Prior to the invention of photography, realistic images of the world could only be produced by skilled artists. By the 19th-century, artists such as the Pre-Rafaelites and the French Neoclassicists have achieved dazzling visual realism in their work.
The technical skills of realism were inseparable from the other creative challenges in making images. This changed when photography automated the task of producing images of the real world.
It seems likely, in fact, that photography was one of the major catalysts of the Modern Art movement: its influence led to decades of vitality in the world of painting, as artists were both inspired by photographic images and pushed beyond realism. Without photography, perhaps modern art would never have existed.
In other words, Munch, Van Gogh, and many other artists of their generation viewed realism as the job of photography, and the goal of the real artist was to find a way to go beyond realism—to do something that cameras could not do.
Meanwhile, photographers attempted to develop and advocate for their own art form. In the United States, these photographers called themselves the Photo-Secessionists, since they “seceded” from custom and traditional forms of art. They argued that the artist’s considerable control over the image creation, to express their vision, made it an art form. Today Photography is a multifaceted visual art form that transcends mere documentation to become a powerful tool for creative expression and storytelling.
Two Photographers among the 17 that will be exhibiting in Celebration ENCORE 2024 are:
Lisa Kristine – Best of Show, Humanitarian Photographer
Lisa devotes her craft to honoring the innate dignity inherent in every individual. Her work spans more than 150 countries. Through the sale of her captivating photographic work, Lisa ingeniously converts art into resources for change. A photograph becomes a catalyst for support, as admirers acquire her pieces, knowing that their contributions are directly aligned with a cause worth supporting.
Mark Stephenson – Best of Show
While working towards an MA in Radio, TV and Film at the University of Texas at Austin, Mark rediscovered his love for still photography, switched gears and enrolled at Brooks Institute of Photographic Arts and Sciences, the famously rigorous technical school in Santa Barbara, receiving his second BA (in Photography) in 1983.
Mark’s background in poetry, Eastern philosophies, and meditation, along with his technical training in photography, have all merged to create a totally unique and elegantly simple art form - a single blade of grass is amazingly transformed into a luminous channel of transparent golden light.