Wow, two discussions of art in two months – at Renderosity! As I said in the previous one, most 3D realism leaves me cold as it seemingly concentrates all of the artist’s energy on the subject at hand with nothing left for meaning and context. I love steak but I want the salad and the baked potato and all the other things that make up a good meal. That’s the best way that I can express it.. In this case, , I’ll grant that it’s art in the broad sense. I’m not sure that it was intended to be Art with a capital A – it’s a showcase of technique – modeling, texture, lighting etc. I assume that if the creator was doing Art, he would have least included an environment that put the figure in some kind of context, e.g. sitting at the drawing table etc.

I was looking for some works by Bouguereau the other day – yes, part of my taste tends toward Bouguereau, Alma-Tadema and so on. I ran across this website, Art Renewal Center. Now their manifesto is actually in favor of [traditional] realism, as opposed to modernism, but I find an interesting parallel in their case for ‘storytelling,’ which is what I sometimes find lacking in 3D photorealism. – and yeah, the uncanny valley thing too. At any rate, I found Fred Ross’ keynote address (linked above) interesting reading. Standard disclaimers, not an artist, only a consumer, only took one post 7th grade art history course and post-structuralist abjection sounds like what happened to the Tacoma Narrows bridge to me ÷)

 

Fred Ross

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken