True Painter of the Modern Age

This book contains art by Rackstraw Downes which is more likely to be taken for photographs than the paintings that they are. Now, these are not still life or portraits of people but very common urban landscapes and waste lands. The book also has a section by the painter himself on some of the difficulties faced by artists when the vertical angle seems to change over a wider or deeper view.

Is Modern art representative of our age? What tools of our age can be used to truly stand for its time? Jackson Pollock,master of 'drip' technique feels,"The modern painter cannot express this age, the airplane, the atom bomb, the radio, in the old forms of the Renaissance or of any past culture". Downes with his technique of painting what he sees, has expressed modern age with the tall buildings,metal bridges,expressways and cars in a very realistic way like a camera would.It would be unfair to compare a painter with a camera.The book has well organized material on the differences in art by a realist and what a photo can hold.

The book also has references to the work of many other artists like Jonathan Borofsky(Molecule Man), Eva Hesse, Brice Marden and so on.

Sep 4, 2006