Bas Jan Ader. 10 Reasons Why Photography Sucks and Isn’t an Art Form. 2009-12-20 Update: This article is #1 in Google for “photography sucks,” so I see why it gets so many comments.
Don’t take me too seriously. Photography is really an art form and I am playing devil’s advocate here. Is Photography Dead? Jonathan Jones: What's happened to figurative art today? I've spent the last few days immersed in a world of oil, gesso and cartone paper, of workshops and apprentices and guilds.
I've been writing about the Italian Renaissance, and writing can be a form of time travel. You find yourself, for a moment, in a world when art was a craft; when levels of skill were so mind-boggling that it's easier to take them for granted and concentrate on the meanings and ideas - because to comprehend the technical achievement of a Botticelli or a Leonardo is all but impossible. There is a profound difference between art rooted in craft, and art that has no interest in it. In this century, art has left craft far behind.