Has the book on painting been closed?

[Sharon Knettell]

To think the book on painting is closed is to deny the possibility of creating something that is not only new, but communicates to our age.

I think we owe a tremendous debt to the masters who came before us, but to worship at their feet denies us fulfilling our own possibilities. They all had problems to overcome and were always bravely searching for new methods and ways to communicate. To say real art has stopped say in 1890 and we have nothing more significant to add except to regurgitate the past, ensures that our art will become static and irrelevant. If you were to reread art history you would see that there was invariably tremendous pressure to keep the status quo, if many courageous artists did not comply perhaps we would all be doing Byzantine portraits.

I think one of the most dangerous trends in art, is perhaps not enshrined urinals, but nostalgia. I think when we think of contemporary representational art we should consider it not as a vehicle to recreate the stale motifs of the past, but to give ourselves as artists a more coherent way of communicating in our time. Paraphrasing Diane Arbus, who noted when looking through her lens, if she had seen the picture before, she would not take it.

This of course does not deny that the hard won skills of mastery, scorned though they are today, should be neglected. That goes without saying.

Patricia, bring your paints. Remember how the water when you first jump in is cold, but the more you swim the more comfortable it is.