Fine Art for the Huddled Masses
Or maybe I should just say "ART for all"
I grew up around art and art books. My mother was an artist and so was my dad. But there was no enforced education, lots of Japanese prints on the walls and some original art my folks made or bought. Oriental and American art and antiques around. But no indoctrination. Books, and magazines of course. And I have a hard time myself saying no to perusing and buying art books, or doing 'scans' from time to time. I'm lucky enough to live walking distance from a huge 'remainders' bookstore. The owners claim its the second largest in the U.S. So books that appeal to me are readily at hand. There's an non-obvious problem in all this immersion. We collect only that which we know. Even here in very 'artsy' city (Sarasota) with a big museum (the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art) and a home town Art School, The Ringling School of Art and Design, when you 'see' art or 'look for' art, its what is or was popular at some point. And the cultural lookback is not all that far when it comes to published works. Publishers are in the bind of making a profit on their works, so its sell a lot or charge high prices. There's not a lot of middle ground.
Of course, there's always the bookstores and libraries. And over time, I've learned a lot that way. Art books tend to be large and expensive to buy, and are often checked out when you are actively interested. Thank God for the libraries internet reservation system here. its a dandy, they even call you when the book is in. But, in a busy life, finding time to search for art books is tough. Or you may simple live in an area that lacks those resources. I'm lucky enough to be in an area that is a cultural magnet.
And television, Sister Wendy immediately springs to mind. The television is, for the most part, overviews. There have been videos done on specific artists and periods, but its uncommon unless you are speaking of one of the giants of art. I will say that some of those videos are worth watching again and again as you learn more about art history. Gee I guess I will have to make a spot for 'Good Art History Videos' and 'Television Series', eh? . LOL
Then came the Internet. Now the media became more adaptive. Traditional Art Museums (for the most part) came relatively late into 'web-presence', partly because of their 'attendance' orientation I guess. But a group of outsiders started 'Web Museums'. - Add Links - Like Nicholas Pioch's WebMuseum, Mark Hardin's Artchive and Carolyn Gersten's CGFA. And I wandered through them endlessly - MOSTLY because I was 'enabled'. I didn't have to drive to the library, or reserve a book, or even schedule a time to do this or that. It was a wonderful thing. But again, it had the proviso of 'what we (the collector/publisher) know'. I'm sure you know I'm going to get to the punch line soon.
Out there, in the quiet shadows of cyberspace is a very special place. And in that spot I found dozen's of artists I would never have otherwise learned of, and saw pictures I had not seen form existing favroties, and had many friendly and informative discussion of this and that with the folks that posted those pics. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Its the world of binary newsgroups. The internet grew up from two sources - the DARPAnet world of univerisities, scientists, and research companies and the netherworld of Bulletin Board Services (BBS's).
Newsgroups (also known as Usenet) are an outgrowth of both technologies. Usenet is an Internet Discussion System and was originally designed for test based discussions. Without a lot more history, it was cleverly adapted to handle the transfer of binary data as well. Binaries can be almost anything digital - program files, sound clips, photographs, videos, data files. If you can digitally encode it, there is probably a binary newsgroup where people post and share that kind of file.
And there's a hierarchy and protocol for all this known as NNTP. Most ISP's provide a 'newsserver' (either their own or a proxy they give you access to) so you can get on UseNet too.
Then you will find out there are hundreds of thousands of newsgroups. LOL, you don't have to dig through all of them, and you might discover that companies like Microsoft and Adobe use this infrastructure to drive their support systems.
Warning, learning curve ahead! You can explore newsgroups in certain browsers, or with Google Groups, or certain e-mail clients (Outlook), but for the heavy lifting of binaries, you will eventually need a newsreader. Seconday Warning: the UseNet (the world of newsgroups) is the Wild Wild West of the Internet, there's lots of porn, warez, and bad-players out there.
{link in a good page about getting started on Usenet)
But IF you are looking for art - read pictures- as I was, most of the relevant groups will be in the alt.binaries.pictures hierarchy.
here are a few of the Newsgroups with 'goodies' you might check out.
alt.binaries.pictures.artpics
alt.binaries.pictures.fine-art
I also like historical pictures and photography so I also 'subscribe' to these NG's (newsgroups) as well.
alt.binaries.pictures.military
alt.binaries.pictures.rail
alt.binaries.pictures.scenic
I'm going to be posting a 'gem' or two along with what I learned that was new, every week. Just to make you want to go see for yourself.
Here are my 'First Two' and I will be following with a 'quick what I learned and where', of course you may also begin your own journey \:-)
[proposed end of post]
Note to sj and other reviewers...
I'm going to note the Scanner (where known) and newsgroup. and what made it interesting in the 'description' which is available in the 'View Full Size' option. (just click on the image) some will be 'now items' and others will be 'past items' plus some 'Its NOT who you think it is' items (the 'flipside' stuff of well-known artists or individuals who are ALSO artists - althought that is not what they are known for.
- This is a incomplete post in construction -
