AltPhoto Source Update

I've always respected and admired Sally Mann's work. I have mixed emotions about her wet plate work. Conceptually, I understand where she's going with the photographs (I think) and the images of her dog (well, the dug up bones) in her book, "What Remains" are powerful. Her whole approach to that work is powerful and I have great respect for her insight and her ability to contextualize and express on that topic.

As far as her technical abilities in wet plate, I think she'll even admit they aren't the best. In her defense, I think she wants it that way. She is saying something with that approach and that "style" of wet plate work. I think it's valid. As James said, you probably would have had to been there to fully appreciate/understand this body of work.

On the other side of the coin, I do think there is a lot of political and marketing bullsh*t swirling around known names and their work. It puts them, and in essence, their work at risk (in my opinion).

For example, some of our small group here has already dismissed this work because of that bullsh*t (there is some validity there too). If you were to stumble across this work on a web site of an unknown artist, like one of us, you may give it a chance. You may still not like it, but you would be more apt to give it a chance. The "write-off" factor would be less of an influence with an unknown artist. Work needs to be seen and understood in context. A lot of viewers, because of the name and the marketing hype, will immediately dismiss work like this.

I think it's unfortunate that people get "famous" in the art world. I believe in the long run, they loose a lot of their audience because of the notion that anything they do is great. Some of the work they do, like this work, is very difficult for a lot of people to get their head around and the “hype” makes it even more difficult.

With that said, there is a lot of art out there, the question is; is it good art? I leave that for each person to decide.