an essay on art
jos engelen
an essay on the plastic arts by Jos Engelen
It is said that "art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes
visible". This definition is valid for the art of all epochs, since only
the artist with an individual, personal view builds a visual world with
new cultural, social and psychological contents. Art is always an act of
discovery which reveals to others that which not everyone sees.
In modern art the relationship between the visible or the reality on one
side, and the art or the expression of the reality on the other side is
seen as abstract. The artist has to express an idea, and not an image
reproduction, of reality. It is argued that now photography has replaced
painting for reproducing reality. Modern art has to be innovative,
reject the old rules and create something totally new. I agree that this
is an interesting point of view, but that's all what it is: an option,
one of the possibilities. However, the "modern" way of thinking about
plastic art has monopolized official art policy. This affects art
education, funding, exhibition policy in museums for contemporary art
etc. and causes an "inflation" of art: anybody can become an artist. In
fact some art contests have been won by tots.
In my opinion the "modern" art philosophy raises some substantial
questions in stating that art should be an abstraction of reality and
that it should be innovative.
1. What is reality? Nothing can reproduce reality because reality does
not exist. On my web site I've published a painting of a farm. On the
same page I've included a photograph of that farm (
http://www.ping.be/art/rooms/room3/teamof.htm ). If one wouldn't have
seen the photograph, one would think that the painting resembles reality
but if you compare the painting and the photograph you'll notice that
the artist has transformed what he sees in what he wants to see. So one
photograph (or perception of reality) can lead to zillions of
interpretations, imagine than the existence of a zillion photographs,
because also every perception of reality (in this case all photographs
of the farm) are different. I conclude that the relation reality-art
can't be anything but subjective or abstract.
2. How innovative is contemporary art? In the beginning of this century
there lived an artist whose influence on contemporary art can't be
overestimated: Marcel Duschamp. In my opinion he created something
totally new. The concepts of "fontaine" from 1917 or his "ready-mades"
are still copied by contemporary artists. Let's face it, Duschamp
invented the modern art, all the others copied his concepts, you can't
get more innovative than Duschamp, only variations are possible.( Visit
Duschamp at http://www.val.net/~tim/duchamp-aug96.html.)
3. The physical process of painting is always abstract. When working on
a canvas all a painter sees is ... paint. To see the painting you need
distance. The painter has to "translate" the paint into what he wants
the spectator to experience. Realistic painters use the same rules that
our brain uses to interpret the information of the eyes. For example: To
obtain the depth in a landscape, everything in the background has to be
painted vaguely, in form and color. The foreground must be painted with
contrast. There are lots of these rules and every painter applies
others. If you know the rules you can watch a painting like you watch a
chess game (more rules: http://www.ping.be/art/selno/notions.htm
).Therefore it is a pity the "craft" aspect of art is neglected in art
education (at least in Europe).
Conclusion
An artist needs the freedom to paint what he or she wants to paint.
Therefore he has to learn as much as possible about all art styles. In
this way more options are available. In contemporary art the emphasis is
to much on abstract art. This limits the artists options and therefore
his freedom.
Greetings
jos engelen
jos.e...@ping.be
http://www.ping.be/art