Last week I attended a four-day online conference called Realism Live. The schedule proposed a mix of artist demos and interviews, roundtables and presentations, all around the topic of Realism in painting. It was very well organised and frankly exhausting! I get only a week to replay any of the sessions, so I want to make sure I get the most out of it. No painting again this week!
Recall that in last week’s blog I asked the question “Is Realism Dead?” Well, after this conference, I can safely say that it is not, at least not for thousands of contemporary artists worldwide, both amateurs and professionals. About a year ago, I learned that Modern Art almost killed Classical Art, mainly because it was no longer being taught in Art Schools. There was a period where how you painted was not at all important, and because craftsmanship was dismissed in favor of “expressing yourself” as an artist, techniques of the old masters almost disappeared. Thankfully there were a few diehards who clung to the old school ways and continued teaching them in “Ateliers”, mainly in Europe. Today, many graduates of these Ateliers have returned home to establish their own Ateliers and are busy disseminating the methods. The work produced by Atelier graduates is amazing and plentiful. But in order to have viable Art, you need both a producer and a consumer. The latter is where the problem lies, at least that is how it seems to me, as most people seem to prefer non-realist art, and many people don’t understand the difference between original art and mass produced art. Some of the Realism Live presentations discussed how we got here. One presentation in particular, by Odd Nurdrum, a Swedish painter considered to be one of the world’s greatest living figurative painters, discussed how the teachings of philosopher Immanual Kant had a huge impact on the art that we see today. You can watch the film he made about this on Youtube, but be warned, I found him very hard to understand, and unfortunately the automatically generated subtitles aren’t much help. Still worth watching though. I was never really interested in Philosophy, although I am grateful that some people are, as I believe philosophers are important to society as a whole. So the most I knew about Kant was that his name made a great joke punchline. The little philosophy I got in college was very boring to me, so I never pursued any on my own once I got the compulsory credits! I will have to remedy that in the future, and try to understand how the teachings of one person could so profoundly influence the world of art. From what I know at this point, some of the things he said were crazy, so how did this become dogma? Inquiring minds want to know! One thing that came out of the conference was the need to educate the public on Art so they can better appreciate it. Funding for art programs in schools is always under attack, museums are only full when they present “big name” exhibitions, and galleries are intimidating to most people. Covid of course is not helping with any of this, art fairs and shows are being postponed or canceled, and galleries, like so many small businesses, are being forced to close. Online galleries are trying to fill the void, but personally I can’t see buying a substantial piece of art without seeing it in person. Photos and videos can help, but it’s just not the same. On the plus side, many museums are reopening at 25% capacity, apparently successfully, and because it may be harder in the next few years to get “big name” artist shows to travel, museum doors (and walls!) may perhaps be opening to lesser known artists. So, lots of things to think about, and lots of work ahead. As always, I would love to hear your comments.
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Last week I mentioned that I wasn’t a fan of abstract art (even though I will admit to having painted a few). You also may remember from a few posts ago that I am working on getting my art “out there” more. I have to admit that it is tough going. I have been warned that it takes time and effort, and I understand and accept that. I have been following the advice of many marketing “gurus” and am trying a variety of approaches. One of the key “aha” moments was when I read that most artists assume that everyone knows they exist, everyone knows they are selling their art, and that everyone will simply seek them out when they are looking for art. Of course this is silly, but I have to admit to being guilty of just that. Most artists are not interested in the business side of being an artist, and much prefer to spend their time creating. Makes sense. Most artists also think that “marketing” is sleazy, probably because a lot of it is. So I am trying to market without being sleazy. I hope I am successful at it, because it sure takes a lot of my time!
Now what, I hear you say, has this got to do with this week’s blog title? Well, as part of my marketing efforts, I have been looking at online art competitions and exhibitions, and have been lucky enough to have been selected for a surprising (to me) proportion of those that I entered. Very flattering! However, when I look at most of the other art there, I see abstract, surrealist, frankly weird and sometimes disturbing art. Case in point, this “Curator’s Pick” exhibit of mostly Canadian contemporary artists: https://www.gallea.ca/fr/expositions/exposants/curators-picks Very few of these could be considered “realist”, and even fewer would I consider hanging in my home. Is this where art is headed? A lot of people buy art to match their decor, and I can understand that, although I don’t remember ever doing that myself. I remember buying a couple of Rosamund prints when we were just starting out and had little money to spend on art. Even then, I remember hesitating because they were around $40 each, a total of almost $400 in today’s dollars. I still have them, and I still love them, even though I have gone through many sofas since! If you look at art available at Homesense or Home Depot (usually prints on canvas), again most of the images offered are abstract or abstractly rendered. Very little realism. Is this what people want today? Throwaway art? The right colors to match their curtains? I sincerely hope not. Because if it is, I’m barking up the wrong tree! What do you think? Is realism dead? Do you prefer abstract art? Is throwaway art the future? Tell me what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading! P.S. If you have friends who might be interested in following my artistic meanderings, please share this with them! Thanks! I have been thinking a lot about Art lately, reading a lot, watching a lot of artists doing live demonstrations every noon on Eric Rhoads’ Facebook event. So much to learn!! I have yet to find a simple explanation of what it is about Art that humans find attractive, and why some people are more attracted to Art than others. Being entranced by music or being moved to tears by a painting are, as far as I know, exclusively human reactions. Early humans felt the need to draw representations of their lives on cave walls. Children old enough to hold a wax crayon will scribble gleefully on anything they can reach. Where does this come from? What is the purpose? One could reasonably say “for self-expression!”, but that wouldn’t explain why anyone would want to look at the results of someone else’s “scribblings”? From what I have found so far, it seems to be for no other reason than for pleasure. Pleasure at looking at a “picture” and being reminded of a pleasant experience, real or imagined, of a dear parent or friend, of bygone days, or being drawn into it by their imagination, or in the case of religious art, to give them a representation of the object to be revered. Of course not all art represents real things, and therefore it’s not always the case that art reminds you of something. I am not personally a fan of abstract art, in that I won’t actively seek it out, but I have learned to appreciate that the artist was trying to convey a message, and that realism just didn’t do the job for them at that time. And that no, a five year old couldn’t have painted that…. Some abstract paintings I like, and some “do nothing for me”, and I have learned to accept that I am simply not the audience for who the artist made the work. The abstract paintings I do like have a pleasant balance of lines or forms or colors, so they do bring me pleasure, although not attached to a memory or to imagination, but simply by the harmony created by the artist. Kandinsky, in my opinion, was a master at this. So, what do you think? Why do you Art? Do you have favorite paintings? Why do you like them? I would love to read your answers in the comments! Some of you might be curious about how I became a watercolor artist. So today I thought I would tell you a bit more about my “journey”.
I distinctly remember a huge watercolor paint set I got when I was 7 or 8. It was a large flat metal box, probably about 20 inches wide (things always seem bigger when you are small, but this really was huge!) and when you opened the gigantic lid, it revealed thousands -- ok, dozens of colors! So beautiful And all mine! I loved it. My godfather gave it to me. I sadly have no idea of where it went… lost in a move no doubt… (this is the closest I could find. The image on the top was different, but I’m pretty sure it came from England, as my godfather did his surgery internship there https://www.marthasvintageattic.com/images/products/secondary/1058-3.jpg ) I enjoyed art and painting, but probably not more than most kids. I did enjoy the art classes I had, particularly in high school where I was lucky to have a wonderful Art teacher, but never considered it as a career. I applied to the Photography program at a Montreal college, but out of hundreds of applicants, they only took 15 students a year, and I wasn’t one of them. I spent one semester in the Arts & Letters program at the local college, but there were more Letters than Arts so I quit that. I eventually wound up in Computer Science, which appealed to both my creative side and my rational side, so that stuck! I wound up teaching Computer Science at another college for 33 years. So how did I get back to art? My mother had started a tradition of giving all her grandkids an ornament at Christmas. The year she died (2002), I thought it would be sad to lose the tradition, so I decided to make ornaments to give out in her memory. I had taken a decorative painting class at a local community center so I had some basic techniques and supplies to get started. I made some ornaments for my brother and sisters too. The following year, as the first batch had been well received, I made more, but using a different medium. I researched the new medium (youtube and I have become great friends!) and produced another batch of ornaments. And so started a new tradition and my rediscovery of art. Every year (I will have to make a list some day) I researched and used a different medium in my multi-week mass production leading up to Christmas. The most I made for one year was 43 japanese Temari Balls (google it! fascinating!!) and I still produce around 25 ornaments every year, but the pull of watercolor kept me going the rest of the year. Since I retired in 2014, I have been able to spend more time learning this fascinating medium and painting in general. This year, as we have so much more time at home, I have also started to learn oils, and if that was not enough, pastels. But for now, watercolors are still my “go to” medium. I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my “art history”. I would love to hear from you in the comments! |
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