Distributed Sketchily

Our Featured Friday Foto this week:

I took this shot the other day on the downtown 6 train, riding between 33rd Street and Union Square.  This fellow was "speed sketching" away. His eyes would dart around and he'd quickly sketch anything/anybody that caught his fancy.  Why is this interesting?

First, we're all fascinated by watching art being created in person.  In museums, there are people drawing and painting all the time, and they always draw a crowd.  The process of portraying the visual field seems to tap into something primordial.  Those of us who lack this talent stand in awe, watching magicians producing rabbits; "how do they do that?"

But there's something else that interested me.  I think the act of creating in public, in real time, is becoming more common.  As more of us become comfortable using technological tools (digital cameras, Photoshop, Illustrator, Garage Band, mini-camcorders, TypePad), we're also becoming comfortable creating things all the time.  I carry a Nikon Coolpix S1 everywhere I go.  It both reflects and enables my passion for capturing interesting images.  There have been times in my life when I'd have been shy about pulling out a camera and snapping a shot of someone/thing I saw.  But not today.

Today, many of us are growing more comfortable with looking at daily life through creative lenses.  Granted, some of those lenses, like this sketch artist's, are more powerful than others.  But the beauty of what's happening is that the power to write, compose, photograph, or re-mix is now widely distributed, so that more of us have the experience of personally creating something, if only for ourselves. 

And so, when I asked this fellow if it would be OK to take his picture, he smiled, kind of wryly, and said, "sure."  One artist to another, of course.

Comments

[Dave Lorenzo]

I took the 6 home from the Bronx the other day. The crowd in my car at about 10PM would have seen if he could sketch with the pencil shoved.....well you get my point.

I saw an older man confront a foreign student who was holding a backpack. When the student opened his bag to reveal physics text books, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The older man apologized but most people in the car were smiling and nodding in approval.

Crime in the subway is way down because people are not only looking out for suspicious behavior - they are challenging it. Strange dynamics on the subway these days.

Ten years ago no one even acknowledged that other people were in the same car with them!

[Michael]

There is something very attractive about creativity. Watching a grandchild play with clay or a stranger sketch a picture is inviting.

Recently I read this quote by Maria Girsch - "creativity is remembering who you were as a child and transferring that to who you are as an adult. Creativity is remembered not learned."

I wonder, if the longing we feel to be creative again as adults (usually stymied at our places of work) is part of what is behind not just the fascination but the the willingness to use the adult crayons of technology to create again?

[Tom]

That's a very sobering story, Dave. I haven't seen anything like that in the subway, but I certainly can understand that kind of incident. New Yorkers have been through the most amazing four years I've ever experienced.

Michael, your story reminds me of something I read the other day. For the life of me, I can't rememeber where. Anyway, a fellow who teaches art in college (oh, I know, I read it in the very excellent book, Art and Fear) was asked by his seven year old daughter what he did for a living. He answered, "I teach people to draw." To which, his daughter replied, "You mean, they forget?"

[Michael]

"You mean,they forget?" Wonderful! So true! That story says it all!

[Connie Sartain]

There's a story in today's Daily News about a woman in a subway car taking a picture of a man exposing himself to her. When he saw her take the picture, he bailed. She then took the picture to the police, filed a complaint, and then posted his picture on the internet. Now the pervert is exposed in a socially beneficial manner.