I take your point about needing definitions. I am thinking particularly of 'photo-realism'.

My original post was immediately after I attended an exhibition of contemporary painting and I found myself in front of a watercolour depicting a seaside scene. The painting was technically a masterpiece. I can only imagine the time and trouble taken by the artist to produce a work of such technical perfection.

Nevertheless, my immediate and longer lasting reaction was - why bother? If the artist had just taken a photo of the scene and had it enlarged, he would have saved himself a lot of trouble. Just recently, I have seen many similar examples.

On a more general and personal note, I find 'illusionistic' painting sterile. I should make clear, however, that I tend to regard Impressionist work as 'semi-abstract'.

>Nevertheless, my immediate and longer lasting
>reaction was - why bother? If the artist had
>just taken a photo of the scene and had it
>enlarged, he would have saved himself a lot of
>trouble. Just recently, I have seen many similar
>examples.

I agree, personally I like to "see the paint" and would prefer an abstract piece to the perfectly rendered but otherwise stale work. However I remember a first show in Moscow of American photorealism about 15 years ago, a few pieces were "mysteriously poetic" in it's freeze-a-moment tranquility.

And as you say "on general and personal" note I would conceder photorealism more of a conceptual art than a
painting in it's modern sense.

...I wonder what if Rembrandt or Giotto or... could have seen at least one of such (photorealism) paintings...

ilia

how are you doing upthere?

how is that umber treating you?

ilia

it is an interesting topic, so i "break in" without an invitation!

i am from china and moved over to the states 15 years ago. it had been exclusively soviet type of realism there until the outside world was introduced to the younger artists there.

the european buyers, curators and collectors, go to china with the perception of a great new times for the local artists who now have freedom, and believe this is the great time for buying master pieces of a remarkable time of change. they believe the chinese artists are screaming with political statements, and they are looking for the conceptual arts there. since the highest prices go to that category, the smart and more famous, much richer chinese viasual artists do not use any brushes or pallet knifes, they use surgeon knifes to cut their own skin and transplants to pigs, and wiseversa...it is the dominating artistic movements there right now.

i would like to hear some comments from the american visual artists for their view of this, because most chinese artists are confused today, the artistic critiques are quiet because they dare not to comment.

anyone out there care to comment?

hope to hear more from you.......