Realism. Necessary or not? Good question. I’ve often pondered this question myself having tried many styles of artwork throughout my life. Now that I’ve embraced realistic form and lighting in my artwork,  I often question whether or not I made the right decision.

When visual art first came on the scene, one of its primary functions was to record persons, places, things and events that were going on at the time. Lack of education was rampant. People relied on pictures to help them understand their world. The current King had his portrait painted. Stories from religious texts were brought to life. The latest land war was commemorated in oils.

Photography didn’t exist yet. Interpretation by an artist was the only way to keep a record of what was going on. In this regard, Realism could only help the cause and, if you know your art history, you’ll see how artwork progresses basically from pictographs to the beautifully fleshed out, fully formed masterpieces of the high renaissance. This was not an accident.

For years High Realism dominated the world of Art. Chances are, if you couldn’t produce artwork in a realistic fashion, it didn’t get taken seriously and was probably never seen. In fact, this penchant for Realism is what turned artists away from it around the turn of the 20th century.

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On Thursday, July 23rd, Cath and I were invited out to the IX Gallery here in Toronto to attend the opening of a new art exhibition entitled “Big” which featured the work of Jack Butler, Erin Fitzsimmons, Kate Martin, Joshua Roy and Todd Lawson. The very general theme of the show was to exhibit artworks that were large in scale. Painting, photography and mixed media were all represented in the exhibition and subject matter varied from artist to artist.

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Your personal website is your art lifeline to the world. Without it, people in the Netherlands are never going to know what you’re currently producing and corrupt publishing companies won’t be able to steal your hard work.

All kidding aside, if you’re going to be a professional artist in the modern age you should also have a professional website. It’s another tool in your arsenal and can be just as powerful as your paintbrush or stone chisel. Take advantage of it.

In my travels on the information super highway, I’ve encountered many artists’ websites. Some were slick, some were sloppy. Depending on your goals either type may work for you but, strictly speaking as a professional, when you’re trying to land a big job or a coveted promotion, showing up with a mustard stain on your shirt isn’t going to strengthen your position.

Here are a couple of things your website should have if it’s going to be the proactive business tool you want it to be.
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Article of Interest: The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition Needs A New Name

Welcome to the second of two articles dealing with the recently presented Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (TOAE). Cath and I are writing this one together. To read the first one, “The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition Needs A New Name”, please click on the link above. It deals with the lack of accountability by the festival to artists in Canada and does have, I’m afraid to say, a rather negative tone — but sometimes these things have to be said.

We went to the show with two topics in mind. One is the subject of my first article, how the TOAE touts itself as an Art exhibition yet seems to fail artists more every year as its contingent of crafters gets bigger and bigger. The second is the subject of this article, what we saw and liked at the exhibition. It didn’t seem fair to just point out the flaws we found in the TOAE’s mandate. We also wanted to give a positive perspective and a bit of free advertising to artists exhibiting in Nathan Philips that we thought were noteworthy.

If you’ve read my blog in the past and seen the type of artwork that I produce then chances are you’ve got a pretty good idea about what I like. Although I am fairly open to the diversity of artistic endeavours that are currently in play in our society, I hold some above others as being more worthy of praise. A lot of subjects such as stilllife, traditional portraiture, landscape and animal artwork have been done to death.

Although I won’t say these expressions don’t have value in our modern society I find their artistic contribution to be very minimal compared to the new avenues of exploration that more imaginative and open artists are pursuing. As Cath, often points out, although still life and landscapes can be very beautifully rendered, often that ability to realistically render is valued far above any expressionistic input by the artist — in the age of digital media, if all you want is a pretty picture, take a photograph; what point is there in making art unless artists don’t comment on their subjects?

With that criteria in mind, we decided to look for some of the more outrageous and creative artists in the exhibition. We didn’t find many amongst the booths of abstractionists and jewellery makers, but we did meet five different artists who stood out from the crowd, their artworks being not only technically brilliant but showing a degree of mental sophistication that one just can’t find in a close-up picture of water ripples or a thrush sitting on a wetland reed.
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Welcome to the first of two articles I’ll be writing about the Toronto Outdoor Art Festival (TOAE). This article will deal with the necessity of a new name for the TOAE because the one it has does not describe the contents of the package and something must be done.

As it happens every July at Nathan Philips square, the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition came to give us a much needed Art booster shot. It was on for three days this year, July 10th, 11th, and 12th. Cath and I took some time on the Friday afternoon to swing by the festival and see what was on the exhibition block this time. We couldn’t have picked a better day as the weather was perfect and the crowds not so crowded.

We saw many booths filled with artwork. There was realistic painting and abstract alike, sculptural works utilizing traditional materials as well as many types of found materials, watercolours, oil paintings, acrylics and just about every type of artwork you could possibly imagine. We also saw many booths filled with fine crafts. There was glasswork of all kinds, jewellery, pottery, fashion accessories and even clothing available to tantalize the visual senses and this brings me to the title of this article — why the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition needs a new name.

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