Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Modern Figurative And Genre Art

By Elsa Noel


Once upon a time, the Academy had special systematization of genres, especially in painting. History painting was the most appreciated theme, followed by portraits, landscape and still life. One of these genres was genre art. The easiest way of describing this genre is that it usually presents people doing something they usually do every day. Figurative and genre art can both picture people and animals in different life situations.

Figurative art is best described as artworks that obviously represent something that exists in the real world. This art usually has volume, shape, perspective and structure, and this is achieved using colors and lines, different materials and techniques, depending on the particular artist. All techniques and medias are accepted, but the subject is something that comes from the real world.

Although figuratism may contain different simplifications of the form, especially when it comes to paintings, this type of art is basically representational rather than abstract. Generally it may be said that figurative may be applied to all art before abstract. Today, this term is mostly used to define any art form that isn't abstract. In short, if you can tell what it is, it is definitely figuratism.

All types of media are accepted, including watercolor, oil, acrylic or any other form o expression. This art-form is focused on human figures, and they are the main subject on most paintings. They can be dressed or not. The obvious conclusion is that all portraits have to be figuratism, as long as you can recognize the subject. The artist can be more focused on shape and colors, or on emotions, depending on his style.

There are no real limits to interpretation. Although this is a real figure based representation, using different styles, methods and materials results in countless variations. The main thing is that the main subject has to be recognizable at some point. Although expressionism is the best example for this category, other styles, for example cubism, belong to figurative paintings as well, as long as it is recognizable.

As you can see, there are some extremes in this categorization. On one side you will find something barely recognizable, while there is other extreme as well, for example photo realism. If you check Picasso's artworks, some of his works are very good examples for this. His woman looks really distorted, yes, but you can certainly recognize her as a woman. So, it is figuratism, although the cubism is actually abstract art.

Contemporary artists became more interested in this form in last few decades. Some of them can really offer something extraordinary. For example, John Currin, Jas Knight, Gillian Carnegie and Jenny Saville. If you aren't familiar with their work, you should definitely correct this mistake. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Although this type of art, especially painting, was mostly neglected during twentieth century, it became more popular during eighties. Twentieth century was mainly about avant-garde movements, yes, but skills and crafts are popular again. One of the shiniest examples of this re-born art is definitely John Currin. This artist believes that art cannot be improved, that it can only be developed into something that will reflect the world of today.




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