Bespectacled (Detail)

When you drink coffee and then high alcohol beer and inhale copious amounts of turpentine fumes (health hazard, DO NOT DO THIS ON PURPOSE) you get to thinking.  Not exactly clear thinking, but thinking nonetheless.   And you think, "this is what I should be doing, inhaling dangerous fumes, thinking not quite clearly, and making art."  I can look at the final product and say with authority that it is not very good, or well executed or professional, but it is certainly honest and done with integrity, and attempted with genuine effort.

With regards to "Detail": It is amazing what cropping an image can do.  If you saw the image in its entirety, you might say, "ah, pedestrian, grade school" and you would be right.  With the exception of one or two small pieces,  I have never worked with oil pastels before.  I have much to learn.  But you crop that piece down with some knowledge of design, balance, and framing, and all of a sudden the "detail" of a larger image looks pretty good.  Better, in fact, than the composition and overall effect of the larger "complete" piece.  If you saw the complete piece, you probably would not care what the subject was looking at.  But look at the "Detail", and all of a sudden, the look and the looked-at becomes the primary focus.  I would agree that the cropping and re-presentation of the image creates a whole other image and composition.  It changes the focus and the interpretation.  So, is it misleading?  In this case, I would say no, because the cropper, the graphic designer is the artist himself.  In other cases, I would argue that there is a conflict as to who the author/artist is, and what the subject becomes when re-presented by a secondary source.

This is what makes the difference between mediocrity and genius.  Go see a collection of Van Gogh paintings and you will see composition from 20 feet away, dynamic use of light and color at 10 feet away, and incredible use of paint and texture at 1 foot away.  The "Detail" of a Van Gogh painting is not an improvement of a Van Gogh painting, it is a specific focus of the genius of one aspect of an overall genius piece.  What I argue here is that through cropping and framing, you can create a secondary image with more interest and quality in terms of focus, subject matter and interpretation than the original "whole" piece of art.