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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AuthorMy name is Claire Bureau. Archives
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