Fads , fashions and tired art

I have often found myself considering the variety of subject matter that I paint and the vast differences between my almost monochrome nude studies and colour saturated florals and landscape paintings, and indeed , wondering if these differences in styles would be to my advantage or to my detriment in the commercial art world.

The bottom line is , I have never been , nor ever will be a follower of fashion. As in my dress, my hobbies , my likes and dislikes I prefer to remain an individual and I dress and paint as I feel inspired. I cannot therefore be labeled with a specific "style".

A sad trend seems to exist amongst many artists in that they find a successful recipe and stick with it year after year , seldom producing anything new or exciting or for that matter extending themselves beyond that with which they are comfortable painting .

Many artists who I exhibited with ten years ago are still copying themselves and new artists that surface seldom have anything original to offer , their work often similar to fellow artists whose works sell well.

Of course this is very taboo to mention in many galleries or amongst the dealers punting the art and the trend is exacerbated by a largely uneducated public who are swayed into believing that in purchasing these tired and unoriginal works of art,they are making a sound financial investment.

Pathetically , the galleries, whether directly or indirectly , encourage artists to persevere in this rape and pillage of other artists original ideas.

If a subject matter sells well , the painting pays for it's place on the wall and to hell with the fact that it is blatantly evident somebody else's style has been copied.

Some years ago, as an emerging artist, I was approached by an art dealer , who enquired as to my ability to copy or paint similar pieces to one of the then top selling artists. He was well aware of the demand for her work and aside from being able to acquire similar paintings at a reduced price from a relatively new artist , he knew that they were popular amongst the public and he would make quick money from the art.

Believe me , the offer was tempting considering the financial gain but prostitution has never been my ambition. I noticed however , that others are more accommodating to art pimps and the landscape paintings to which I refer have been reproduced by many more than just one artist.

Another very unfortunate trend is "fashionable art", where a painting is seldom representation of an artists own experience , but a rehash of something that sells well and has been found popular by the masses .

Lack of passion in this art is evident. Lack of inspiration , lack of imagination , lack of originality !

Endless renditions of naive little rural scenes, poplar trees and district six, not to mention , more recently the Nguni cow , surely must be enough to bore the crap out of anybody who is a regular visitor to art galleries ?