Perhaps we wish too much to be artists that are part of a national
movement, erring by attempting to fit in to the current popular
style. Perhaps we have learned a “wrong” art
history. Perhaps we have overlooked our roots and environment...that
which has nurtured us and that which still sustains us.
Those artists of the Midwest who we easily recall as being Regionalists,
John Stuart Curry, Grant Wood, Gerrit Sinclair, Thomas Hart Benton,
were men with a broader knowledge of world reality and art than
a superficial reading of their paintings suggests. They chose
their subject matter from what they knew, understood, appreciated
and experienced, but they did not fail to see bigger pictures
of how life was lived elsewhere. They knew the depths of art and
thought and culture, but they selected their subject matter to
suit themselves.
This author has come to a late recognition that what we have in
our reach, that stuff which has helped form us and which we still
live and breath, is good enough. It is good enough to provide
us with inspiration, beauty or horror, love or loss, simplicity
or complexity.
The intrigue and beauty of the accomplished bodies of work of
those Regionalists mentioned above, the charm, the sometimes seeming
simplicity...those were chosen by sophisticated minds for a reason. Their
choices had as much to do with living and intellect as did the
nonobjective and abstract work of Parisians and New Yorkers. Their
choice of subject matter and technique was highly personal, and
an outgrowth of their life experiences, choices and intellectual
evolution. And, what is more, they were independent and not
creating to suit a snobbish class that included willing slaves
to certain art critics and a select art culture.
It is obvious that our world view and our ability to access information,
current and past, is nowadays much greater than that of our forebearers,
and even much better than the days of our own youth. Quantum
leaps have recently occurred.
We recognize that TV emerged in almost every home in the 1950’s. At
least by the early 20th Century magazines and periodicals were
available to anyone who desired them, with specialty magazines
dealing with fine art appearing at anyone’s reach by mid
20th century. Popular magazines like “Life” and
“Look” carried at least occasional stories about the
most prominent artists of the century. Our schools of higher
education provided scholarly classes on the history of art, and
there have been plenty of books dealing with the art of today
and yesterday.
Now we can type a name into a search engine such as google or
Lycos and find hundreds of references and potential sources of
information about almost any subject. While it is still possible
to be reclusive and remain unaware of what is going on in the
so called art world, avoiding contact and influence from major
art centers and art movements takes a nearly conscious effort.
Despite knowing so much about the Universe, it still is important
to recognize that where we live, what we experience...the life
within our reach...this is our place to grow. Here we witness
our fellow creatures. Here we learn to interact. In
this place we become adults, we learn to love, we experience sex
and nature and sunlight and death. In our region we grow
and transform. Our childhoods become our memories...and the
past is locked into our brains. We chose from what we see
in the broadest sense, as well as selecting ideas and places and
moods from our local experience.
As far as we are complete as persons and artists, we express what
is important in our lives. Sometimes that is drawn from the
local, and sometimes from the remote and exotic. If we are
considered Regionalists, then let us be so by our own free will. Let
others categorize us as they want, but let us be as unique as
we chose to be. We are not robots, nor slaves...nor
dupes. We grow here. We make our choices here. Part
of the beauty of the current scheme is the fact that we are free
to reach for other things, to see what ideas abound outside our
Region.
But...this is our place. If we awake each morning and find
our roots are well planted, perhaps we can show in our art making
the indebtedness to our physical and cultural environments. If
some of us select subject, theme, imagery or method which might
be construed as Regional, than simply let it be. Relax about
it. We are part of the fabric of culture...of visual art
in which all geographic and intellectual regions weave together. Back to Compositions |