Emphasizing craft is purely marketing. If any work of art cannot stand on its own, without explanation of process, then I challenge the notion that it is compelling. That has nothing to do with whether or not I like a work of art.
I can make my own canvases, mix my own paints from raw materials, and even make my own brushes. However, it is more important for me to reach an end result, than it is to emphasize those aspects, and I enjoy the convenience of paints in tubes and ready-made high quality brushes (I still stretch my own canvases, but from bought components). In photography, I can do all aspects of darkroom work, yet I choose to pay labs to develop and print for me, with my direction. The end result is my goal, not the process of getting there. Unless I state something about process, the person viewing one of my paintings or photographs has no idea what effort I put into each work, and I don't think it should matter.
Ciao!
Gordon Moat Photography
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