On 06-Sep-08 11:25, Stephen wrote:
> On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:15:13 -0400, Jim Charter <jrc### [at] msncom> wrote:
> 
>> Craftsmanship is quite important to me though.
> 
> Firstly, Shay: your image is stunning.
> 
> I've had difficulty starting this reply (lie, I've had no difficulty starting
> just keeping my thoughts in a straight line). As Thomas points out some art is
> appreciated not just for its beauty but for the work that went into making it.
> Knowing that an old artisan spent his entire life polishing one piece of jade
> into a shape makes that artefact more "worthy" than if it were carved then
> polished in a fraction of the time. I don't think so! Is it better to look at a
> naturally beautiful woman (or man or sheep) than to look at one who uses
> artifice to make herself beautiful? (Note the pejorative use of the word
> artifice.)

> thinking something is beautiful so it is subjective IMO ipso facto it must be
> true 'cause I used a Latin phrase.
> 
> I say that Shay's work is beautiful whether he spent months working on it or
> not.
> But if he had not spent the time designing and developing it. It would not be
> the same piece of work. He did what was needed in this case.
There is another thing to note here. That is that true art shapes the 
artist as well as the other way around. Shay is not the same guy anymore 
as he was a few years ago. Because Shay chose to do everything by hand 
and not use any modelling tools, he now knows more about symmetry of 
dodecahedra and 2nd and 3rd order continuity of triangles than most of 
us, even probably all of us. Here I used 'knows' because I don't know 
what other English word to use. I mean not just knowing in the high 
school sense of the word, but knowledge that becomes part of your being. 
One day it starts affecting his life. He won't be able to see a new 
design for a car, boat, bike or sculpture without immediately seeing the 
flaws in the way different parts are connected. At the point where he 
starts applying this to his wife he will be in trouble.

Although many of us could re-create something like his images in less 
time than he did[*] using other tools, the point is that we wouldn't. We 
have the technical ability but not the right frame of mind. So we can 
and at the same time we can't.

> Art needs skill, juvenilia needs salesmen.
> 
> Shay, are you still on the rigs? And are you having fun during the hurricane
> season?

[*] possibly that is not even true. We could get close very fast, but 
then every step closer would take an increasing amount of time. Most 
would give up at 98% because they would not be willing to spend so much 
time on getting it really right.

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