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Why This Painting Graduating in photography, I moved to painting at age 30, though painting was not popular in the postmodern era, as it was hard work. But that was why exactly I liked it. The camera did the work for you, whereas in painting you built your visual language from the bottom up, moving each spot of paint to the right place. Then I discovered airbrush, with its smooth gradations, so the photographic influence somewhat returned. Never had much luck with painting. Photography was popular in the postmodern world, so I had exhibitions and works in the National Gallery. In painting, an outsider lacking academic support was not that welcome. At that point I started writing art critique, saying visual language was as important as concept. I also wrote that on my paintings, to tell people that painting was ok. Writing on the canvas made the work postmodern, so more acceptable. You can’t have it all your way, Jane Heap said in a 1923 review of the Independent show “The modern artist must understand group force; he cannot advance without it in a democracy, The Little Review, Winter issue, N.Y.[1] There’s a creative unconscious function in the depths of the mind that always fascinated me. In painting it will direct your work through your feelings so that the statements we make always have layers we never expected. In this painting I become aware of the perils of challenging group forces by painting a Jeff Koons dog, which is forbidden, just as beauty is “out” according to influential curators, and yet my rebellious side leads me to thumb my nose at such directives, so the tiger appears. Such are the products of the creative unconscious. In the long run, I’ve always been interested in the visual grammar of aesthetics/ The physicist Paul Dirac wrote that when he sees beauty in his equations, he knows he’s on the right path to progress. Does the science behind beauty also apply to visual art? April 25, 2025 [1] Francis Naumann, The big show: the first exhibition of the society of independent artists, part i, Artforum, 2023 |