Kelly and I took a trip today to The Hispanic Society of America in NYC to view paintings by one of my favorite artists, Joaquin Sarolla (1863-1923). The paintings just returned from a three year stint in Spain. I have seen a few small works by the Spanish great at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but never of this size and breadth.
Sarolla was the best known Spanish painter of his era. It is easy to see why standing dwarfed beside his series, A View of Spain. Lots came to mind as I viewed these masterpieces. I believe the digital era has dramatically improved possibilities for picture-making. I wondered, however, if the computer is diminishing the language of painting.
I have fewer conversations with narrative artists about painting; the physicality of a brushstroke, the tactile quality of a painting's surface, incidentals native to oil painting, enigmatic qualities of painting that speak to artists on a deeper level.
The computer has increasingly become a valuable tool for my creative processes. I am a painter, in love with the romantic process of applying paint to surface, used art books splayed out around my easel, the smell of Belgian linen, the struggle to remove that one freakin bristle from a delicate part of my painting with a palette knife. I learned much today about painting from my friend, Joaquin Sarolla y Bastida...there is always room for inspired painting for this artist.
Wow, what a sense of scale with you and Kelly next to that masterpiece! Thanks for sharing!
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