Pixels: The Art of the iPhone

It's a great day that starts with a Hipstamatic shot of a gum-wrapper tree. Sometimes absolute cluelessness is not enough. But this was a little better than the Hipsta shot of boiling water.

People often write to me to inquire if the PixelEx App is working properly: they have sent in a number of pictures and none have been published. I must write back and explain that P1xels is a highly curated site. Some people take exception to this and never submit another picture. Others keep on pushing forward, developing their skills and their vision and begin producing work of P1xels caliber.

Curation is a very subjective process. I have learned a great deal since the launch of the site, the main thing being that, if I am curating from a place of scarcity or fear, I invariably begin posting pictures that should not be posted. I have never regretted not publishing a picture: I take no pleasure in not publishing a picture, although I have been accused of that; I have many a time regretted publishing a picture when five minutes or five hours later I realize it was a mistake. But un-publishing a picture is always fraught with negativity and hurt feelings, so a mistakenly published image must remain in the timeline.

I liken the flow of incoming images to a stream, sometimes whitewater rapids. Every day the flow is different. I have seen mornings where not one picture was publishable, and, one time, anyway, that fifteen straight pictures were amazing. I remember that morning as clearly as I remember losing my virginity (before most you were born).

The artists on P1xels continually raise the bar, as well. What would have been exciting six months ago, seems rather bland now – this usually has to do with the apping. A great picture, apped well, either a little or a lot, it doesn’t matter, does not age. Usually it’s the not so great pictures apped very well that show their age, or just don’t seem so exciting six months later.

A true artist matches the apping to the image. In this case, John S Hipstamatic filter is over-kill for the putrefying cat carcass. I think one of the Dali filters would have worked better. So this picture was rejected. Sometimes extremely bad taste is just not enough to make the cut at P1xels.

I have written extensively about the kinds of things I do not like: heavy or wide frames, people shot from behind, shadow-shots, most Hipstamatic shots, mirrored shots, oh the list goes on … and exceptions to every so-called rule, of course.

Of late I have been tightening the curation on P1xels. We are entering a new era in the movement.

To assist me in this, I have been bringing people on board to curate different categories on the site. They are artists from the site, people I know fairly well, whose work I respect and judgement I trust. I have yet to over-rule one decision, although there have been times I wanted to.

The purpose is three-fold: (a) to tighten curation as mentioned; (b) to develop a team so that curation doesn’t fall solely on my shoulders. In the event I get hit by a bus or, even more unlikely, I come to my senses, there will be a solid curatorial team in place (this is something investors and sponsors will like to see when we get to that place); and (c) it will free me up for a number of initiatives which are in motion and requiring a lot more of my attention behind the scenes.

This, like everything else about P1xels, is a day-by-day improvisation, an experiment. I am always open to suggestions and happy to answer questions, so write if you want to!

So far, I have four curators in place. Others are ready to begin and will do so shortly. So far, by category, these are the people who have been willing to dedicate their time and experience to solidifying P1xels into a more stable institution.

Hipstamatic re-apped perfectly: the soulful combination of image and appropriate apping by Reservoir Sally and Hud Boondock. This is art.

I just realized that I had not edited this page to reflect the end of the curation experiment a few months ago. It did not work. Some artists stopped submitting work after some of their pieces were rejected by volunteer curators they did not “respect.” This was a foreshadowing the of artist revolt to come, one I did not see, and I caved in as I often did to my artists: I loved and respected them. Thus the volunteer curation experiment ended and I went back to doing it all.

Now … I hear rumors of a co-op iphoneographic site in the makings. Who will curate? Maybe they will hire me! I’m available. But no one else can. Sorry. We’ve already proven that here at Pixels. Don’t mean to sound snarky, but I chuckle when I think about it.

With the next version of PixelEx, artists will assign their own categories. As of now, this is something I still do.

I welcome feedback, as always. I want to thank everybody for their willingness to help out here. It is truly appreciated.