Jonathan Levitt

http://www.creativeoutput.net bennie

hey
I’ve been reading your blog since one and a half year now I guess and well I really liked it in the beginning, but in the meanwhile I’ve more and more began to don’t understand some things about and behind booooooom.

Why do you never lose a single word about the work(s) of the artists you feature? you have one of the most popular (visited) blogs in the www and so some kind of (huge) responsibility in my eyes. this is such a powerful tool – you can show, you can teach and do other things and you are just like “here are some pics. look at them.” no background informations about the artist, about the work, no statement, no nothing.

Then the people who reads your blog come up with comments like “I like the colors”, “I like the first and third pic” or just “awesome work”. I mean wtf. Of course it feels good if someone tells you that he or she likes the work you’re doing, but this is so empty and I really have the feeling that most of the people here don’t understand what this “art thing” is about at all.

By writing this I don’t want to say that I’m kind of an “art guru” or something similar. I’m just trying to get into this whole thing, get to know some influental artists, interesting thoughts about art, artists, the dialog between the world and this whole thing and other things. I don’t have the feeling that I’m taking something along by “reading” your blog – viewing some nice photographs and drawings – and that’s kinda sad.

it’s not like that you don’t feature good artists and I really like the fact that some of them would be quite unknown without your help, but it seems like so random and superficial sometimes.

I hope you can understand some of the things mentioned above. I don’t want to hurt you or so, that’s just how I feel.

b

http://www.jeffhamada.com/ Jeff

Bennie –

first of all I really appreciate these comments and i am happy to see the discussion it has spawned. apologies for this late reply, i have been away camping and i am responding to this comment before i even get to a weeks worth of email that is waiting in my inbox.

your desire for there to be some sort of critique or comments made in regard to the work displayed is a common one – however – i don’t have any plans to change the way i post about work.

i never saw this site as a space to critique artwork, merely an avenue for me share work that i like, and in that regard it is still a very personal blog. i don’t feel a duty to do anything regardless of how popular it is.

i want Booooooom.com to be an encouragement to the artists i post about first and foremost!

yes there are many commenters proclaiming their love for work over and over and over and that is what i like most about this place. it should be a clue to new readers that this is the sort of community that has formed here and this is the way it continues to grow.

my hope is that this site acts as an appetizer, to spur on further investigation of an artists work – not to provide a complete biography or interview with each and every artist featured.

Booooooom might not be what you want exactly (at least not at this point) but there are millions of blogs out there and many that might provide you with what you are looking for!

thanks again for your comments -

/jeff

ranran

really beautiful work

http://low-pics.blogspot.com/ edddy

I like the colors, I like the first and third pic, just awesome work!

kiddin’, I agree with you (bennie) even if I think that our man does such a work that I understand it leaves less time to find out everything about the artists he features.

edddy.
http://www.jeffhamada.com/ Jeff

these are some of my favourite photos of the last few months

http://www.creativeoutput.net bennie

kinda had to laugh when I read ranran’s comment. so ironic …

http://low-pics.blogspot.com/ edddy

did as well… especially for the “really” like this time i “really” mean it since i read your comment!
lol
no offense ranran.

http://hellosweetcheeks.com Nicole Underwood

*gasp*
The dog!!
What gorgeous photos!

http://onefiveeight.co.uk OneFiveEight

I think the reason why Boooooom doesn’t comment is because art about is what each individual person thinks of it, so giving a personal opinion isn’t always the right thing to do if what you’re doing is simply showing the work to the public and getting the artists name known. Also, this is a blog which is updated very frequently so more work on top of that would probably be more time consuming, and info on the artist isn’t really needed as you can easily click on their name and bring up their own website which has all the info you need.

I just had to stick up for Boooooom a bit after reading these comments as I’ve quite recently discovered it and thinks it’s a really good tool for finding inspiration in other peoples work.

Peace to all. x

Kaho

Hi Bennie,

Can’t you just find it by yourself ?
You already have the names and the pictures, go seek a little

http://www.deptm2.com mike

I love how the donkey(or is it a mule) is looking longingly out into the fog covered trail maybe thinking is this all I have to offer and when will I finally come across that proverbial fork in the road and be able to travel the road less traveled?

I also like the third pic

qbricc

Having spent many years at art school I for one can do without people feeling they need to say something deep and meaningful to impress others. Look at the work, enjoy it, love it or hate it, comment if you want. I think its great that others may want to find out more about certain artists, how about starting by googling their name. If you found this site then it shouldn’t be to hard.

http://www.thestorialist.com Hannah Stephenson

You bring up an interesting point, Bennie, and I think it is certainly in the right spirit (of wanting to know more, of desire for context or the curator’s thoughts).

But I think that Jeff’s specialty through Booooooom is to showcase art that he fancies or finds fascinating without the backstory (at least from this reader’s point of view). For me, it works because he has so clearly set up this expectation in the blog.

There are blogs that do what you suggest–do you know The Jealous Curator? I do love her descriptions of artists’ strengths.

It was interesting to read your comment and I hope it sparks more conversation.

http://yaaannobil.com yaa

number four is spectacular… is that not a photograph of of the subject pinned onto the wall behind him? perfect.

ukulele

i like this little spicy egg

ZDX

This is the kind of portraits I wanna take…..!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/watsonthebeliever/ Taylor

I agree with Bennie mostly, some background info would be great, maybe even an interview or two. But I think that if we like the art being showed enough we should find that out for ourselfs. The artist’s website, flickr, blog etc. is provided so we have the tools to learn about the artist.

anways………………..
I really love the atmosphere of the these portraits, expecially the second photo

http://theburdenofmystery.com evan

i like this site as-is and check it every day. it’s clean and BS-free. i like that there are no pretentious discussions of “what is art” or “what art means.” maybe we don’t always have to place art and artists on a pedestal where we need to “figure out what they were thinking.” sometimes it’s ok to just appreciate, just to look at it and not talk about it.

experience before explanation, exposure before analysis. that’s my rule o’ thumb.

http://theburdenofmystery.com evan

btw these are some of the best photos on this site. superb

Ark

second evan- if you want to know more about the artist, research them. if jeff were to do write-ups there would be a lot less post and a lot less artist getting there work shown. homeboy does a lot- be content.

nice donkey

arqfpca

Evan has said it all. I also check it every day, without any major expectations…just for the fun and inspiration of it. Whether people’s comments are “empty” or not, if they’re posting comments, it means they FELT something, and I think that’s what this blog is about.

http://www.creativeoutput.net bennie

@Jeff

thanks for the reply, really appreciate your oppinion on those things but I am still not understanding the “why” 100%. well, this place might be not what I am looking for and of course there are alternatives, but you still have a lot of power by posting here and I think you could (should) use it more thoughtful.

@onefiveeight

“I think the reason why Boooooom doesn’t comment is because art about is what each individual person thinks of it”

art (often) mirrors what happens in the environment of the artist, the world, politics and other things. and often art critics, points out or shows up something. there are artists that don’t want the viewer to be given a single interpretation, but there also are artists that want to show people what they’re thinking and it helps a lot to know something about these artists – their background, topics they picked up before and such things.

“and info on the artist isn’t really needed as you can easily click on their name and bring up their own website which has all the info you need.”

ok, so let’s click on “Jonathan Levitt” and bring up those infos. maybe you can post them for me, cause I didn’t find them on his website, also google doesn’t want to give me those informations you’re talking about : )

ok so after continuing my search on google I found a bit:

Contender Jonathan Levitt writes that the images in the project, Wake to Songbirds Wake to Crows are about the “idea of home.” When one looks to this series on his website, one finds photographs of chickens and horses, tractors and trailers, dogs running wild, and fresh tomatoes in the sunlight–an idea of home that is far from the urban bustle of HHS! HQ in downtown Manhattan. The fields looks idyllic and peaceful, like a place where the rhythms of the day move slowly and deliberately.
A photographer who comes by way of culinary school and time spent on farms, Levitt lives-by and observes the land with the eye of someone who has toiled many hours in the sun and dirt. His images whet the tongue with the lure of some kind of quiet life, where carrots are eaten after being pulled fresh from the ground and the eggs you cook with are never more than a few hours old. He tells a story about cycles–of life to death, morning to night, spring to fall–with this growing series of work, capturing elements of the spirit of rural Maine”
source: http://www.heyhotshot.com/blog/2009/05/13/hey-hot-shot-contender-jonathan-levitt/

I don’t think that it hurts to know these things or read this comment on the work before you begin to think about his work : )

@qbricc
so what have you done at art school? starring at pictures and thinking for yourself? nice teaching method!
there may be others that haven’t spent “many years” at art school, that need to get a feeling for art, for the pictures and for the “how you can deal with a certain topic by visualizing it” or something similar.
it also makes me kinda angry that you’re trying to say that someone who gives informations about artists, trying to teach others wants to impress someone/others. I don’t know where you come from but I never had the feeling that my teacher at school who tought me about certain artists and art in the main had the motivation that he wanted to impress someone by saying something deep and meaningful. I also hope that this will not change when I beginn to study … and I hope some people stay like this, also in the web …
@hannah stephenson
yeah of course you can google and … well maybe booooooom is just not for me : ) thanks for the link, I will visit it.

@evan
sometimes it might be the right way to go, sometimes not. I just wanted to point out that it’s not wrong to know a little bit more, to go a little bit deeper. and mostly I don’t have the feeling that the comments on this site mirrors the attitude you have.

@ark
so quantity is better than quality?
as I said before it sometimes is pretty hard to find out more about certain artists cause they just have a tiny flickr account and the only informations I get is the nickname and their age.

http://www.jeffhamada.com/ Jeff

i respect your opinion but i dont like it sounding like i haven’t given it any thought. the site is the way it is because that’s the way i’ve been able to reach the most people.

as an aside, i had no idea you were the guy who made creativeoutput, i’ve followed your site for some time and hope you stick around.

qbricc

Benny –
“so what have you done at art school? starring at pictures and thinking for yourself? nice teaching method!
there may be others that haven’t spent “many years” at art school, that need to get a feeling for art, for the pictures and for the “how you can deal with a certain topic by visualizing it” or something similar.”

The point I was trying to make is that there is nothing wrong with people making a statement such as ‘ I like the third one’ and that they shouldn’t feel they have to justify their reasons. Feel free to make whatever comments you like but don’t complain about others. With regards to finding out about the work featured here, do some of the leg work yourself don’t allow sites like this to spoon feed you.

http://decode.at thomas

@ Bennie

“as I said before it sometimes is pretty hard to find out more about certain artists cause they just have a tiny flickr account and the only informations I get is the nickname and their age.”

I see where you’re trying to head, but in many cases Jeff is showcasing work of young, unknown artists, and in this cases you can’t find suitable information on the web. For me, I’m most of the time not quite sure where my work leads to – after some time, months, maybe years, I form a theory or an explanation around it – that also may fail after some rethinking. So I’m pretty happy Jeff just showcases without trying to form some wacky theory or superficial text around stuff.

When I see a stunning picture, most of the time I don’t find suitable words. The picture / work just carries something thta touches me. May sound cheesy, I know.

kaying

i really love levitt’s shots of the animals.
they really personify the animal characters~

http://teargas.tumblr.com Wensley

I like Booooooom the way it is. Sometimes I do not have time to read 4 paragraphs about some artist’s statement, which in my opinion isn’t even that interesting. Artists make images, not poetry. I’m an artist myself, and I know that I wouldn’t be good in an interview. I don’t have much to say in those terms. The only place that I really read sometimes is freckled cup, and that is stories that photographers have from behind the scenes. But other than that, I just like looking at images, ESPECIALLY the ones here. I love this site Jeff. Junk free.

http://teargaszine.tumblr.com/ Wensley

When I made my comment, I mistyped my website info. I’m not part of teargas.tumblr.com!

TeD

really beautiful work

lapetitefaon

Wow, I just stumbled upon this and it makes me SO SAD! I completely agree with Evan x1000, this website is beautiful because it is free of all pretentious critiques for the most part and because it is such a positive, encouraging place. I also think it is a HUGE assumption to think all Boooooom! readers are passively looking at the works and saying “oh I like the colors in the fourth one, the fifth is pretty, now I’m going to go check my e-mail.” I have found out about so many incredible artists through this website and looked into the ones I really love and have gone to their openings and purchased their prints! Maybe I don’t get this “art thing” but I certainly look forward to checking Booooooom on a daily basis and am continually inspired to make and appreciate beautiful art as a result!