How the materiality of paint is intrinsic to the work of art : an explanation of the meaningful placement of the medium of painting in contemporary art theory

247 Pages·2013·7.313 MB·English

by  George Bauer, , Lawrence, Sharon Orleans

O'7/ THE LIATERIA- !TY
OF PAINT IS INTRINSI_.
TO THE WOnK OF ART
An Explanation of the Meaningful
Placement of the Medium of Painting
in Contemporary Art Theory
Sharon Orleans Lawrence
With a Foreword by
George Bauer
The Edwin Mellen Press
Lewiston•Queenston•Lampeter
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013935383
Lawrence, Sharon Orleans.
How the materiality of paint is intrinsic to the work of art : an explanation
of the meaningful placement of the medium of painting in contemporary art
theory / Sharon Orleans Lawrence ; with a foreword by George Bauer.
1. Art--techniques--painting. 2. Art—popular culture. 3. Philosophy--
aesthetics.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7734-4463-8 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-7734-4463-7 (hardcover)
I. Title.
hors serie.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2013 Sharon Orleans Lawrence
Front Cover Photo: Sharon Orleans Lawrence, Nothing Left to Say, 2010, oil on
canvas, 30 x 30 inches.
All rights reserved. For information contact
(cid:9)
The Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press
(cid:9)
Box 450 Box 67
(cid:9)
Lewiston, New York Queenston, Ontario
(cid:9)
USA 14092-0450 CANADA LOS 1 LO
The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd.
Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales
UNITED KINGDOM SA48 8LT
Printed in the United States of America
"Art has its tradition, but it is a visual heritage. The artist's
language is the memory from sight. Art is made from dreams,
and visions, and things not known, and least of all from things
that can be said. It comes from the inside of who you are when
you face yourself It is an inner declaration of purpose, it is a
factor which determines artist identity."
--David Smith, Modernist Sculptor and Painter

Table of Contents
(cid:9)
Foreword, George Bauer, PhD V
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
The Question of Painting(cid:9) 2
The Painter-Theorist Approach(cid:9) 4
Paintings and Resonance(cid:9) 6
Paint Surface and Beyond(cid:9) 10
Materiality Defined 11
Painting and the Perspective of the Artist
Chapter 1: The Materiality of What Painting Was 17
Painting in the Caves 18
Painting Among the Greeks and Romans(cid:9) 20
Painting Defined by Painters Across History 23
Painting in the Twentieth Century 31
Chapter 2: The Materiality of What Painting Is(cid:9) 37
Painting in the Twenty-first Century 37
The Materiality of Theory 40
The Materiality of Painterliness(cid:9) 44
The Materiality of Painting as Avant-garde Strategy 46
The Material Nature of Painting and the Viability of
Technology 49
Postmodernism in Definition 53
The Materiality of Painting in the Between Space of
Contemporary Theory 55
The Materiality of Visibility 61
The Materiality of Postmodern Plurality(cid:9) 63
The Materiality of Initiation 64
Chapter 3: The Materiality of Paint 67
Paint and Material Performativity(cid:9) 69
(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)
Paint and Specificity 72
Characteristics of Oil Paint 73
The Refractive Index 76
Oil Paint and Egg Tempera 77
The Invention of Oil Paint 78
Chapter 4: The Materiality of Paint and Painters(cid:9) 83
Contemporary Paint-Materialist Jenny Saville(cid:9) 84
th
19 Century Paint-Materialist Gustave Courbet (cid:9) 87
Paint Materiality and Photography 89
Materiality and Representation of Nature(cid:9) 90
Materiality and Plasticity(cid:9) 94
Chapter 5: The Materiality of Experience, Painterliness(cid:9) 105
A Painting as a Man-made Object 106
Painterliness Across the Arts 112
Painting as an Intentional Act (cid:9) 116
Painting as a Mode of Thinking(cid:9) 118
Materiality and Discursive Performativity 121
Artist's Intent 122
Chapter 6: The Materiality of Experience: Markmaking(cid:9) 127
Markmaking in Prehistory 130
Michelangelo and Psychomotor Reality(cid:9) 132
Physical Involvement with Paint (cid:9) 134
Markmaking and Art Brut (cid:9) 138
Chapter 7: The Materiality of Experience, Artist's Intent (cid:9) 143
The Mediation of Reproduction(cid:9) 141
The Viewer 145
The Artist as Viewer 148
The Materiality of the Viewer's Experience 149
Categories of Seeing 151
11
Vision 153
Seeing and the Process of Making Art (cid:9) 157
The Myth of the Toddler Savant (cid:9) 158
Viewing Art and the Structured Process of Looking 161
Artist's Intent and Artist's Exploration(cid:9) 163
Artist's Intent and Viewer's Perception(cid:9) 165
Artist's Intent and Realization(cid:9) 167
Conclusion 173
Bibliography 179
Index 203
Ill

Foreword
In this manuscript, Sharon Orleans Lawrence
contemplates a place for painting in contemporary art, not as a
remnant of the past, but as a viable, valuable, resonant, and
personally satisfying practice of the present.
With today's unlimited expansion of what can be
accepted as art, defining art on a universal level is virtually
impossible. It is increasingly difficult for artists to find their
place in this expansive, dynamic, confusing discourse.
Individual creativity (creative ontogenesis) cannot prosper
separately or outside of social creativity (sociogenesis of
creativity); therefore, sooner or later, all self-respecting artists
have to ask themselves questions about their place in the
discourse of art. At the same time, the sociogenetic plane can
readily offer or deny a place to creative individuals for multiple
reasons, usually more or less clearly stated in its institutional
discourse.
Unfortunately, there is a discrepancy between the reality
of the art world and the academy; most studio art programs still
offer a media-specific focus in the range of courses and majors
in the curriculum, with only a limited cross-disciplinary
approach. The art world, on the other hand, is characterized by a
post-medium, all-inclusive, expanded register of art. This realm
is drowning in fragmented theory, struggling (and largely
failing) to deal with the challenges of an out-of-institutional-
control artistic democracy, which is enabled by social media
and modified by globalism and postcolonial diaspora. These
conditions further complicate the definitions of values, quality
standards, and meaningful positioning.