Honesty among artists

Hi,

What kind of safeguards have you considered to make sure this doesn't become a contest to see who can best manipulate thier slide quality using photo shop or some other software. I know a lot of folks that eliminate any problems with finish, tweak the color etc. to make the work look better for images they post on-line.

Karen

The ZAPP project team cannot police what specific images artists submit in the system. However, the festivals, fairs, and shows involved will follow their own current protocols to ensure artists are presenting their work fairly and accurately.

The same liabilities apply to slides and prints sent directly to juries. Images can be manipulated in Photoshop. They can be manipulated in the dark room. I select an appropriate background for my digital image. I generate, sometimes, dozens of images under different lighting conditions, different settings, and different framings. I carefully select the best looking shot. All this is the same as when I took my work to a studio for slides and prints. The next step is to assure that the finally selected image actually looks like the real thing. Will the image in pixels look the same as the image in ink, on photographic paper, and on a slide? These cannot be assumed. Here Photoshop comes in handy to modify the contrast, brightness, color balance, etc. The challenge with all 2 dimensional reproductive media--photographs, digital images, slides, oils, for that matter--is accuracy of color.

Misrepresentation of the product is altogether another issue. Shoddy craftsmanship may be disguised in jury photographs, but cannot be obscured from public view at a public event.

One of the problems with your arugment is that it is not easy or cheap to get a slide made from a digital file. But is is easy and free to "clean up " a digital image . It doesn't take alot of marketable skills to make an image look good. In fact it's much easier than trying to get a good slide with flim. With this system we eliminate the whole photography step. I can go right from my computer to yours.
The thing that concerns me is that I see the app fees going through the roof because now the promoters have to pay you with the profits they used to make on the app fees. Now 2 people have to make a profit on us: you and the promoter.

The issue isn't that an artist can make the ultimate, perfect image that will obviously be proven fraudulent during some sort of on-site jury...

...it's that all the fraud will be within the margins of...

Not so fraudulent as to have the Art Fair make issue of it during an onsite jury -- but just fraudulent enough to have beaten co-artsts out of that place in the Fair in the first place.

Few would be foolhardy enough to TOTALLY misrepresent their work. MANY will be fraudulent enough to "steal" art fair admission from artists who follow the letter AND intent of the rules. They'll do so knowing how few shows will actively police their shows to this extent.

This is an argument that can never have a clear resolution. Cheaters will always cheat, and always have. I've know artists to have digital slides created over eight years ago. Long before it was easy and inexpensive.

The best we can do is ask Westaf and the art shows to come up with a statement of intent for the artists to acknowledge and sign off on. The Smithsonian Craft Show has good guidelines: "No digitally manipulated or enhanced images will be accepted. You may only adjust for brightness, contrast, color correction and remove scratches or debris."

The exact wording would need to change but the concept should be adopted as an image preparation guideline.

But as I previously said, cheaters will always cheat, no matter what.

Larry Berman
[BermanGraphics.com]

This memo is posted to directly answer Karen's initial concern. It always has been the duty of each artist to create slides that when presented to a jury will win the contest which we all enter when applying to an art show. Without misrepresenting your work, you must create a presentation that is superior in quality and aesthetics. This includes tweaking the color and any other tweaking that is necessary to win the favor of the judges. Thus, many of us use professional photographers, special backgrounds and lighting, and now the magic of Photoshop. This very much is a real competition and to win that competition is your JOB. As in all jobs, our ethics are highly important and we all hope that each artist will honestly represent his work.

Over the decades, I have participated in many international,national and regional juried exhibitions. Almost without exception, the show prospectus will state that works that differ from the photographic materials submitted with the entry will be rejected by the jurors and not included in the exhibition. If artists choose to enhance their work in Photoshop or some other graphics program they will be caught. Unfortunately, those artists who get caught cheating also have denied another artist from getting into that exhibition.