Looks like I'm in a minority here -- a minority of one among all those
involved here in the visual arts.
Everyone who studied painting in a 20th C. art school is convinced about the
importance of the precise location of everything on a painting - especially
its edges.
And 20 years ago, I would have agreed with them -- but the more I've looked
around, the more counter-examples I have found.
Even in Europe's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa -- because portraits are
so much about the visual impact of the human face. (isn't there a specific
area of the brain that processes that kind of information?)
If Leonardo had bungled the face -- especially the eyes -- that painting
wouldn't even be attributed to him -- but who cares what happens around its
edges. (and the Louvre site notes how he didn't finish one of the fingers)
Also in Chinese calligraphy where the focus is so strongly on the execution of
each individual character. It does seem that the greatest masters are those
who carefully attended to the spaces between them -- but the tradition allows
anyone who buys the piece to fill those spaces with their red marks of
identification. At first I thought this was a sacrilege -- but eventually I
realized that that the resulting chaos kind of emphasizes the precision of
the original strokes.
There's a lot in most paintings that could have done this way -- or it could
have been done that way -- and it really doesn't make much difference. That's
why some areas are so slap-dash (in pleasant contrast to the areas of
precision) -- and why so much of so many European paintings done before the
19th C. were executed by studio assistants. The master's touch is not needed
everywhere.
But every artist should stay true to the teachings of his own school -- so if
William, Boris, and Mando are agreeing with Hans Hofmann, that's how it should
be. That's how traditions are maintained.
***********
"To me , the totality of the art is what counts. Even concertos are not
complete until every note is in it's proper space to the composer.
No space is meaningless"
____________________________________________________________
Click for FHA loan, $0 lender fees, low rates & approvals nationwide
http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/Ioyw6ijldpyagy4hDTaopyWkOvs74g
CcDBuC2hW1XVxJhaMvDecAUs/
