Vincent van Gogh, “Van Gogh’s Room at Arles” (1889). Via Scituate."One thing Vincent and Gauguin had in common was that neither had had much formal instruction as a painter. They had picked it up from other artists and, in Vincent's case, from life classes at which he tended to clash angrily with the teachers. Essentially they were self-taught, and that made them more open to innovations of every kind: stylistic, spiritual, technical." The Yellow House-Van Gogh, Gauguin and 9 Turbulent Weeks in Arles by Martin Gayford
There's room for all forms of art in painting, whether the artist focuses on stimulating the senses, on ideas or on developing the purity of the art form. Scott McCloud, a scientist/artist specializing in comics art, explains how every artist can fit somewhere between these points. Check out his Ted talk on that.
I like the quote at the beginning from "Yellow House" because it reminds me that it's OK to do things differently, that artistic tradition serves me better in the form of inspiration than it does as a itinerary of shoulds, and that there's nothing wrong with trusting your intuition.
Have you seen the article in the New York Times, "It's Not Dry Yet" by Roberta Smith ? It blows apart the myth on the 'death of painting' and shows the trend of a new generation of artists who favor mixing abstraction and representation. If you love symbolism, art history, or have rebellious tendencies towards cramming your vision into modernist thought, then you'll whoop with victory when you read her arguments.
7 comments:
Very interesting Shayla, its true that no-one's been talking much about painting lately as if, indeed, in the critic's eyes at least, it had already died. Good to notice an awareness of women's contribution to all this as well. Thanks for the stimulation!
I think you are right, everyone sees things differently and expresses what they see in a unique way, which should be encouraged!
: )
Interesting post Shayla and to me, different is good, different is fun and unique and that's how I like it, how I like you too...hugs/M
Everyone's expression is unique, whether the artist is formally trained or not, everyone has their unique style and way of "telling a story" with whatever medium he/she choose. It is interesting how "quiet" is has been in the realm of painting, how little in the mainstream media there is about it especially. Thank goodness of unique publications and places on the internet that celebrate and discuss painting regularly. I'm off to read that article link now... Thanks for this thoughtful post, Shayla :o) Happy Day ((HUGS))
Love this article. Just list night I listen to a friend expressed her distress over what she 'thinks' she should paint and what she feels she should paint. I'll be sending her your link.
This is so interesting! Thank you for posting it. Without your blog, I will be missing a lot of interesting thoughts!!
thanks for this post Shayla, it was really wonderful and long live listening to ones intuition - a great teacher :)
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