This month’s write-up will be brief as I find it is more challenging to write when the world is filled with chaos. However, simultaneously, I often (always) turn to artworks to help process and inspire. This thought process coincides with an exercise I led earlier this month with my colleagues at Peggy, where we investigated the evolution of perspective.
Perspective becomes even more poignant with distressing events, and one cannot help but envision the world from the perspective of those in Ukraine right now. May we can try to channel this perspective in order to all send hope and strength in the best ways we all know how.
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🌊 Deep Dive: Perspective, Not Just a Technical Term
In the most fundamental sense, perspective is defined as follows:
per·spec·tive /pərˈspektiv/
noun
the art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point.
a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.
However, both definitions apply when it comes to art, in terms of mechanical making as well as the more intangible understanding.
In art history classes, I vividly remember the lessons that cumulated in the definitive invention of perspective in art. Perspective was “invented” in the Renaissance period when artists became interested in combing skills in art with scientific findings. As a result of this, the world was, for the “first time,” finally able to use visual tools to depict space. This I believed to be the truth, consciously and subconsciously for quite a while. Not to mention the fact that the narrative of innovation fits perfectly into the Western Art Historical cannon — first come innovations of the Renaissance then comes explorations of the Baroque, a break with tradition for Realism, the shock of the Impressionism, to Surrealism, to Abstract Expressionism, to Pop Art, to today’s contemporary art.
I recently read Jerry Saltz's “How to Be an Artist” and had an ah-ha moment in one of the chapters. Not only did a form of perspective exist before the linear chronology that dates its origins to the 1400s (cave paintings consider perspective, making some animals smaller than others as do Byzantine artists — despite the babies looking like mini-adults) but it is also ever-present today, even if expressed employing the absence of space altogether (take Ellsworth Kelly’s shaped canvases that say goodbye to the invention of perspective all together).
In reality, there is no such thing as a straight line from point a to point b as traditional art history leads you to believe. And though I used to find comfort in the careful progression laid out in Western museums — from Impressionists shocking audiences with depictions of light instead of reality, to cubists then attempting to capture multiple angles of the same object at once, to the Abstract Expressionists kicking off a break with representation altogether — I can now take comfort in incorporating other narratives and unlearning the neat and tidy.
When looking beyond a perscribed progression there are so many exciting things to be discovered, all of which can only happen with a fresh perspective.
🔥 Trending
Some articles and art-world news items that have caught my attention this month;
NFTs in support of Ukraine. In addition to sending cryptocurrency to support the Ukrainian government, there are a number of NFT projects are donating proceeds to human rights.
Three major Banksy works from Robbie Williams’ collection are slotted for sale at Sotheby’s in London.
💸 Advisory Picks
What I’ll be watching this month;
Really looking forward to the Modern & Contemporary auctions taking place in London this week. Particularly excited about the Day Sales (Christie’s, Sotheby’s) — there are always some unexpected gems!
Flora Yukhnovich, the young British painter, is hard to miss right now, with numerous works headlining upcoming auction sales to a new show at Victoria Miro. Her paintings present a masterful contemporary take on Rococo tradition, so it is no surprise that she is gaining serious attention.
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👋 Parting Words…
I am off to London this week for a special project and I am looking forward to some long over-due gallery and auction house visits. Stay tuned for some new discoveries and favorite works as well as more market coverage soon.
Until next time…
XX, B