Why do you paint?

[dennis]

Excerpt from a book "ODDESY - Pepsi to Apple" by John Sculley:  

"Marketing is an art form. When I go to the Museum of Modern Art, I see not only paintings but artists who were driven by powerful ideas and who went through the identical process to what we do in the marketing theatre. The power of it was not trying to duplicate an image realistically, like a photograph, but trying to capture the feeling of a striking idea or moment and then presenting an image of that feeling in a powerful way. The canvas becomes a mini stage production alive in a different medium."

We would like to hear you think and how you feel about this comment.

[nolan]

I suspect that John Sculley is also an artist himself because he has realised the importance of not trying to paint so your painting looks like a photograph - a mistake that I feel too many people, especially new artists make.

For me it is pointless trying to paint so that it looks like a photograph, especially today with the technology freely available to print an actual photograph onto a canvas it has become even more important to NOT paint too photo-realistic.

Years ago it was awesome because, yes it is very difficult to paint super photo-realistic, but paintings were the only means of capturing something forever, so it was important to create photo realistic paintings to capture the exact likeness and memory. That need has fallen away now with the invention of photographs and wide format ink-jet printers.

People now want to see the brush strokes.

[Lourisa]

I love it!  Painting, like dancing (ballet for instance) or composing, is an ultimate form of expression for me.  Photography is an art form in own right and one which i enjoy very much, i don't feel the need nor see the benefit of creating photo-perfect paintings if i can accomplish it with the camera.  Having said that however i think it is important to remember that as each person is unique, he or she will bring their unique views and forms of expression to the canvas and if it means creating a photo-perfect painting then so be it. 

[dennis]

Whether it is painting, photography or composing music it is nearly always the inner emotion that realizes in the outer expression. There is always place in the mansion of art for rooms that house the photo realism, the near realism, the expressionism, the impressionistic paintings, the abstract, etc.

No one really has the right to run the other down. As you say, Lourisa, everyone will bring their own unique expression to the canvas and each one has something good to bring to the visual arts, which we all love so much.

Our goal here is to bring all the various forms of art into one large happy family, realizing and accepting the fact that each will have their own individualistic thoughts and actions.

If accepted as such it will be possible to dovetail all our experiences and abilities into a strong unity to take a fortified stand to defend the visual arts - which is often relegated to the back seat.