I am sitting at my computer looking at a new painting, well
not new in the sense that it was just completed, but a painting that we rescued
from a slow but sure demise. We like to go to estate and yard sales and sometimes
buy interesting art that moves us. Today’s find was old, so old the sale
manager guessed that it was over a hundred years. It is in very rough shape
with over a hundred years of grime on the surface. Yet, the artist’s bowl of
white roses is still shining, lo after all these many years.
This experience dovetails nicely with an experience we had a
few days ago. The Broad Art Museum had an evening meeting with one of the fine
artists who had built an enormous wall installation that was over a hundred
feet long. The beautiful string and nail drawing would be coming down in a few days. Though
the art community enjoyed and marveled at the artistic endeavor, there is a sad
sense about the loss of an art object so much respected and visited so many
times in its short life in the museum.
Close up of Shotz string drawing, White Wave |
The artist, Alyson Shotz and her string drawing, White Wave
(2013), became a conduit for heated discussions about the permanence of the art
object that we all marvel over. We first think about the sincerity and beauty of
the Buddhist mandala sand art that takes days to create but lasts for such a
short time. In contrast, on the boulevard near the Broad stands a bronze
dancing female figure. She will be dancing for many centuries to come because
of the permanent materials used.
Portion of White Wave (2013), Alyson Shotz string drawing at the Broad |
The question of ephemeral art is very thought provoking. I
lean toward more long-lived art. A few weeks ago a young artist asked me how he
could get started in oil painting. That is a life time journey but the short
answer I gave was use the very best materials you can afford and hopefully you
will create meaningful art that you will be able to visit in the years to come.
I said this based on my own history of many student art projects that we so
loved, but are now dust in some forgotten closet.
And yes there are those messages from the distance past left
on the stone walls all over the world. Some are in caves while others are on
rock surfaces just above the water line of Lake Superior. We can only imagine
the early artist sending greeting messages from another time.
And what about the white roses on the deteriorating
canvas? In the sun light we found a few
faint red roses hidden in the decades of grime. We create because, well excuse
the cliché, we have to. The artists from the past even the distant past were
moved to communicate with present and future peoples. We’ll try to help The Roses
to live a few more years to bring us beauty. Maybe some restoration will help
us to appreciate the artist’s touch from the past and help us see our own world
in better light.
Joel
Blue Nautilus, Joel Ellis 24x24 acrylic on canvas |
Something About Flowers, Joel Ellis 20x24 acrylic on linen |