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Project La Fortune |
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American surreal artist Man Ray's 1938 painting, "La Fortune" depicts a giant billiard table that projects into a sky rampant with stagy, cotton-candy clouds. This interesting master piece has been on display on the 4th floor of Whitney Museum of American Art from June to September 2006. Adjacent to the painting there is a sculpture of a life sized table by Sherrie Levine titled "After Man Ray". This master piece has been talked about numerous times in art history. However, the shot itself has rarely been discussed. Therefore, we thought it would be an interesting idea to find out the solution from experts. The Shot
At Sang Lee International Open 2006, we asked the attending world class players and experts: " Consider billiard as a moving artform
and you as an artist, what's your solution to this? "
Very interestingly, we have found many different responses. The animation below is a collage of all the answers.
Artists
Gallery
Knowing each artist's playing style, would you be able to identify the creator for each shot diagram below? The artist's name has been "Hidden". Place the mouse cursor over the diagram to reveal the name. If you would like to study each diagram closely, simply click on it to open its CueTable layout.
Interesting Tidbits How were these layouts assembled? At Sang Lee International Open 2006, we are fortunate to have a room of world class players. They have displayed their grand performance for the prestige honor and shared their enthusiasm with each other in a family-like manner. At break time, we approached each player with a single page handout briefly explaining the history and the layout in the painting. A lot of players felt comfortable and drew out their ideal shot right away. Some took it back to their hotel rooms and submitted their ideal solutions later. A few people enjoyed the idea very much and came up with several solutions. Later they narrowed down their collections down to each's "ideal one" (Semih Sayginer offered five. Mike Shamos created four). At the end of each day, we carefully transferred everyone's pen drawings into CueTable format. Which one is my cue ball? Since this wasn't indicated in the original painting, our participants could choose either cue ball to shoot from. Are there similar solutions from different people? Yes, we have found a couple of
these. However, no two are identical. The subtle difference
can suggest one of the followings: Where is Blomdahl's solution? We have asked Blomdahl, the most courageous player in billiard world today, at the early stage of this project. "Hmmm, there is not an easy solution to this..." Squinting his eyes as he got into deep thoughts, he carefully replied seriously. "I will need some time to find the best answer..." We will check with him again soon : ) Articles in NY Times This tournament has been covered
in the paper on 8.18.06: The show at Whitney Museum has
been covered on 6.30.06: *NY Times membership required
Billiard in Arts La Fortune
Later in 1941, Man Ray has made another painting called "La Fortune II". It has a similar position layout with a different landscape under gloomier sky in the background. For detailed information about Man Ray, Please check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Ray
Billiard had been regarded as a high class activity in many societies around the world for a long time during history. It was widely popular among creative folks and alike.
Billiard as Art
A while ago an advanced player tried describing the essence in preparing for a shot. "In billiard, every stroke is an expression. Sometimes you have to hit a ball hard, you need to transform your whole body into a hammer to achieve the level of intensity. And for a soft shot, you will be flowing as light as a piece of feather." While a top player is efficient in gaining score points to win a game, he would do so in a graceful manner. Using the table as canvas and the ball as ink, the player constantly has to create a new composition for every shot. This technique is also called "playing for positions". He would carefully ease off each obstacle with precision and innovation. Even during competition play where the intensity is high, this person can always maintain a harmonic rhythm. It all feels like a series of pleasant music notes and soon you find yourself dancing along with everyone in the crowd. Throughout the years, a few influential thinkers have been able to verbalize their philosophy and enlighten others. Sang Lee is one of these great players. He has once made a profound remark on aiming, which can also be applicable to life, "Instead of commanding the cue ball to move your way, kindly ask where it feels like going."
acknowledgement We would like to express our gratitude to all our participants who kindly shared their insights and made this project possible. Special thanks go to Helen Koh, Ira Lee, Charles Brown, Min Jae Pak, Michael Kang and Jan Carl for their kind efforts in organizing Sang Lee International Open 2006.
Playing your part
Do you have an interesting solution to this shot? Please include your name, a
brief description and send it to us via
LaFortune@cuetable.com. We hope you find this page interesting, please forward to a friend. Let's share ideas and fun!
- Robert Frost, 1874-1963
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