Picture: Woman looking at a photographic art display (Photos by Garry Winogrand) at the Pier 24 Gallery in San Francisco, California
I had a great chance to start off the new year by doing what I love most, (when I’m not taking pictures) namely looking at other people’s photos. I had a chance to visit the Pier 24 Gallery in San Francisco with fellow Bay Area photographers Jim Goldstein and David Sanger. The gallery is open by advance appointment only. You get two hours to see a labyrinthal collection of rooms housing photos by the likes of Walker Evans, Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank, and numerous others. Simply put, two hours is nowhere near enough time to really spend quality time looking at each image, because there’s just too many good images.
This images raises the age-old question, “What is it about Art that we respond to, and why do we like some Art but not others?” Where do you think that invisible line comes from that tilts us toward “Wow, that’s great!” or “Geez, I just don’t get it”-type responses when we see through the eyes of another human being?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and answers.
PS: Happy New Year to everyone.
Sounds like you guys had a great time, Gary.
I think how we respond to art is dependent on our life’s experiences up til that point. There’s some photography that I developed an appreciation for not the first time I saw it but after I had experienced enough in my life to fully appreciate what it was the photographer saw at the time of the exposure.
Though I may not be captured by the overall art work, it is the nuances that pull me into studying the art (whether this is a print, painting, music, or performance). To me, that’s where I can study the artist’s creativity.
Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend
Good art helps me see something I have not seen in quite the same way before.
Sounds like an interesting outing. I hadn’t heard of this Pier 24 Gallery until the Golden Decade Exhibition, which may show at Pier 24 in the future. So the next time you go, you may see some Philip Hyde along with those other photography greats.