Art Work "Creation"?

[Raymond Bleesz]

I submit to juried shows now & then, and a question comes to mind regarding the following. Date of creation.

In many shows, a criteria is that "art work" must be created recently, say within the last few years. So in photography, "recent art work" is that of a recent print of a older negative or is it the negative that is by definition the "creation" date?

I presume it is the negative. However, if one takes for example , Ansel Adam, it is known that at various times in his career, he reprinted many of his images much later in his life and also reprinted to different paper sizes, thus by definition is it a "recent" print compared to his original?

Or another hypothesis----One makes an image-------it sits in a cigar box for years---you or someone else prints it and it becomes a "masterpiece" & is acknowledge. What is its "creation"?


Please clear the fog this early in the morning & comments perhaps???

Thank you---Raymond

[Greg Lockrey]

See how you 'togs want to bend the rules?:rolleyes:

[Brian Ellis]

"So in photography, "recent art work" is that of a recent print of a older negative or is it the negative that is by definition the "creation" date?"

I've seen these sorts of "made within one year" rules but usually the submission forms or statement of rules will explain what they mean. If I had a question about it I'd ask the sponsor of the exhibitition just as I've occasionally asked about the meaning of other rules. I'm not sure what you're going to gain by posting the question here since different exhibitions have different rules and different interpretations of them in the case of vagueness.

[John Kasaian]

Hmmm...like the "born on" date on the label of a bottle of Budweiser?

The word "create" strictly speakng means that something was made from nothing. Photographs are made from light, materials like film, paper and chemistry, and most importantly the imagination of the photographer---so photographs, IMHO aren't "created" but "made" as in making something out of other things.

[domenico Foschi]

Hmmm...like the "born on" date on the label of a bottle of Budweiser?

The word "create" strictly speakng means that something was made from nothing. Photographs are made from light, materials like film, paper and chemistry, and most importantly the imagination of the photographer---so photographs, IMHO aren't "created" but "made" as in making something out of other things.

John, I disagree with you.

The etymology of "creating" is "crescere" which means to Grow.
It is the very action of every creator on its creature: to assist it to completion.
Everything is made from something, even the Universe either you see it from a Catholic standpoint or from a scientific one.
In the Bible the Universe was created by God's word and in a strict sense that is,something.
Event thoughts are made from something in my view.

[Ken Lee]

This is another "chicken and egg" question. Good luck using your intellect to "solve" it.

[domenico Foschi]

This is another "chicken and egg" question. Good luck using your intellect to "solve" it.

:) :)

[John Kasaian]

Domenico,
Of course I was being thomistic! I've been slogging through the Summa for the last 2 years and it is bound to rub off (five and a half volumes to go---will I live long enough?) Still I think there is some valildity to it at least as photography is concerned--for example you can "create" a photography in your thoughts without materials or camera, maybe even without a stimuli such as a landscape or model (maybe-maybe not! How can it be proven one way or another?) The trouble I see is when it comes into fruition as a material thing. It is said that it is "creativity" but I suspect the act of artistic creation is in the intellect and is "made" into a piece of art (painting, print, sculpture or performance etc...) Once "made" what happens to it? It becomes a celebrated artifact---if music it is celebrated every time it is enjoyed or played. If a print then everytime it is enjoyed---but these things are finite. Images fade and music and prose falls out of style and is lost (like tax returns!) Would this then, be "un-creation?" Can what is created be un created, or is 'a' creation like a ripple in a pool or soundwave in outer space? OTOH I know what is "made" can be worn out or consumed over time.

Of course I could be full of beans! (and I probably am!) :)

[John Kasaian]

Domenico,
On second thought, I see your point. Good one!

[Maris Rusis]

In my gallery shows I use two dates.

The first date is the day the subject matter was captured by the initial photographic exposure.

The second date is when the thing in the frame, the picture being looked at in the gallery, arrived at its final appearance.

Because I make both exposures and actual photographs, and I tend to write the details down, checking the dates is easy.