles about two artists who lost their lives. I came across them by accident and felt compelled to respond to what I read. The contrast between the two are so different that I asked myself "what makes an artist?" In the process of writing this blog I am hoping that anyone who reads it will have the opportunity to learn more about someone else they probably didn't even know existed. And like me, discover that there really is a certain respect for every type of art known.

I came across this article about an artist named Dash Snow (he's a scary looking dude isn't he?). I know I know...who the hell is Dash Snow right? That's what I was thinking and my curiosity peaked so I read on. Dash Snow was a 27 year old artist out of NYC. They labeled him as "Dash Snow—photographer, semen artist, graffiti writer". Yes you read that right...semen artist. Not to say that all his art was semen infested, but some of his art was. He was also known for his polaroids and graffiti art. Believe it or not, he was very revered in the art world of NYC. I'm willing to bet that it had something to do with being a DeMenil, which for those of you who don't know is art royalty in the NY area. Money and lots of it! He took a different turn and was the rebel of the family. Into drugs, in and out of jail, running from the police and unschooled. He chose the hard life. He founded the Irak Crew whom was well known for their sacer tags in and around NYC. You can read more about them (if you dare) here: IRAK.

I have put only a couple of his images on here. If you would like to read more about him and see many more of his images you can visit the blog of AlexSins here AlexSins

Many of the images are graphic and tell of his life of drugs and the street scene. I can only imagine what his life would have been like if he had taken advantage of his heritage and his talent and gone a different route. He is not my kind of artist. I personally don't see the art in it, but he was very popular among the NYC art scene and had his art shown in galleries such as the Saatchi and showed all over the world. You can read his full biography on Wikipedia here Dash Snow. Yes, he is on Wikipedia if that tells you anything about this man. It is very interesting and a shame that it ended so soon.

Now on to an artist that is closer to my heart. Julius Shulman was a world reknowned architectural photographer. He was born in 1910 and died on July 15, 2009, he was 98 years old. If you google his name Julius Shulman Images numerous pictures of his work will pop up and it is quite amazing. Many people don't consider architectural photography as an art form, but for me personally it is one of the finest of art forms in photography and in the 90's his works started a new appreciation for architecture in that way. This man had an eye for sure! Julius Shulman wrote many books, exhibited his works all over the world and made various personal appearances. He worked with architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Pierre Koenig and his pictures have been published too many times to count. His library of images currently reside at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

This is just a sample of some of his work. I picked out just some of my favorites. As you can tell, he did allot of his work in black and white which is one of my personal favorites. I envy the fact that he got to do allot of his work back in the 60's and 70's when architecture was at it's best. He felt that way too. I read somewhere (and for the life of me I can't remember where I found it) that he got fed up with the changes in the architecture and took somewhat of a sabatical before pursuing it again in later years. I found an awesome article on Julius that the L.A. Times wrote about him upon his death. I found it to be the most informational piece on him yet. If your interested in knowing more about this man you can visit the L.A. Times website. He too has a Wikipedia page Julius Shulman.

I just found this man to be phenomenal simply because architecture is one of my greatest pleasures as a photographer, and he made a huge career out of it. I will probably never have the opportunities that this man had in his lifetime but one could only hope. If I could achieve only a percentage of the notoriety that he achieved in his lifetime, I would be a very happy photographer.

So again I ask you, what makes an artist? Whether you love the dark and eerie side of a drug induced millionaire rebel, or the black and white images of architectural art through the ages. One can only appreciate the perspective of all artists.