Is painting relevant in the contemporary art world - Essay Example

Christopher Butler May 2, 2009 Is Painting Relevant in the Contemporary Art World? Throughout human history, art has been one of many constants which people have utilized for numerous purposes, including basic communication, recording history and self-expression. “…Mankind has an innate need to express itself by the direct creation of shapes and application of colors” (Simpson). However, as other mediums have risen to the forefront of contemporary art, the oldest and most storied of these mediums has been repeatedly left behind the curve of technological and creative innovation. “In the world of contemporary art during the past decade or more, one medium has unfortunately been singled out to bear the guilt of Eurocentric western culture” (Simpson). This medium is painting. Although painting has continually reinvented itself throughout modern history (from the Renaissance to Modernism), it has slowly fallen out of the spotlight in major art competitions as technique has regressed behind the initial idea and aesthetic quality of a particular piece. Despite this, art in general has the innate ability to transform itself continuously and fluidly throughout the course of history in the western world. “We can see the destruction and de-construction of painting throughout the progression of movements that we have endured over the past 80 years” (Pearce). But is painting dead in today’s art world? Painting is constrained by numerous limitations which the artist is confined to work within. A painting lacks motion, is bounded by only two-dimensions and is confined by space, size and mobility, as the work is restricted by the choice of canvas. Because or despite these limitations, contemporary artists have taken a drastically different approach to painting. “Fast-forward to today’s modern art scene, where young British artist Damien Hirst can knock out ‘spin paintings’ – haphazard blurs of color scattered from a stepladder – in a matter of hours, and then sell them for $18,000. While he at least put paint on canvas, Hirst’s most famous pieces are light years away from the brush work of the old masters” (Neild). In order to catch the public’s attention, many artists have pushed aside style and technique for financial success. But the greatest blow to painting in history has been the advent of the photograph. With the advent of photography, painters were no longer necessary in order to create portraits, landscapes or historical representations, as the photograph more accurately, realistically and efficiently captures these images. “The truth is that painters, misled…by the slogan that painting should not be narrative, have relegated the task of history painting to the photographers and the filmmakers” (Best). Even many of today’s most revered and respected artists have reached the conclusion that painting in this area has become obsolete. “Rather than admitting that he is not able to produce a convincing history painting – or that it is too dangerous or too little commercial – (artists such as) Luc Tuymans prefer to argue that it is painting itself that is no longer appropriate” (Best). But, the greatest threat to modern painting is that artists and enthusiasts alike are garnering less notice to the aging art form. “(When it comes to painting), since no one is paying attention, the whole enterprise should go by the wayside” (Fares). Major art exhibitions and competitions are continuously replacing spots once reserved for painted works with sculptures, performance art pieces and computer-generated images. If the trend continues, then painting will eventually no longer have a place in the world of modern art. However, many within the industry disagree that painting lacks the importance once bestowed upon it by the art community and the general public. Advertising mogul Charles Saatchi, who raised Hirst to pop-star status, “declared painting as ‘the most relevant and vital way that artists choose to communicate’” (Neild). Saatchi also understands the impact a painting can have on an audience. “Nothing is as uplifting as standing before a great painting” (Davies). Despite this present backlash against painting as a viable form of modern art, one must revert back through the course of modern history to understand why and how it remains relevant. “Nearly every phase of modern art has been greeted by the public with ridicule, but as the shock has worn off, the movement, settling into history, has influenced and inspired new generations of artists” (“Modern Art”). Although it has faced numerous obstacles, a small group of artists has been able and willing to push painting forward for future artists to embrace the art form. Fiona Rae, one of the youngest and brightest stars in modern art, has received celebrated critical acclaim. “Despite her best effort, (she) has emerged as a true original…the raw talent (is) plain to see, an authentic style bursting to escape the structures of a junk philosophy” (Cohen). Rae’s distinct use of scorching colors and fluid gestures splash across the canvas as a fresh perspective on the image. “Although her compositions can appear accidental, almost arbitrary, close inspection reveals a highly controlled handling of paint and style and a tight underlying structure” (“Fiona Rae, Visual Artist”) Some of Rae’s diverse sources of information include clipped advertisements, films, music and sci-fi comics, displaying varying modern influences, keeping her art constantly innovating. She also uses graphic design and computers (as the digital world evolves farther away from painting) to achieve certain effects in her paintings, thereby combining the drastically different mediums into something new. A living-legend within most modern art circles, Gerhard Richter has sustained his career far beyond his predetermined “prime”. “(His) beliefs are credited with refreshing art and rejuvenating painting as a medium during a period when many artists chose performance and ready-made media” (“Gerhard Richter – Biography”). The beliefs and ideals of individual artists enable them to continually revolutionize any art form, and in Richter’s case, painting. “He is considered a master of ‘deconstruction’ of formal conventions of painting” (“Gerhard Richter – Biography”). This constant ‘deconstruction’ has allowed Richter to detach himself from the select few who regard their conservative attitudes towards exactly what painting should pertain. But, what also sets him apart from the wayward herd of artists is his unique viewpoint upon his art. “…Richter wasn’t interested in the purity of art…instead, he painted images without glory; images that rendered the ridiculous, ordinary; the tragic, ordinary; the beautiful, ordinary” (“Gerhard Richter – Biography”). While focusing primarily on the “ordinary”, he is able to appeal to audiences universally without secluding viewers with an abstract and generally misunderstood representation of the world. Alongside the futuristic vision of Fiona Rae, Oliver Marsden seeks to progress beyond the borders of painting by employing modern technology and aspects of the scientific community. “Marsden is a young painter whose work dynamically reconciles the world of traditional painting with that world of hi-tech visual images generated by such sciences as microbiology, particle physics, cosmology and electron microscopy” (Exley). Using the modern meshed with the traditional, he is capable of exploring untested visual techniques for artistic expression. “…Playing across the surface of his paintings suggest X-ray or infa-red images, bringing something to life that normally evades the eye” (Exley). But by also experimenting with the viewer’s retinas, Marsden has been able to look at his own style and ideas of painting from an inimitable perspective. “(In) his latest body of work, Marsden has been ‘freeing up’ – learning to paint, enjoying its liquid possibilities, showing evidence of a further development in his use of paitning as a ‘way of focusing thought’” (Fine Art Society). By simply observing the behavior of something as mundane as rippling water, he is able to generate fresh perceptions for the future of painting, while simultaneously providing future generations with new techniques of articulating one’s work to achieve exactly what they intended it to be. On the opposite end of the technological spectrum, Luc Tuymans has emerged from a suffocating childhood in Nazi Germany and a region torn by the Cold War. One of the “most important painters of his generation…Tuymans is universally hailed as ‘the man who put painting on the agenda’ again” (Best). However, he differs drastically from his contemporaries in his opinions on the art form which launched his successful career. “Remarkably enough, the man ‘who put painting back on the agenda’ harbors a deep distrust for the image” (Best). Despite his doubts about the effectiveness of the image, Tuymans understands how important painting is to his ability to project exactly what his voice seeks to speak to the world. “Why not become a writer or a philosopher rather than a painter? Without the prestige of the image, (his) ‘philosophy’ would not be heard at all” (Best). Painting allows the voiceless to be recognized through an art form they may naturally and instructively thrive at, and in a non-verbal communicative fashion. Also, he seeks inspiration through the medium which was initially supposed to supersede painting in each and every aspect of the presentation. “Luc Tuymans makes ‘authentic forgeries’ of photos, by transforming them into paintings” (Best). Most notably, his infamous collection The Passion, not only is inspired by his personal experiences with photography, but the work also celebrates the medium as a contributor to which the direction contemporary painting continues to proceed. Also, the subject matter reverts back to the fundamental roots of modern art and the precedent set by the legendary forces which continue to shadow the youth of painting. “Each canvas is based on a brochure photograph from a modern enactment of a Passion play that Tuymans attended with his parents in the late 1970’s in southern Germany. The paintings retain the characteristics of the photographs that are their source” (“Luc Tuymans”). By remaining true to the foundation of his vision, he is also more capable of tackling late-breaking subjects without any sense of staleness, including the sexual abuse of children under to ignorant supervision of the Church, with The Passion and another of his works, Les Reunants. With a little help from these artists, among others, painting is beginning to undergo a twenty-first century renaissance, further separating itself from the modernists which have dominated the scene for years. “For emerging painters, the art scene is far removed from the modernists whose blurry, surreal and distorted worlds were a necessary reaction to the advent of photography” (Neild). Instead, artists today draw much of their inspiration from photography, but strive to achieve a more vivid depiction of the original moment captured on film. And, in doing so, they prevent exclusion from a general audience left in the dark during the modernist movement. “The diverse styles of older living painters such as…Gerhard Richter…stand testament to painting’s constant search for innovation during a period when it was still felt to be under threat” (Davies). But, possibly the most important aspect of painting is its relationship with the audience. “Paintings are all about pigments applied to surfaces – the artist’s role. The viewers role is to negotiate, through their exploration, those illusions created by the artist upon the surface, and the less we are aware of the illusions, the more seamless the deception, the more accomplished the work” (Exley). Those pieces which can connect with the viewer on any level endure for an eternity in the art world, thereby, once again vilifying the artist’s desire to create and the viewer’s desire to digest. Also, the accessibility of paintings, not only as a piece of art in a museum but personal home décor, continues to prolong its lasting impact on the viewer. Curator Pablo Lafuente said, “There’s certainly a lot of talk about painting being back. It suffered a lot during the 1990’s, but in the last few years it’s been changing; there’s a buzz in both the market and museum worlds” (Davies). Since the rise of the middle class in the 14th and 15th centuries in Western Europe, art has been a viable commodity in a culturally-sophisticated marketplace. Art historian Julian Stallabross said, “Painting is the art form most conveniently bought and sold” (Davies). Unlike massive sculpture, grand architectural achievements and other mediums, painting can more easily be transported and maintained, and thereby generally unproblematic to sell and distribute. The only complication to the market is the size of the canvas the artist chooses to construct upon. Since the advent of critical and creative human thought, the arts have of continuously reinvented themselves to suit the needs and wants of the audience, and the hopes and fears of the creator. And as long as a viewer exists to observe the art, there will always be a supply of starving painters eagerly dispersing their attitudes across an open, public forum. “…Throughout history, despite cultural shifts, wars, censorship and technological advances, art has always found its way, filling a need that is uniquely human” (Griffith). But, the art of painting is one activity and subsequent result which cannot easily become obsolete. The most distinguishing characteristic of painting, which separates far from all other mediums, is “the brush stroke” (Best). Although painting is limited in its flattened dimensions, the texture and depth achieved through layers upon layers of paint creates an indistinguishable effect on the canvas which electronic art forms can never achieve. And the classic techniques emitting from the painter’s utensil, which has sustained painting throughout the centuries, are uniquely and strictly related to the motions of the artist and their relationship with the canvas. The ultimate purpose of art is an expression, which can result in the release of a multitude of emotions and thoughts. “…A picture – whether painted or photographed – is not reality: it may be more disturbing or more reassuring, more superficial or more profound, and that only depends on the intentions and the competence of the maker…but…it holds that a good image can be more speaking than even the best word…therein lies the function of art, and precisely therefore we will always need art” (Best). Although paintings and other mediums can portray what the human mind attempts to grasp and project what the eyes aspire to notice, the arts continually advance to a future filled with new shapes and colors. Works Cited Best, Stefan. “The Secret Charms of Luc Tuymans”. August 2007. Cohen, David. “Fiona Rae: Retro Meets Rococo”. Artnet, 2004. Davies, Serena. “Why Painting is Back in the Frame”. Telegraph, U.K., 7 Jan. 2005. Exley, Roy. “Suffusion, Oliver Marsden: The Blue Gallery, London”. Zing Magazine, Nevada, 2001. Fares, Gustavo. “Painting in the Expanded Field”. Lawrence University Press, p 479. Fine Art Society. “Visual Harmonics”. 2007. “Fiona Rae, Visual Artist”. Atlantic Center for the Arts. “Gerhard Richter–Biography”. 2009. Griffith, Charles. "Why Art Matters“. About the Arts, 2008. Joy, Jennifer Benz. “You Are the Young and the Hopeless: Fiona Rae Opens Her First Solo Exhibition at Pace Wildenstein on Friday, November 3rd”. Pace Wildenstein Press, 31 Oct. 2006. New York, NY. “Luc Tuymans”. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg. “Modern Art”. Info Club. Neild, Barry. “Painting Makes a Comeback”. CNN, 17 Mar. 2006. Pearce, Michael. "The Reluctant Death of Modernism”. Arts Reformation, 2000. Simpson, Gregg. “So Painting is Dead Again?” Wet Canvas. Read More