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Sept. 30, 2005 Watching a great documentary about Canadian photographer Arnaud Maggs, in a series of continual documentaries on TVO called Masterworks, is quite though provoking. Some of these artists types seen in these documentaries and others like it, at first glance, look quite odd. In fact, truth be told, they look quite odd at second, third, and forth glances also. Yep, even after the very last glance, one can still say that there is oddity. This is the beauty and inspirational part though. Many people who 'follow their bliss' as the famous American myth explorer, Joseph Campbell, suggessted to, are looked at as crazy. Once your artwork appears in a gallery though, or if you can get plenty of other crazy and rich friends, peoples' perspective can change a bit. They might use the word eccentric. No matter, the point in following one's bliss, like Arnaud Maggs and others like him did and do, is to refine and find joy in one's own perspective. By the way, as an aside, the Star Wars film was based much on Joseph Campbell's book The Hero With The Thousand Faces. It is good to watch Arnaud Maggs in his apartment or studio, it was impossible to tell which it was (could have been both) talking on and on about his collection of water jugs. He said that when he was working on an idea thats all he did, and that it went on for a long time. The proof was in the pudding, I mean the water jugs. Well the proof wasn't in them but was them, many of them. And the pictures of them, and the displays of them. At a causal glance, they all looked the same, all white. Then he pointed out the spots that had been worn off, and how that made them diffferent, along with the actual sizes. There is Arnaud Maggs, with his pictures of his water jugs. And at the end he develops a picture of the Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen. It is a plain shot. Two shots actually. No different than a police mug photo. But Arnaud would probably disagree. He has been working on developing the picture. The interviewer asks why he took so long. Arnaud says after thinking a moment, ' I was busy. Doing other things.' He looks agile, spry, and is elderly. He lifts his camera up to take a picture of the documentary maker's film camera. He clicks a picture. The viewer is watching the viewed watching the viewer but the viewed is not actually watching the viewer it just appears so for an instant, and even so, the viewed is only doing this through his camera and towards another one at that. Then he lowers his camera a bit. When his eyes are seen he is staring ahead but not at the film camera. Maggs himself is framed in an Italian Length Medium Shot to use film jargon. The film frame freezes and the documentary ends there. There is an intensity in the eyes, a visionary focus. An artist at work. Odd and inspiring. Following his bliss. ------------ About the author: Brian Michael Barbeito lives in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. His two most recent books are Medium Double Double Milk (non-fiction) and Fluoride And The Electric Light Queen (poems), neither currently published. Email: Brian1750@Hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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