Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
A time A place .
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Showing page 2 of 2
- 1
- 2
Message
Posted
I've found the painting now - Sylvia will have other things on her mind just now, but I think this opens up a question about what our art is for, and in a way it refers back to a previous discussion about whether painting is 'fun' or not; well, yes it is, for many of us, and there are times when it's more fun than others. But it's also about more visceral things, things that we can't put into words - and that's how this painting struck me. I don't think there's a right or wrong time - you paint the emotion as you feel it; you can recall it later in relative tranquility, but it'll be unlikely to have the immediacy: and that will vary for all of us anyway. Some need time to resolve emotions and align them with their vision, others are able to respond there and then. I don't think I'd be able to do the latter, in this case; but it's no criticism of Jackie (the artist) that her response was immediate, or that she posted it now; not from my point of view at least.
As to whether she was 'cross', as Sylvia said: well - I don't think she was pleased; but I thought her reply was reasoned, and it made sense to me. In the circumstances, I'll leave the comment here: we are all different in our reactions to these things and I understand Sylvia's point, but don't agree with it.
Posted
Dear fellow artists,
Firstly I would like to wish the best for Sylvia and sincerely hope that her husband recovers soon.
I am of course not 'cross' about Sylvia's comments. She wrote what she believes and has the right to do that. I am very sorry if my painting upset people.
I do find it hard to understand how artists can be upset by a painting but watch the horror live on television and not be offended. We gaze without comment at contemporary photographs and videos of disasters taken at the scene and published daily. Why has posting my feelings about the tragedy caused such upset? As artists we are affected by our surroundings and the events and many follow the urge to express this in painting. Is the Gallery a place of retreat from the 'real' world or somewhere to depict it? I don't know the answer to that.
Sylvia said she would 'swing' if someone painted a picture about her husband's accident so soon after the event. If a photo -reporter took a photo and published it to inform people of the accident would it be the same?worse?better? But IF an artist painted an instant picture of the event what would be his intention? To insult Sylvia and her husband? To belittle the trauma of the accident? To cause upset? I don't think so. He or she might be trying to convey the shock and distress. My only intention in creating and posting my painting was to share my feelings of distress and anger with other artists - with paint as my medium rather than photography or literature.
Once again, I do apologise if some viewers were upset, but I don't think my painting is to blame for that. I am still upset by the tragedy, I will always be upset by it. Postponing my posting a few days or weeks surely would and should make no difference.
Posted
I have no strong opinions in either direction about the painting itself, but the conversation intrigues me. A personal response in the form of a painting is discussed in terms of it being "too soon", whilst on 9/11 and during the TV coverage of the Grenfell Tower fire we ghoulishly stayed glued to our screens and watched people die on live TV and that seems to be ok.
Chin up, Sylvia; the medical profession can do some pretty amazing things these days.
Posted
Gosh, Silvia, that is terrible. I hope your husband makes a full recovery. ((((Sylvia and Husband))))
Hi jackiep8
Art certainly is a place of retreat, and also a way to depict the real world. We only have to look at the paintings and sketches of war artists on the front line, can't get any more horrific than that.
Our country has had a few devastating events over the past few months, and maybe some of us feel a little raw. Only today I saw a picture inside one of the flats of the tower block, to me that is a step too far, at the moment - it was there on my news home page, maybe that is how, Sylvia felt in that moment in time viewing your work, 'a step too far'
There was a painting a few years ago, in the gallery, of a subject in a torture position, sitting on a chair, that too came into the firing range of some of us artists who regularly use the Gallery, there were still tensions in Iraq, so you're no the first, and I doubt you will be the last.
Hope you will continue to post, here, in the forum and in the gallery.
Edited
by carol
Posted
Hello Jackie - I was one of the artists who agreed with Sylvia on the timing of your piece of art. Someone has suggested that we all sit glued to our televisions when there is a tragedy - NOT SO! I can't bear to watch all this obsession with horror. Now of course it is news and should be shown as it happens, but there seems to be a "ghoulish delight" by a lot of people nowadays in videoing these horrors so they can be shown again and again. Only recently there were reports from America of a man videoing a woman falling to her death from a window outside his office - what kind of person does that?
I was fortunate in not having a television when the Twin Towers in New York got hit and so was spared watching people plummet to their deaths. Years later however, a kind "friend" sent me a video via the internet which was making the rounds as a kind of pen letter. On opening it, I was horrified to see the recorded tragedy unfolding before my eyes.
I fully understand your wanting to depict this tragedy in your own way and I understand that you had no interior motive other than to show your horror at the event, but it would have been better a little later. Would it have made any difference to the outcome? Of course not, but sometimes it is just the feeling of what is right and decent.
Showing page 2 of 2
- 1
- 2