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Thread: Gregory Colbert

  1. #41

    Gregory Colbert

    QT, greetings.

    You and I have never spoken together, so, first, let me thank you for putting in the time and resources to make this forum possible. It is the most important web community that I follow -- invaluable to me, really.

    Certainly, I agree with you, Colbert's work is powerful. But part of that is the subject, part the sheer size. The same can be said for much advertising copy. There are a lot of powerful billboards put up in Times Square. Art?

    I come back to the advertising world parallels (as did the Times reviewer) in part because the work seems to be a product of the advertising world -- the style and scale of Colbert's images invite the comparisons. It feels ... packaged. As you note, it is obvious that Colbert did not make at least some of the images; we know that he did not print the images. That's why I asked how the images are made, and who made them. If they all came out of the BBDO Seidman art department, and were given Colbert's name for marketing purposes, would you feel the same way toward them?

    And I do find it a fair criticism to observe that Colbert's images are derivative of other work. Can derivative works be considered original art? Maybe. In some sense all work is derivative; we all grow out of a culture and a tradition; I recognize my own debts. Certainly derivative works are entertaining. Readers of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series tie themselves up in knots over this. The Harry Potter series draws deeply from other authors' works, in obvious ways. The series is greatly entertaining, but will people in time consider them enduring works of literature? The same questions can fairly be asked of Colbert's photographs.

    You write: "Where is the dishonesty and lack of integrity?" The question of honesty (I only asked the question) is suggested by Colbert's description of his work as coming from an "encaustic process" instead of an inkjet while trying to finesse the issue by leaning on the use of "handmade Japanese paper," with the clear inference being that the images themselves are handmade, as in a platinum/palladium print. And that bit in the following sentence about the images being mounted "without explanatory text" to encourage "openended interaction," on the heels of the "encaustic process" bit, sounds more like a rationale for not explaining his medium to the public.

    As for the question of integrity, I was referring to the questions, already mentioned, regarding the provenance of the work, and the lack of candor surrounding a very expensive media circus. It may be, at the end of the day, these questions would be resolved in Colbert's favor. I am only asking the questions that his work suggests to me. I am sceptical, but I am not answering them.

    Best,

    Sanders McNew

  2. #42

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    Gregory Colbert

    I am a lay person. I am interested in knowing if there is any feeling that the pictures are not 'real'. Does the scale seem right between foreground and background? Is anyone thinking that the works are composites?

    Karin

  3. #43

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    Gregory Colbert

    Inkjet Schminkjet...the work is powerfull. I find a sense of my own strength and a sence of the power and peacefulness of life through the images. Why debate the "how" when the strength and pure beauty of the visions stand alone?

  4. #44

    Gregory Colbert

    Well.. being a "non-photographer", I wasn't going contribute my two cents. However, the more I read of the whining/bickering/nitpicking/complaining/<insert your word here> / etc... the more I felt compelled to tell the negative folks to get over yourselves.

    You sound like a bunch of debutante high school girls talking amongst yourselves about Doctor So-and-so's daughter who just got a new BMW for her 16th birthday... and how you now hate her for it... and you won't hang out with her anymore. You should hear yourselves.

    Who gives a crap how it was printed.. how much was spent on the website (or other marketing)... who paid for it.. how famous the photographer is now.. blah blah blah blah... the work captures a core connection we all should slow down and appreciate more.

    For the bulk of the population... none of it matters. They just look at the final results, which totally amazed me I might add, and decide how they feel about it. We don't need any of you to go on and on about what term was used to describe the print process... It just makes you sound loike an angry little girl.

  5. #45

    Gregory Colbert

    Check out this video about Colbert on CNN.

  6. #46

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    Gregory Colbert

    I find it interesting that the comments focus on "inkjet" and not photoshop. As compositions, does the means really matter? Only civilians may consider this traditional photography, and as Shane points out, they don't care. He does call it "photographis artworks", and I think that's fair.

    As far as the work, I find it way over the top. The heavy manipulation leaves me with no feeling for the human subjects. Although Elephants are always cool.

  7. #47

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    Gregory Colbert

    After viewing that news piece, I'm disappointed in Colbert. I wonder if he even realizes the CNN editor shows his claim of his process is false.
    The sin of ambitious males. He probably has quite a few legitimated captures that are spectacular. Yet he needs to create false scenes to make his work "better".

  8. #48
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Gregory Colbert

    What are "legitimated captures"...? What do you mean by "false scenes" ?

    (and why on earth does anyone care?)
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  9. #49
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Gregory Colbert

    - I'm with the "shrill schoolgirl" take on all this I think.
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  10. #50

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    Gregory Colbert

    Did you actually look at the photos? He's claiming human/animal interaction as the basis for this project. The hawk is flying through the "monks" head? That's some monk. He talks about natural behavior of the cheetah - "scent marking". Who sat on the rock first, the boy or the cheetah?

    Forest for the trees.

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