Charleston and the Art Auction

Robert Lange Gallery

Viewing the exhibit "Women Painting Women"

Last weekend my wife and I enjoyed our first trip to Charleston, South Carolina where we made it our goal to visit as many art galleries as we could and enjoy the historical city. I don't have to tell those who have been to Charleston, but for those who haven't, this is a city you need to visit.

Charleston has become an internationally known art city with over 40 galleries surrounded by a community that is proud to preserve its history and the buildings that represent it. Every street in the old district is lined with beautifully restored homes of the 18th and 19th century. Many have been converted to bed & breakfast inns and many others into fantastic looking galleries. There is just something fascinating about seeing so many great original works of art in such picturesque surroundings that one weekend was not nearly enough time.

Of course, there is a busy shopping district with stores representing the top retail brands. You could spend a lot of money and time shopping for the things you can most often buy back home, but we were there to look at art.

We also found the hosts in Charleston to be exemplary of southern hospitality. The artists and gallery owners were very friendly and welcoming.

We also found the hosts in Charleston to be exemplary of southern hospitality. The artists and gallery owners were very friendly and welcoming. On Sunday, our last day there, we intentionally returned to one of those galleries, the Robert Lange Studios, to look again at the exhibit, "Women Painting Women" that is on display (and will continue through the month). Robert and his wife Megan are owners of the gallery and organized the exhibit featuring paintings from 50 female artists who submitted pieces from around the world. The image above was taken in the studio as I was standing in front of the painting "Universal Mother of Compassion" by Adrienne Stein. I would strongly recommend that you visit the exhibit if you are in the area. You can preview it on Robert's web site.

On Saturday night, we also attended the annual Charleston Art Auction presented by the Charleston Fine Art Dealers Association (CFADA) and sponsored in part by American Art Collector magazine which raised money to benefit the Charleston County High Schools' fine art programs. There were over 150 paintings for sale including some incredible pieces by such artists as Scott Burdick, Sue Lyon, Ken Auster, Dan Gerhartz, Dan and Danny McCaw, and Stephen Scott Young. The top bid for the night went to a piece by Jonathan Green ($50K) which seems encouraging considering the concern by many about the state of the economy and the sale of art.

My favorite pieces were not up for auction but were available for sale by watercolor artist Stephen Scott Young. This is the first time I have seen an original of Mr. Young's works and I was filled with appreciation for his talent. His four pieces started at $75K each.

As we moved quickly from gallery to gallery, we were encouraged again to return to one in particular on Sunday, the Martin Gallery on Broad Street. Besides the unique surroundings of marble and high windows characteristic of an old bank, the gallery offered some of the best art in Charleston. In particular we returned to see the sculptures by artist Mitch Billis.

Mitch's sculptures are at once both whimsical and exciting and leave you staring at every inch of the fine detail and amusing touches he adds to the subjects. Mitch comes from a family of artists, and after starting his own foundry in Bozeman, Montana, he decided to become a full-time sculptor. He describes in his work, that he is "continually reaching out to his children as touchstones to bring out the child in him." I certainly see that influence in the pieces on display in the gallery.

We were again impressed with the friendliness of the artists in the city. Robert and his wife Megan Lange, Shannon Smith of Smith Killian Fine Art gallery, Bob Graham, and Mickey Williams are just a few of the ones that stood out and we are appreciative of their hospitality. We hope to be back in Charleston soon.

The Banishment of Beauty

In a recent presentation, artist Scott Burdick (www.scottburdick.com) discusses what he calls "The Banishment of Beauty" in the modern art world, and especially that of the art museum. I must say I liked Scott's approach and would highly recommend watching the videos of his presentation (below). In his blog "Underpaintings", artist Matthew Innis wrote of Scott's presentation, "Burdick discusses the role of beauty in realist art, and why the so-called "progressive" Modern art movement eschews creating aesthetically pleasing works - and why the latter type of art is favored by curators, collectors, and critics. Though at times Burdick allows his frustration with the current circumstances in the art world to come to the forefront, and despite the criticism he has received in some arenas because of his bias towards realism, the hour-long presentation is very good, and should be listened to for Burdick's erudite analysis of the politics of the art world."

I have presented his video here, but it is also available on YouTube. Or, if you prefer, go to YouTube.com and search for Scott's presentation, "The Banishment of Beauty."

Why We Paint

View fullsize

Buck Lake North Shore - oil on panel, 22 x 30"

The creation of beauty is a worthy goal of an artist, whether painter, sculptor, musician or performer. But inevitably the question comes up – "what is beauty?" Isn't beauty in the eye of the beholder and a subjective standard of measurement?

The depiction of beauty used to be the most common characteristic of representational art through each phase in modern history until the birth of impressionism. Is impressionistic art not beautiful? I am not suggesting that. But you can't examine art of the 19th century without examining the development of philosophy that was also engulfing the intellectual world at that time and which was a great influence on art. This change in philosophy, carried largely by existentialism, saw the world as fragmented, and man as a fragmented part of it. Impressionist art became a vehicle to express modern man's view of the fragmentation of truth and life.

Did I interject the word "truth" in this discussion? Can't there be a discussion about art without messing it up with a dissertation on the nature of truth? I don't believe you can. By the time Cezanne had painted "Poplars at Giverney, Sunrise" (1888) modern philosophy had deconstructed truth and so, the natural corollary was the deconstruction of reality. Impressionism was not just a new technique in painting. It expressed a world view. Nature was reduced to basic geometric forms, a fragmented and broken appearance. Certainly impressionistic paintings often depict a vitality and freshness that is appealing, but the fragmentation of reality brought fragmentation to the appearance of man himself.

I am not ready to denounce all impressionism as evil or deleterious to the quality of art. There are many artists who use impressionistic techniques that depict a realistic subject with broken color that, when viewed from any distance looks beautiful. But as the impressionistic movement showed man as a broken and fragmented object, it was soon replaced by the abstract movement that eventually honored anything as art without regard for beauty. The piece of art that was voted the most influential of the 20th century was "Fountain" by Duchamp (1917) where a common porcelain urinal was displayed as art. When you abandoned your belief as to what is beauty in art, and you are guided by an anti-rational, anti-art philosophy, you will accept anything as art.

Without the foundation of truth, art becomes an expression of philosophical abandon, where reality becomes so fragmented that it disappears.

Without the foundation of truth, art becomes an expression of philosophical abandon, where reality becomes so fragmented that it disappears. There is no mistake that the technique in art fits the world view being presented. Where the realism in art of the Renaissance depicted man's hope, the technique of modern art is to depict people who are made to be less than people, and as such, their humanity is lost.

Is art a reflection of the artist's worldview and thus his statement on the nature of truth? In his book Picasso's Picasso, David Duncan sums up Picasso's work this way. "Of course, not one of these pictures was actually a portrait but his prophecy of a ruined world."

So why do we paint? Is it to depict some philosophers statement and thus to infer hidden meaning in our subject?

With the resurgence of classical realism in the painting world, I welcome the exaltation of beauty and would consider it a worthy goal for any painter. And with the depiction of beauty comes a statement confirming the nature of truth – truth that is founded in a realistic worldview. I don't believe we are here by chance and therefore, my work does not depict a fragmented world but one bound together by reason and hope.