"To see what is in front of one's nose requires a constant struggle."
George Orwell
Some artist friends came over for lunch yesterday and we laughed, talked, laughed some more and of course, talked endlessly about art. One of the things that almost always comes up in our discussions is the fact that there are so many artists out there that CANNOT DRAW. Yes, you heard it right here...artists that cannot draw. Image that! With technology at every one's disposal and cameras snapping away and Photo Shop cleaning up all kinds of images, this is not surprising to many. Except me.
I am still shocked that many painters cannot draw the human figure, draw in perspective, don't know the difference between varying values, and couldn't tell you much about art in any historical context. I am continually amazed also at the growing number of artists that will happily admit that they don't need to know how to draw. It's not relevant anymore. We laughed that some of these guys are actually teaching art!
I'm not sure how all of this has come about, but I remain shocked. Sort of like someone being a math teacher, but not knowing their multiplication tables. Or the back and forth battle on the nightly news with the upcoming election and trying to simply discern what the "truth" is. Sands are shifting daily and everything is only relevant if one chooses to make it so. Truth and illusion in art is something that I thought that artists were supposed to have a good grip on. Not deluding themselves about the difference between the two should be something that artists should understand and know the meaning of. I'm old school and find it hard to accept that this is the way of the world now. I am SO tempted to paint a canvas bright red and then put a title on it in big, bold letters and call it BLUE. Lest I continue to beat this same drum, I will let this go, but I simply couldn't help myself after yesterday's lunch and had to write about it.
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