I feel, for me, that painting the human figure from life is the best way I can express myself. Is it better than working from a photograph, I will let others judge.

The direct experience in painting from life is almost inexpressable. You are not painting an interpretation of a thin sheet of paper or a digital image but from an interaction with a real live human being. It is difficult, expensive and frustrating. The reward is something that may be light years beyond the original concept, something that takes flight in our imagination that is not shackeled so often to re-imaging the photographic source.

It is a difficult thing to do, it requires many years of dedicated training and work to be able to paint or draw the human figure with any degree of ability. Our culture does not allow this today but celebrates the shortcuts and calls it 'personal expression', no matter what kind of garbage or personal neuroses is displayed upon the canvas. We have lost the quest for exquisiteness in our work.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Art of Cruelty

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/books/review/book-review-the-art-of-cruelty-by-maggie-nelson.html?scp=1&sq=The%20Art%20Of%20Cruelty%20Maggie%20Nelson&st=cse

This book is a discussion of the celebration of cruelty and sadism in 20th and 21st century art.

It is appalling that this 'art' has been going on unabated for nearly a century. It is the fault of the huge media organs like the New York Times that use this violent drek to sell newspapers, under the guise of 'art criticism'- just as TV shows and movies use gratuitous violence.

I made a search of the the New York Times site using words like exquisite, aesthetic, beautiful, and found precious little in contemporary reviews. These words were used almost exclusively on shows of art from the previous centuries as in 'exquisite drawings by Boucher' or breath taking 16th century Dutch landscapes.

We have generations upon generations of 'artists' and I use that word loosely who have no concept of craftsmanship and a total fear of aesthetics. No-one want to be other than cutting edge- though that is actually the norm today and cutting- edge has become old hat.
Posted by at 8:24 AM

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