Chủ Nhật, 1 tháng 7, 2012

The Relevance Of Charcoal Paintings

By Laura Gallagher


Some charcoal paintings may actually be drawings. They may be called 'paintings' because paintings sound more prestigious than drawings which are often preliminary sketches for more complex work. Ironically, the skills required by artists who use the pure element of carbon exclusively in their work are fine and specialized.

Stone age artists may have used charcoal in their art but work in pure charcoal would not have survived. It would have brushed off the surfaces upon which it was applied. Fixatives or lamination can now be used to preserve the art that is created using one of the most prolific elements on earth.

On the Internet there are many contemporary artists now exhibiting drawings in this style. This illustrates how it is fashionable in the twenty-first century though it might have been considered rudimentary before the advent of the Internet. Several factors are responsible for this development in which primitive materials are used in the creation of sophisticated art.

In the twenty-first century there is a strong movement to return to fundamental things. This trend is linked to the philosophy of sustainable development. Natural resources are diminishing rapidly in the face of industrial development and there is a realization that things should be recycled in the interests of economic sustainability. The use of carbon for art fits perfectly with these contemporary trends and social concerns.

Charcoal is a natural substance, even though it is formed into pencils for convenience. Its lustrous blackness can hardly be matched by artificial substances. This makes art work in such a primitive substance an expression of the relationship between the rude and the technological, in perfect accordance with contemporary inclinations.

This is the context in which charcoal paintings have become highly fashionable. Natural textures are shown to be in effective use creating original works that are situated in the present yet rooted in the elemental past. As computer scientists use ancient words to convey the latest thoughts in technology so artists use pure elements of the past to depict the present.




About the Author:



Không có nhận xét nào:

Đăng nhận xét