Juan Bautista Maino
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
I overheard a debate yesterday that piqued my interest. The topic was popular music. The young men were going back and forth over the quality of contemporary music. Simplistic in structure, one of them believed that we will never again see the likes of Mozart or Bach - certainly not with the umpteenth recycle of musical material hailing from the next “manufactured starlet”. This conversation got me to think about art, specifically painting. Are contemporary artists paying as much attention to technique as they did in yesteryears? I am by no means an art critic, and do not profess to be one, but I see very few pieces that rival the technical deftness possessed by past masters, like Spanish painter Juan Bautista Maino (although I maintain that there is still a lot of talent in today’s world.) The characters are animated, full of life; the brocades and heavy silks worn by the subjects unfold and fall beautifully; the surroundings take full advantage of the light and shadow…
Could the reason for this “watering down effect” be due to the shift of ideals and tastes? I do not know. What do you think?