Opinion: A Return to the Origins of Art

The Virgin and Child with Saints Dominic and Aurea, Duccio di Buoninsegna, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

By AMANDA WALL January 19, 2024

In 2024, I exhibited with Alessandro Berni Gallery, at Clio in New York and Aqua Art Miami. Before the fairs, I had a solo exhibition with Azure Arts, in the Lower East Side. Exhibitions and networking opportunities are so exciting and rewarding! They keep you motivated and working hard towards your goals. I’ve also worked behind the scenes in the art world and that comes with a very different perspective. I’ve worked with other artists and writers and I think the art world sometimes undervalues our knowledge and ability to articulate, until they witness our real talents. They are aware that we need those bread and butter jobs. The frustration for creative people always lies in burnout, because there is the job that pays the rent and your art or writing practice. You have to sacrifice sleep and a personal life on the weekends. That said, I still want to be immersed in the art world daily. 

Sufficient discourse about what is missing in contemporary art, saturating the art market, has been buzzing among art professionals and artists. If you’ve ever experienced Art Basel Miami, you might relate to feeling both intoxicated and overwhelmed. At Untitled 2024, I felt the need to focus on and spend time with handmade fiber art and crafted works that were inviting me to take a closer look, while surprisingly, painting was not. I was just a girl, lost in an ocean of jarring, brightly lit, fluorescent colors and status art. I craved the opportunity to reflect on artists working with materials from the earth and traditional art making practices passed down through generations.

Observing contemporary painting booth after booth, is reminiscent of mall culture in suburban America. There are too many similarities, too many strategically defined categories about identity artists are forced into. The existence of mass produced art is still present, lingering from the mega artists, like Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. In order for the art market to keep up with demand, quantity over quality has become passively accepted. A factory produced work of art can be perceived as beautiful, alluring and without a doubt, certain collectors are attracted to chrome-like shine. What is missing is the soul and hand of the artist. Logically, the time it takes to create and contemplate a great work of art contributes to quality. Between 1503 and his death in 1519, Da Vinci painted and added thin layers of oil glaze to the Mona Lisa. Capitalism and the advancement of technology has bred fast food, fast fashion, fast relationships and fast art.

Temptation of Christ, Duccio di Buoninsegna, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300-1350 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and What It Becomes at the Whitney Museum, speak to a recent fascination with the origins of medium, materiality and creativity. The Whitney’s modest exhibition is a whisper in the ear, drawing on the origin of artistic ideas. Contemporary artists producing sophisticated drawings are celebrated as relevant, and yet, not included enough in the art market.

Siena: The Rise of Painting at the Met was crowded and folks were actually taking the time to look. The initial glance transports us to a time before canvas, oil paint and stylistic diversity. Devotional polyptychs were portals, an invitation to redemption and salvation. Honest depictions of a graphically bloody Jesus, the devil as a haunting human/demon hybrid, and angels at war with demons were shockingly uncensored by the Church of the late medieval period. The limited tempera color palette made of natural pigments, antique wood surface, ivory carvings, and lack of religious censorship have become foreign to us and therefore the exhibition felt fresh and quirky.

Artists like Anne Samat from Malaysia are tapping into the balance between the origins of art and a contemporary twist. Represented by Marc Strauss, I was captivated by her work at Untitled. Samat contrasts Pua Kumba traditional weaving and maternal family mythology with found objects from a 99 cent store. Material from the earth and natural fibers collide with synthetic objects that communicate equal opportunity consumerism. This work is unconsciously irreverent because it contradicts Murakami on a Louis Vuitton bag. Not to imply Samat is being intentionally critical, her authenticity of expression and family connection reads as very sincere. Being your most stripped down, creative and authentic self can be an act of revolution. Warhol was seen as obnoxious for being sarcastic and vague, but the act was just Postmodern.

A younger generation is taking breaks from social media, reading books on the subway again, detoxing from binge watching and moving to other countries to be digital nomads. These risk takers are not interested in being corporate workers. Hopefully, little acts of rebellion will surely influence contemporary art. International and indigenous art at the Venice Biennale 2024: Foreigners Everywhere was a wake up call. The call sounds like; back to nature, the drawing board, and the wisdom of the ancestors. The most important takeaway is a return to listening to your own inner voice. For example, Jeffrey Gibson not only represented America but his own tribes with a vibrant rainbow installation of color, and a powerful message of Native American and LGBTQIA+ pride. 

Safe to assess, currently contemporary art, has its diamonds and its fakes. Hope is in the pendulum swinging to the origins of art to find the balance. Substance was lost, even though many artists are creating works that are alive and meaningful. Tragically, their work is neither seen or heard. We could be in a transition period much like the artists of Siena, Italy just before the Renaissance, most of whom died of the plague. Maybe there is no evolution without suffering. 

Ultimately..

Beauty is the essence of a work of art. The essence comes from the originality of the creator. WM