The Death of Fine Art

Personal Expression Versus Classical Training and How Contemporary Art is Killing Every Other Form of Artistic Training and Practice

Introduction

This editorial has been in the back of my mind for quite a while. It began during several sessions whilst completing my Diploma of Visual Art and has been brewing as I have visited exhibitions, galleries and events during the past three to four years. The whole thing has come to a head as I have been attending interviews for university in the past several weeks.

For those that may not know about my art, I produce paintings and drawings that fall somewhere between Realist and Modern Impressionist genré. I have been called an observational drawer, as I am a believer in the more formal idea of arts training, in that we learn to observe and translate or transcribe via the medium of drawing. We learn to observe, then we learn to translate.

Many of the artists that I admire the most first had formal training in one form or another and gained skills in drawing, colour theory, composition, perspective, materials and practising as a professional artist. The tradition of apprentices training with a master artist, to gain all the skills and training to become masters themselves and in turn pass on their learning to the next generation was where we see the works of artists from history arise. There have also been very respected arts academies in the past where artists of the time taught and encouraged the next generation.