The Wall Street Journal, no less, sets up artist Jacob Collins as the 'next big thing' -- his 'classical' realism opposing all the 'novelty art' that has heretofore succoured the empty souls of the big-money New York art buyers.
The new school Collins represents finds its artistic home in the Florence Academy of Art, a school "founded in 2002, offering rigorous training in modelling, one-point perspective, cast drawing, and all the other technical aspects of art that one used to assume would be part of an artist's training." Says the Wall Street Journal,
Is technical mastery sufficient by itself to guarantee high artistic accomplishment? The art world has been shouting "No" for decades. That judgment is correct -- ultimately -- but it leaves out the important codicil that an artist who lacks technical command also lacks competence.
Hallelujah! That point has been either lost, evaded or mislaid for more than half a century!
If an artist's 'inner voice' lacks the technique to communicate except by the visual equivalent of Tourette's, there's no reason to give them the status of artist. If Collins and artists like him can rehabilitate the importance of technique, they will have done an immense job in moving art back to what it had once achieved when both technique and expression -- and having something to say -- were valued.
NB: Collins's painting above is very much a study. Just 4 1/4" x 11", studies like this form the basis for works like this.
1 comment:
Thanks! Always great to discover a worthwhile new artist -- and even better that someone is appreciating them, especially if there's actually a movement behind it (however small).
Atelier Lack in Minnesota has been doing just that for 40 years now, producing several good artists.
Lack Atelier
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