Am I an Artist?

Last Saturday, I was walking down West 24th Street in Chelsea, on my way to brunch with some friends. As I walked down the street, with music from my iPod drowning out the world around me, I passed by the Danziger Project, an art gallery that focuses primarily on photography.

Normally I would have walked past the gallery without a second thought. It was just another Chelsea art gallery. Nothing new. Nothing different. But I decided to stop this time. I had time to kill, and after all, the gallery had been receiving quite a lot of attention in the past month, especially after The New York Times reported that artist Shepard Fairey had filed a lawsuit against The Associated Press over the use of his now iconic poster of President Barack Obama.

Currently, the Danziger Project is displaying both the Shepard Fairey poster and a copy of the original photograph that it is based on, one taken by photographer Mannie Garcia for The Associated Press in April 2006, when Obama spoke at the National Press Club with George Clooney after he returned from Darfur.

Due to the success of Fairey's poster, James Danziger, the gallery owner and a former editor for Vanity Fair, helped to lead the effort which discovered the original photo that Fairey based his posted on. Now that it has been discovered, Danziger is selling reproductions – some autographed! – developed by Garcia. A limited number that is. Only 200. Each going fro $1,200!

Twelve hundred dollars for a reproduced photograph!?! Sounds crazy, right? Well, apparently people in the art world do not seem to think it is that crazy. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for example, just purchased a copy of the photo, and will display it alongside a copy of the Fairey poster.

The commotion surrounding Garcia's photo and the Danziger Project again prompted an article from The New York Times, just two days after my initial visit to the gallery. Noam Cohen's article was titled, "Viewing Journalism as a Work of Art," yet he himself never answered a very important question: is journalism art?

As a student of journalism, I began to think about this question, and it was not until I heard a lecture given by one of my former professors, which addressed both "In Cold Blood" and "All the President's Men." Truman Capote transformed his notes and interviews with convict Perry Smith, into what is now often regarded as a pioneering work of true crime. While Bernstein and Woodward's novel is now one of the best-selling novels of all-time and is read by historians and thrill-seekers alike. Both are journalism. And both are art. If these are art, then wouldn't Mannie Garcia's photograph of Obama be considered art as well? Of course. Garcia is making art every single time he picks up a camera. Despite the fact that his art traditionally appears in USA Today and not MoMA does not change the fact that he is indeed an artist.

But the notoriously humble Garcia refuses to call himself an artist.

“I want to avoid calling myself an artistic photographer," he said. "Wire guy, I am comfortable with that."


Danziger Project:
534 W. 24th St.
New York, New York 10011
(212) 629-6778

info@danzigerprojects.com

Hours:
Wednesday - Friday: 11am to 6pm
Saturday: noon to 6pm
Monday - Tuesday: by appointment only