The Promise of Painting at Glenhyrstby Arlene Laskey
The Brantford Expositor, February 2, 2012
"From today, painting is dead!" blurted 19th century technical wizard of 'salon' painting, Paul Delaroche when he first laid eyes upon a daguerrotype.
In a flash he concluded that his work as painter had no more relevance. Technology had trumped artistry in recording what the eye could see.
Photography's alchemy could replace the artist's brush quicker and cheaper. What was a painter to do?
Plenty it seems.
Between Delaroche's 1840's outburst and left-wing art critic Douglas Crimp's 1981 article announcing "The End of Painting", artists - no longer slaves to visual versimilitude - had become adventurers. They found new ways of painting, new things to paint about and new audiences to appreciate and collect what they were producing.
Even after Crimp's pronouncment that in a post modern world, painting was no longer relevant to mankind and new media moved to the forefront, painters continued to paint.
They still do.
The group exhibition at Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant until March 4th offers practical evidence of that. Furthermore, streams of visitors attest to the continuing appeal of painting for viewers. Enthusistic response confirms that in the multi-faceted world of painting today, there is indeed "something for everyone!"
"The Promise of Painting" is a crowd pleaser that was conceived, contracted, scheduled and provocatively titled by former curator Kathryn Hogg. Guest curator Bryce Kanbara managed the installation, prepared interview-based essays to enhance the visitors' experience and also arranged activities to promote community engagement with the exhibition.
Three painters - Port Dover's Cristina Zanella, Kitchener's Robert Achtemichuk and Bright's Grove's Ian McLean - present individual approaches to painting as picture making today.
While each artist has a distinctive approach to media, methods and subject matter, all of the works are accessible in that they address recognizable aspects of the human experience. They are what many would call "pictures".
We humans have been picture makers and appreciators since the earliest times. There is an unbroken line from cave paintings to the present day of those who take pleasure in the application of pigments to surfaces in order to say something about who and how we are. The artists in "The Promise of Painting" are part of that line. So are those who look and feel and think and question.
Upstairs the work of Ian Mclean provides dramatic contrast to the quieter paintings on the main floor. Bold in scale and colour, his creations offer no soft lullaby for the eyes!
While Zanella's visually pleasing, very direct work seems to be primarily about process, and Achtemichuk's resembles a meditation upon the quietly comforting yet wondrous particulars of time and place, McLean's paintings are viscerally unsettling.
One viewer was overheard to say with reference to "Subplot", the startling 48" x 72" scene of distorted domesticity in the upper hall, "I can't help paying attention to it, but there's no way I could have it in my living room!"
Lush and painterly yet disturbing, these works in oil on canvas prompt reflection. Sensuous, arresting, confidently executed and full of allusions to contemporary moral issues, they challenge the viewer to ask deeper questions about meaning.
Guest curator Kanbara's revealing essay based on correspondence and conversation with the artist confirms the depth and subtlety of McLean's engagement with both the purposes and processes of painting. This artist brings a lively intelligence and a breadth and depth of aesthetic and philosophical knowledge to the creative act.
These paintings work on multiple levels with reference to form, content and deduced intent. They provide visual delight via the sensuous play of lush yet lurid colour and the sweep of brushstrokes across expansive Turneresque skies.
The pictorial elements seem simultaneously familiar and otherworldly. There is a sense of recognition that is disturbing. Are these fictitious places, these disquieting images of homes and yards and the environments in with they are situated? Are they reflections of the worlds we know? Is the "Fun House" really a place for fun?
One way to approach these edgy works so laden with references to specific status symbols is to question what they suggest about our preoccupation with "things". If it is true that art can hold a mirror up to life, what do these paintings reflect? What sort of poisonous "living room" have we created for ourselves?
This thought provoking, pleasurable exhibit encourages viewers to consider just what "The Promise of Painting" is today. One thing it has always offered is deep human engagement, both in the making and in the viewing.
The Brantford Expositor, February 2, 2012
"From today, painting is dead!" blurted 19th century technical wizard of 'salon' painting, Paul Delaroche when he first laid eyes upon a daguerrotype.
In a flash he concluded that his work as painter had no more relevance. Technology had trumped artistry in recording what the eye could see.
Photography's alchemy could replace the artist's brush quicker and cheaper. What was a painter to do?
Plenty it seems.
Between Delaroche's 1840's outburst and left-wing art critic Douglas Crimp's 1981 article announcing "The End of Painting", artists - no longer slaves to visual versimilitude - had become adventurers. They found new ways of painting, new things to paint about and new audiences to appreciate and collect what they were producing.
Even after Crimp's pronouncment that in a post modern world, painting was no longer relevant to mankind and new media moved to the forefront, painters continued to paint.
They still do.
The group exhibition at Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant until March 4th offers practical evidence of that. Furthermore, streams of visitors attest to the continuing appeal of painting for viewers. Enthusistic response confirms that in the multi-faceted world of painting today, there is indeed "something for everyone!"
"The Promise of Painting" is a crowd pleaser that was conceived, contracted, scheduled and provocatively titled by former curator Kathryn Hogg. Guest curator Bryce Kanbara managed the installation, prepared interview-based essays to enhance the visitors' experience and also arranged activities to promote community engagement with the exhibition.
Three painters - Port Dover's Cristina Zanella, Kitchener's Robert Achtemichuk and Bright's Grove's Ian McLean - present individual approaches to painting as picture making today.
While each artist has a distinctive approach to media, methods and subject matter, all of the works are accessible in that they address recognizable aspects of the human experience. They are what many would call "pictures".
We humans have been picture makers and appreciators since the earliest times. There is an unbroken line from cave paintings to the present day of those who take pleasure in the application of pigments to surfaces in order to say something about who and how we are. The artists in "The Promise of Painting" are part of that line. So are those who look and feel and think and question.
Upstairs the work of Ian Mclean provides dramatic contrast to the quieter paintings on the main floor. Bold in scale and colour, his creations offer no soft lullaby for the eyes!
While Zanella's visually pleasing, very direct work seems to be primarily about process, and Achtemichuk's resembles a meditation upon the quietly comforting yet wondrous particulars of time and place, McLean's paintings are viscerally unsettling.
One viewer was overheard to say with reference to "Subplot", the startling 48" x 72" scene of distorted domesticity in the upper hall, "I can't help paying attention to it, but there's no way I could have it in my living room!"
Lush and painterly yet disturbing, these works in oil on canvas prompt reflection. Sensuous, arresting, confidently executed and full of allusions to contemporary moral issues, they challenge the viewer to ask deeper questions about meaning.
Guest curator Kanbara's revealing essay based on correspondence and conversation with the artist confirms the depth and subtlety of McLean's engagement with both the purposes and processes of painting. This artist brings a lively intelligence and a breadth and depth of aesthetic and philosophical knowledge to the creative act.
These paintings work on multiple levels with reference to form, content and deduced intent. They provide visual delight via the sensuous play of lush yet lurid colour and the sweep of brushstrokes across expansive Turneresque skies.
The pictorial elements seem simultaneously familiar and otherworldly. There is a sense of recognition that is disturbing. Are these fictitious places, these disquieting images of homes and yards and the environments in with they are situated? Are they reflections of the worlds we know? Is the "Fun House" really a place for fun?
One way to approach these edgy works so laden with references to specific status symbols is to question what they suggest about our preoccupation with "things". If it is true that art can hold a mirror up to life, what do these paintings reflect? What sort of poisonous "living room" have we created for ourselves?
This thought provoking, pleasurable exhibit encourages viewers to consider just what "The Promise of Painting" is today. One thing it has always offered is deep human engagement, both in the making and in the viewing.