Ramblings- Easel painting
As usual, I am the last to know. There seems to exist art and the production of art on a grand scale that doesn’t even touch our sphere of activity. The artist, the gallery and the market as we are familiar with barely functions to any influential degree. You might add, easel painting survives only at the hobby level ( cookie sales )
Art is produced today on larger than life proportions and represents a collective effort or collaboration…artist, promoter,backers, prefabricators ,
architects, corporate interests,metropolitan planners. Art has moved outdoors. Often the dwelling is the art.
Did it begin with Christo? Anselm Kiefers’ massive canvases were ready for installation long before they were painted. These are not easel paintings. Some paintings are rendered on the entire side of a building.
What of the building in Paris.. the Pompadou ? Everything has moved to the outside including plumbing.
Lets look back in history a bit. The Church was the central point that moved art… a large scale, collective effort; the Pope, artist, church money. With the demise of the church as sponsor, Reformation in Holland especially, the scale of art was reduced. Easel painting prevailed into the gallery system of Paris, New York.
But now today, corporate and public money moves art. Massive sculpture can be seen in the public square and on private estates. A huge Picasso sculpture, thanks to collective effort, stands in the public square.
The remarkable Veitnam Memorial in D C belongs to all of us.
And to the struggling artist, go to your easel and keep painting. Be happy
I would be pleased if you would add or delete these thoughts. B