imitation of art

  It’s sad to say that I’m particularly unfamiliar with contemporary artists like John Currin. My entire life I was brought up to study classic painters from various eras – from mannerism to romanticism, and impressionism to cubism – and to develop my own style by understanding the rudiments of art of the past. After reading Lance Esplund’s article, I was obligated to look up the works of John Currin to make sense of the writer’s critique about his art, and after scrolling through a number of google images of Currin’s work I can’t help but agree. He’d borrowed subtle nuances from clashing artists and tried to make sense of it; Courbet’s application of paint with the palette knife, Parmigianino’s elongated necks and torsos, Van Gogh’s thickness of paint and Monet’s looseness. Somewhere in the article Esplund also mentioned Currin’s indifferent disposition when patrolling through an art museum, with his habit of “skimming” a painting for fifteen to twenty seconds tops. I find this disheartening and off-putting, considering that it takes twenty or so minutes of observation for a painting to truly reveal itself to the audience.