Indulging in The World of Art

by Aaron Duffy

What is art? Everyone has his or her own idea of what art actually is. Art has a different significance in everyone’s life: from the painting or drawing guru of yester-year shown in museums and galleries, to the day by day artifice make-up wearers show on their faces. It’s all art, and it is all around us. So, what is art? It is an idea that is so versatile that it is nearly impossible to explain. But, it being the objective of this article, what better way to find our what art is than to take an excursion to one of the foremost art capitals of the world, New York City.

Jonathan Santlofer, an artist who is currently showing his latest work at James Graham and Sons (1014 Madison Avenue), was kind enough to allow TeenSpeakan interview and an explanatory tour of his work shown at this gallery.

TeenSpeak: How would you describe your work?

Santlofer: That’s both an easy and difficult question. This work is in many ways all about my view of other artists and the whole idea of fame and personality, and how we perceive things to be real. If you duplicate a painting, is it a real painting? If you duplicate an artist next to their painting, which is the art? Is it the art, is it the artist, are they both art? If I take a famous photograph by Man Ray, of "The Kiss," and I put him inside the photograph, as if this is a found photograph, does this make it real? Everything is done to convince you that these things are actual objects.

In actuality, Jonathan’s paintings really do look as if they are larger than life, worn photographs that have, nonchalantly been tacked or taped onto the wall. On closer inspection, however, the viewer of Jonathan’s work may see that it is not a photograph at all; that delicate lines have been painted in to convey what would have been crease marks in an old, unfolded photograph. The viewer may also see that the work is not actually pinned or taped on the wall, but that Jonathan has made the illusion of tape with his artistic talents in painting.

TeenSpeak: What is the subject matter or the theme of your work?

Santlofer: I pick artists and their work which has influenced other artists. I like to choose a painting that has historical importance. All of my images are replicas of replicas. I’ll duplicate every drip. These works are all about addressing the nature of photography. Photography used to be about truth. These days, photography can be manipulated. You don’t know if it’s truth. I sit down with a pencil and I make drawings that propose to say something about the nature of photography and drawing and truth.

Painting by Jonathan Santlofer