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John Charles Macpherson's
Pure Art and other stuff.

     INDEX

3D Virtual Gallery  (an interactive introduction to my work)
Photo Gallery  (mostly 600 x 400 pixels)
Art Gallery  (mostly 600 x 400 pixels)
Hand Blown Glass (what I did in a previous life)
an unusual fractal and an AVI movie
A home movie of me blowing glass 
Concerning Digital Paintings  (a zooming experience)
Art for sale on canvas
My one page brag sheet.
My philosophy on art, or at least about my art
An Abridged Unauthorized Autobiography
Fall scenes Oct 07 (expression gallery) use back button to return here
Recent Works

We have moved and now live in Manson, WA. on Lake Chelan
Click here to find out why

Me at work.

You can e-mail me your comments if you like.
mailto:johnnjoy@hotmail.com

So, what is art?

That's easy.  Art is something made by an artist.
What is good art?  Good art is stuff you like.  
Bad art is stuff you do not like.

So, how can you recognize an artist?

  An artist has three main characteristics:
first, vision--an artist sees things differently.
second, ability--to communicate what he or she sees.
third, artistic temperament--all artists, good or bad, 
think that their stuff is the absolute greatest. (or else why bother?)

Only for those of you with an MFA or equivalent understanding of art, including critics, curators, and
gallery owners, I hereby submit the following statement to sum up my work,
using to the best of my ability your terminology,

 "My work is pure decoration, based solely on formal considerations, and
deliberately is devoid of art."

Unfortunately for me, your  group dominates and controls today's world of art, while I
dance to the tune of a different drummer. 

For the rest of you dear readers, the bulk of this website will contradict the above.

 And, that is just the way it is.

INTRODUCTION

I am an artist, that is who I am, and what I do.  When I discuss art or paintings on this site, I am
only talking about "static colors on a flat rectangular surface".  That includes oils, pastels, etchings, wood-block prints, original digital prints and photographic art, etc.  I am not including 3-D art, movies, or performance art or other art forms.

I am opinionated, actually very opinionated, but hopefully the opinions are rational opinions
and not emotional ones.  I think that I am open-minded, and if you have opposite views, I would
compare them to my own and maybe change to reflect yours.  Right!  Like that is going to
happen. ;-)

MY ART

What kind of art do I create?  Well, an artist really has only three choices, or categories to
choose from.  These are:  art that is OF something; art that is ABOUT something; or art that
simply IS, i.e. art that is neither OF something nor ABOUT something.  As a hobby, I create
art that is "of" something, and my serious art simply "is".  I rarely, if ever, create art that is
"about" something.  

The latter is the realm of modern art.  For the purpose of  this website modern art is defined as, limited to, and refers to  art that is 'about the human condition'.   There is an abundance of that ilk.  Shakespeare wrote, "All the world is a stage------signifying nothing".  Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation".  A more modern author said, "Life's a bitch and then you die".  I really get enough of the "human condition" in my own life, and more than enough from the 5:00 o'clock news and periodicals, thank you very much.

I create art hopefully to give the viewer a respite from the human condition, not to rub their noses in it.  Like I said above.  I am opinionated. However, I am not alone.  Most artists are the same.  For example, ask any teacher of modern art what he or she thinks of Kincaid's art.  Conversely,  ask any landscape watercolorist what they think of De Kooning's art. 

It is interesting to note that all three categories require different criteria in order to judge
the worth of the finished art.  In each category there can be masterpieces or simply sophomoric
results.  For example, only art that is about something can be judged by its "content" or "statement".  Attempts to apply that criteria to the other two categories, results in the judgment that the other two categories are non-art, perhaps only decoration, but not really art.  That happens a lot and it is really sad.  Of course, there are also many who only like sunsets and beautiful pastoral scenes and think that modern art is non-art.  I pity all who are missing so much by being so prejudiced.

ART THAT JUST "IS"

What do I mean by my art just "is".  Well, when I create art, I am creating an object.  This
object is intended to be hung on a wall.  That's all.  It just exists.  It is an object of pure art, by itself,
of itself and does not refer to anything else except itself, and is not a picture of anything real
or imagined.  It is just something to hang on your wall.  If you don't like it, throw it away.  If,
on the other hand, you look at it with awe, and say, "Wow", or "How did he do that" or even.
"I wish I had that image in the '60's", then your are getting my intent.  I don't want you to
think.  I just want you to enjoy and wonder.  If you forget, even for a minute that "life's a bitch"
then my work is a success.  To me, the purpose of art is to enrich the soul.  To the extent that
you smile and not frown determines the success of my work.  The more imagination you have, the more you will enjoy my work.  If you can't see animals in clouds, just only clouds, and you can't see faces in oak trees, just only trees, then you won't see what is hidden in my art.  If you have extreme imagination, you will see things that no one else sees, but then others will think you are weird.  But, you already knew that.

 Chihuly

By the way, what I am trying to do is to establish a new art movement.  It is denoted as the "Post Contemporary Pure Art Movement".  But guess what, I just found out "Pure Art" as a concept, is at least as old as 1910.  The genre was sometimes called 'lyrical abstraction'.  I just found this out as I was redoing my website.  I googled "pure art".  It is a real blow to my ego, in that I thought that I had conceived of something original and had come up with a new take on what art should be, at least for me.  Be that as it may, at least my ideas were originated by artists I respect.  It pleases me that I came up with similar ideas even if I wasn't the first.  

*Franz Marc wrote that pure art is a metaphorical act of creation entirely “of and for itself.”
*The  above is a direct quote by a contributor to www.artandculture.com (author unknown)