Monday, August 07, 2017

Painting in 2017

It is 2017 and painting as an art form is at a great nadir. The proliferation of images due to a technological revolution, plus a swarm of decorative paintings, have discredited painting, and 2D images in general, as a force for great emotional communication.

Music too is suffering. Drama and dance, as yet immune to digitisation, are the dominant art forms. Even poetry recital is resurgent, an art form that is at least 3000 years old(!) has supplanted one that is merely a few hundred.

Yet the storm driven by technology, by the impact of social media, but ten years old, is abating.

The brain operates using images; these will always constitute art. Painting is superior to photography and digital art because it is difficult. What is easy is ubiquitous, any idiot can do it. Less people can do what is difficult, and the most difficult things are the domain of genius. It is for this reason that painting will not only survive digitisation, but forever be an important art form.