Gutmann�s photograph, which was taken in the streets of San Francisco in 1938, depicts a young boy drawing with a piece of chalk out in the middle of a crowded road. A car is whizzing by the boy in the lane immediately next to him, creating a sense of danger, and invoking worry for the anonymous boy. The drawing by the youth appears to be a Native American towering over a Caucasian figure, a controversial and socially conscious image. This photograph is magnificent for the emotion it creates and the point it makes.
Gutmann does a fantastic job of using photography to evoke emotions in this picture. There is an instantaneous feeling of dread for the helpless young boy sitting in the middle of a road innocently drawing with chalk as an automobile speeds past him. Gutmann creates this emotion by using a strong principle of photography: horizontal lines are used to show calmness and security, but vertical lines connote a dangerous or unstable situation. In this photo, the horizontal orientation of the streets and the vehicles creates a sense of security, traffic moving briskly along a calm city street in a sunny afternoon. However, the child and his artwork are perpendicular to the street, with the base of the image at the foreground of the image, and the child himself working on in the middle of the picture working on the Indian�s headdress. The child is in such a precarious position, so stunningly distinct from the rest of the image, that he, and his hazardous position, is easily the focus of the photograph.
The danger of the boy�s situation is enhanced by the implied motion of the automobiles on the street. While the photograph does not actually capture the cars moving along the street, it is obvious that the cars are moving along the street, and rather quickly. There is one large car that dominates the shot, speeding along in the lane next to the artist, just a few short feet away from the daring child. The halves of two other cars appear in the shot, the rear of one car exiting the frame on the left, and the front of another car entering the image on the right. This implied motion helps set the scene for a dangerous situation.
While �The Artist Lives Dangerously� evokes concern for a child playing in the middle of the street, it also makes a legitimate point about the role of art and artists in society. The name of the piece is no accident; it refers to the dangerous situation that the boy is in, and it also refers to how the career of any artist is volatile and unstable, ready to crumble in a whirlwind of a controversy with the slightest misstep.
The title is also important because it enhances Gutmann�s ideas about the nature of art itself. The title of the piece is �The Artist Lives Dangerously,� not �Kid with Chalk lives Dangerously.� This boy, while his drawing may not be most accurate or aesthetically pleasing, is an artist making an important statement. Art does not have to be created by the most talented people or for the appreciation of strictly the educated, the rich, or the avant-garde, it is a legitimate tool of expression by the common man, for all of society to benefit.
The content of the boy�s sketch is another important aspect of the photo detailed by Gutmann. This is a photograph of a child, no older than seven years old, making what appears to be a social commentary on the mistreat of Native Americans by invading white settlers. The drawing is more than just some doodling in a street, it is a conscious message about the inadequacies of the American government, much like Gutmann�s photograph is more than a simple image of a kid drawing with chalk, it is a statement about the importance and volatility of art.
John Gutmann�s �The Artist Lives Dangerously� is a fantastic work of art, meeting, and surpassing, the goals of a good piece of art. Gutmann presents a visually stunning image that evokes a strong emotion from the viewer, while simultaneously making a particularly strong, self-aware assertion about the importance of art.