“Without even trying I can think of 1/2 dozen well respected NYC galleries than deal with artists whose subjects works around realism in some manner. We live in an exciting time in painting today where no one style or manner of making paintings is ruling the roost. Isn’t it time we lay these tired old cliches to rest?”

–Exceptionally well said.

I enjoyed reading this essay, a lively and clear description of different modes of representation. It’s helpful in navigating the constructs of the figurative holy wars, and makes an intelligent argument for dispensing with the individual ego and recognizing a pluralistic environment. This defuses a lot of the proprietary tensions that tend to build between the different schools of realism. The constructs the essay offers are helpful in the broader aesthetic arena, since the implication is that non-representational modes of art may be similarly understood. I suspect some of the unmentioned reasons for the strong antipathy between schools–outside the province of this essay–are those which impact behavior in academia as well: issues of power, preeminence, and the attendant financial and career ramifications. These tensions are enhanced in an environment where most of the participants view themselves as marginalized.

Very good reading. Thank you,

Jerry

Thank you for helping me to see my daily, rather elementary, struggles in painting within the greater context of the glorious dynamism of art itself. This is a masterfully integrated essay.

And thanks as always to Larry for generously providing consistently excellent posts.

All the very best wishes in the new year to you and those you love,

Donna

You’re on target. You are so on target. Brilliant essay! Beautifully written.

It has simply been Apollo and Dionysus in my head all these years! I’m not crazy after all!! I Can’t wait to tell my wife!!!

Noel

Richard, I also appreciate the questions that you bring up. I think it’s wonderful that you have not personally witnessed such negative and dismissive responses to aesthetic choices. May things continue to move more in that direction! Sadly, these incidents occur all too often, particularly in art schools and institutions, where the next generation of artists is coming up. I like to think that the further we get from the art school experience, the less of this kind of behavior we find, but even that is not always the case. As far as your question of “do you know of any painters who are [fighting it out],” I’m not in the business of naming names, but the answer is an emphatic “yes, and how!” I suppose with any sort of perceived bias, those who have not seen such behavior in action might reasonably doubt its existence, so I’ll just leave it to readers to make their own observations in this regard.

My claim of “realism” being marginalized for decades is hardly an original one, but I do think that it is making more and more of a comeback. In fact, its current vibrancy and diversity is part of what inspired me to write this essay.

You said it Richard!