Grant_T

Hey, thanks. Went out for Japanese food (Okonomiyaki!) with the wife, and then drank a few rums.

Wow. This is right up my alley. What are Gallery models like? Never heard of them.

If they get the money, that is fine by me.

Just made an order with Reskit. Slava Ukraini!

Bizarre situation unless we are not hearing the complete story. Did you default on your payments to a storage lock up?

Operation Enduring Freedom might be a topical choice. Combine it with with the bungled Soviet invasion, and there are a bunch of options to build.

Thanks for the reminder! I'm writing a new book and it is due with the publisher on April 1, so I'm working around the clock on that right now. I've promised myself a full month off after that though, so I will get to this then.

George... a less charitable person might think you were trolling at this stage.

Ha, that is a great question and I can't pretend to have the answer. The philosopher George Dickie argued that art is an institutional fact, and the "artworld" (i.e., artists, critics, experts, insiders etc.) settled the question of what is and is not art. Another approach is that art is an historical/intentional category. Artists work against a tradition of accepted art, and what they produce is intended to add to or to be understood in terms of that tradition (and might even repudiate it, as with DADA and a bunch of 20th century art). In both cases, experts (or at least competent speakers) settle what art means, but that answer might seem elitist to some. Run of the mill modelling wouldn't count as art under either of these theories because it lacks the institutional and historical/intentional setting that art has.

For what's its worth, in my professional capacity I think and write about these kinds of questions and have a bunch of relevant journal articles/books on related subjects. I've sometimes thought about writing specifically on models and modelmaking, but I have enough on the go already. There are several issues in your post. Are models art? Saying something is art doesn't make it so, and a superficial resemblance to art isn't sufficient either, because practices such as crafts and hobbies can share features with the art (artefact making, a concern with aesthetics, criticism) while lacking others (emotional or meaningful expression, intellectual challenge, formal complexity). I suspect that models could rise the status of art in some rare cases, but my models certainly don't! Another issue is whether the modeler is "controlled by the perception of others?" "Controlled" is too strong, but there are certainly implicit norms, and they are the subject some of the intractable debates on this forum (e.g., what "needs" to be done to a kit). One other thing is the relationship between realism, objectivity, science and judgment in modeling (i.e. the issue prompted by George's recent thread). There is a fallacy in art that scientific objectivity is a means of producing realism, or what people perceive as realism. Even in the linear perspective of the high renaissance, artists such as Raphael ignored the apparent laws of geometry because they resulted in images that appeared unrealistic. I think it is likely to be similar with models, and that realism is much more about convention than science. Finally, as for whether humour belongs in the hobby, I'm not so sure judging by some of the humourless and grumpy old buggers on here.

And finally a bit of progress. I gave it a bit of wear because the pictures above reveal NZ3220 to have been through a bit.

It's a bit blurry around the edges so far, but nothing that a strong coffee won't fix.

Thanks guys. This build actually won me my very first ribbon.

2020 has just under a couple of hours left for us down under (and to the east a bit). 2020 was well, quite forgettable, but this was a great online community throughout. I finished a few large scale kits, and hope to finish a few more next year. I hope you all have a great new year! Grant

My wife and I and my elderly parents had lunch. And they brought the ham thief. Then I had some rums and played my drums without the mutes on. My poor neighbours.