Quiet revolutions are ones that always seem to take hold and are stronger in the long run because they spend a lot of time building roots. So it seems for “A Resurgence of Art” an article published by the Epoch Times which describes the pendulum swinging back towards more traditional forms of art.  

The Article states:
“This resurgence is happening now after more than one hundred years of deskilling that led to the deterioration of visual art standards, which started when all of the “-isms” arose, such as modernism, postmodernism, and so forth.”

I was so happy to read this article.
I’ve been reading Camille Paglia’s Book “Glittering Images” where her introduction of the book talks about the downward spiral of art in the last 50 years; and it’s been simply awful.

We moved from artists being a skilled group of people who are seeking to display beauty along with practice and skill to whatever piece of garbage you can set up in the middle of the museum and convince people that it has substance and importance. So say the self-important proveyers of such “modernism.”
But as I read the article, I realized that I could not place myself into the category that these new, quietly working artists are in; I am an abstract impressionist.

Yes, it has me a bit concerned. I don’t think the abstract and impressionist movements were a complete waste of time - it would be like saying that symphonies have less value than a choral passion and that would be a tragedy in and of itself, down grading such things as Tchaikovsky’s Fifth because it didn’t use a libretto.

I too like to see real skill in abstract art; a dedication to quality work, subject and composition within the piece and a desire to pull out the emotions of the viewer by the use of color and texture. I certainly hope there is room in this new movement for those who actually take time to think about and compose their abstract works and not to lump them in with the “pseudo-philosophers” who took five minutes to think up some gimmickry and then spent hours trying to explain why it should be considered artistic and significant. (NOTICE: You spent far more time in your explanation than you did in your “craft.” You are hereby looked upon with great suspicion.)
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In the end, this is a wonderful and hopeful turn of events - it will catch fire and the tide will turn back to tradition and quality. I welcome it.
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-©2017 Laura Swink