In the black hole
by Sisto

Comment:
I'm not sure I understand 'dirty' abstract, even after reading the challenge description. I am sure that it doesn't matter to me.

I have chosen my five favourite entries and have given each of them a score of 10. This is one of the five. And all five get the same comment, because what I can say about any of them applies equally to all of them.

These are the relevant definitions that I like (today):
Abstract. Existing conceptually but not physically.
Abstract Art. Graphic poetry in which a sophisticated idea is communicated without saying it out loud.

This photograph qualifies as abstract art.

One the one hand, it's not merely a negligently rendered version of reality, which is what blurry photographs are: that's not abstract art.

On the other hand, it's not patently meaningless, which is what random colour blobs and swirls are: that's not abstract art.

On the third hand (you see how difficult abstract art is ... you need three hands to even hope to juggle it), It clearly suggests something, refers to something, means something, goes somewhere; but it intentionally withholds the key and leaves the beholder to get down on his-or-her knees and pick the lock: that is abstract art.

And the really good ones, like this one, have more than one possible lock, that opens more than one possible door.

So, 10 for you, and the Order of the Thumb, and my thank you.

pretty dirty
by 2mccs

Comment:
I'm not sure I understand 'dirty' abstract, even after reading the challenge description. I am sure that it doesn't matter to me.

I have chosen my five favourite entries and have given each of them a score of 10. This is one of the five. And all five get the same comment, because what I can say about any of them applies equally to all of them.

These are the relevant definitions that I like (today):
Abstract. Existing conceptually but not physically.
Abstract Art. Graphic poetry in which a sophisticated idea is communicated without saying it out loud.

This photograph qualifies as abstract art.

One the one hand, it's not merely a negligently rendered version of reality, which is what blurry photographs are: that's not abstract art.

On the other hand, it's not patently meaningless, which is what random colour blobs and swirls are: that's not abstract art.

On the third hand (you see how difficult abstract art is ... you need three hands to even hope to juggle it), It clearly suggests something, refers to something, means something, goes somewhere; but it intentionally withholds the key and leaves the beholder to get down on his-or-her knees and pick the lock: that is abstract art.

And the really good ones, like this one, have more than one possible lock, that opens more than one possible door.

So, 10 for you, and the Order of the Thumb, and my thank you.

underfoot
by tvsometime

Comment:
I'm not sure I understand 'dirty' abstract, even after reading the challenge description. I am sure that it doesn't matter to me.

I have chosen my five favourite entries and have given each of them a score of 10. This is one of the five. And all five get the same comment, because what I can say about any of them applies equally to all of them.

These are the relevant definitions that I like (today):
Abstract. Existing conceptually but not physically.
Abstract Art. Graphic poetry in which a sophisticated idea is communicated without saying it out loud.

This photograph qualifies as abstract art.

One the one hand, it's not merely a negligently rendered version of reality, which is what blurry photographs are: that's not abstract art.

On the other hand, it's not patently meaningless, which is what random colour blobs and swirls are: that's not abstract art.

On the third hand (you see how difficult abstract art is ... you need three hands to even hope to juggle it), It clearly suggests something, refers to something, means something, goes somewhere; but it intentionally withholds the key and leaves the beholder to get down on his-or-her knees and pick the lock: that is abstract art.

And the really good ones, like this one, have more than one possible lock, that opens more than one possible door.

So, 10 for you, and the Order of the Thumb, and my thank you.

Others
by MargaretNet

Comment:
Really, really good. I meant every word I said. Thank you again.

I Want to Call Everything Marlene
by posthumous

Comment:
I really do love this. The photograph's arguably superficially mediocre, but the concept, the inspired visual metaphor, is so soaring that it's got snow on it. The colours and tones are great, that borderless purple/blue/green pas de trois that I hope is as beautiful to people with normal colour vision as it is to those poor fools with the kind of colour vision limitations that I personally enjoy.

Calling Everything Marlene is a familiar affliction, or some variation of it is. And this is as good a graphic depiction of the dizzy malaise as I can possibly imagine. In fact I didn't manage it at all until you had already done so, which is a big tick for you right there: I have never seen this before, not anywhere. My top pick. 10. Thank you.

Prima Luce
by Pascal

Comment:
I didn't think much of this until I had let it soak in a bit. The deeper it soaked, the better I liked it. What I like most about it is that it is just real enough to be natural, and just improbable enough to be surrealistic. That's not all I like about it though; I also like the colours, the dreamlike tonal quality, and the perfectly conceived composition.

I nearly dismissed it and it ended up sitting securely in my top four. I daren't look at it any longer lest it becomes number one, and I just can't give my top pick to a landscape with flowers, can I? So as I leap from the train, it's an 8, and thank you.

Fire
by Ammie

Comment:
This is a beautiful picture, very painterly in the style of some painter whose name I can't recall just now. It might be Fred McCubbin, but maybe I mean some other bloke entirely. It's a nice landscape in the approved landscape style, but the fire elevates it into a wonderful drama. The two tiny figures are pinned against the frame (one is almost toppling out of it), and the tree is seen just one critical instant before it is consumed. Suspense, drama, danger ... and all hiding in plain sight in an ordinary landscape. It's wonderful. 9. Thank you.

Others
by MargaretNet

Comment:
This is one of the best 'compositions-with-umbrella' that I can remember seeing. Love how the foreground lady so dominates the one side with her strong tones and features, while the less emphatically-drawn supporting cast just manages to balance her on the other. This is a beautifully judged photograph, admirable for its restraint as much as for any other quality (and it has many). 8. Thank you.

Old Favorite
by RKT

Comment:
I don't like pictures of flowers. This is simply beautiful, and the beauty is deeply absorbing, which just shows how little I know. The tintype edge effect is great here, and I don't care how you got it; it's perfect in this work. And the tones are absolutely gorgeous. That's my favourite part, the breathtakingly lovely deep magenta that's toned in with the blacks. 7. Thank you.

Sucrows
by jomari

Comment:
A preposterous processing treatment but for me it works very well. Obviously you have done it by scattering sugar onto the print and then caramelising it lightly with a blowtorch, and then re-photographing that. Immensely clever. 7. Thank you.