Does painting still have a future and relevance in the digital era? Painting is a mirror of the human soul and its manual creation a way to self-knowledge, driven by the will to form. In order to be able to give the right answers to the new challenges for the medial society, it is necessary to draw a balance of modern art and painting.
Two things will shape the 21st century: the image and the evolution of new modes of communication. It is imaginable that both terms become synonyms in their mutual penetration of the linguistic usage, as once the words ”image” and ”magic”. In order to be capable of handling the digital flood of pictures, it is essential to revisit the picture catalogue of mankind from its beginnings. The modern spirit with its belief in progress thought, this catalogue could be continued in a straight way, however, in the digital era the development of an evolutionary understanding of art is required. History of mankind will constantly evoke a déjà vu-feeling, the challenge for contemporary painting is to recognize the perpetual return of the same and to shape it in a modern way.
In the history of the Western world there were eras that opposed emotion to the emphasis on rationality and vice versa, alternating with the regularity of a natural naw. In this context the range of artistic forms of expression remained unchanged. The various genres of art evolved as equivalents to the functions of the human sensory organs. The most primary one is the picture as medium for the most imortant sensory organ, the eye. Evolution strongly suggests that each species that is capable of evolving intelligence and an artistic ability of expression would start with the picture.
Thomas Michel, The new Nomads, oil on canvas, 1994, 125×180 cm
The second most important genre in the hierarchy of vital senses is music as acoustic medium. The third genre of vital importance is dance, that evolved from movement. Picture, music and dance had a function of communication, that finally emerged into a ritual one. From the ritual, that established the hierarchy of a social group, evolved words and language. When terms became too complex to be shown as pictures, they were transformed into signs and script. These artistic abilities of expression lay the foundation of each civilization. The hierarchy of the distinctive genres and their specific weighting shaped the spirit of the Western world, as well as any other civilization. Similarly, the genres of the first European advanced civilization in ancient Greece early mirrored their physiological sensory functions: painting, sculpture, music, dance, theatre, literature, philosophy, architecture.
Later Christianity reshaped the civilization of the Western world and defined its appearance valid until today. Religion determines the psychological relation of a civilization to the picture, in history there are two opposed bipolar religious models, rejecting the picture for fear of abuse of power such as Islam, and using it intentionally such as Christianity. In a civilization that rejects the picture for religious reasons, literature and poetry will take over the function of the picture. In this case the message is transferred to the recipient verbally, while the risk of the picture being abused as idol is eliminated. Picture friendly civilizations use various kinds of support material to transmit their messages. The support material represents the medium and is subject to hictorical and technological changes: the rock in the cave, the wall of the cathedral, the wooden panel, the woven canvas, the projected cinematic light beam, the display, all is painting in the broadest sense. Independent from its technological level each medium can be traced back to its original function, which is to deliver picture information for the eye.
The Modernist disintegration of genres could not harm the relevance of painting.
The Modernist artists sought to break up the fixed hierarchy of artistic genres established in the course of centuries. The concept of genre as such was abolished, while the pluralism of styles was established. The separation of genres was sought to be overcome by focussing on the line of their borders. The intended permeability of genre borders also resulted in a political momentum built by the enlightened society. After the Second World War fine arts proved to be the most profitable genre under the influence of the growing art market. Therefore it wasn’t a big surprise, that fine arts appropriated the entire hierarchy, claiming to extend the genre borders. The dadaistic trick of transforming an object into a piece of art by the act of declaration enabled fine arts to gain unlimited control over the characteristics of other genres. Sculpture, literature, theatre and music were absorbed under the spell of an extended art term.
As a consequence a number of hybrid genres emerged, that had in common to permeate each other through open genre borders, with the artist becoming a master of ceremonies by ritualizing the opening of the border. Art genres with the most different characteristics were reduced to the same statement: eveything is art. Inconsistent with the grass-roots democratic claim of the extended art term, now the work of art was even more strongly connected to the personality of its creator, who fetishized it by the ritual. The work of art derived its content less and less from inner needs, but served to ensure the value of the artist. Since the end of the Modernist era the computer gives us a medium at hand for the first time, that works as information carrier for all genres, but it is a fallacy to believe that with this tool the borders of ancient genres could be overcome. The restricting factor is man himself, who still has the same sensory organs in the digital era as in ancient times, unless he hasn’t ruined them in the 20th century.
Art and religion have always been closely connected, with art serving for religious functions for a long time, until it could emancipate itself after secularization. Painting experienced its peak of independence in the idyllic world of Impressionism. Marcel Duchamp finally resigned from painting and disrupted the peaceful coexistence of art and religion by turning the wheel upside down and declaring the bycicle wheel to be a piece of art. Ever since that moment art and religion were closely connected again, however in a reversed context, as now the artist himself acted as founder of a religion. With the introduction of the extended art term every human was declared to be an artist, but correctly speaking the saying would mean: every human is an artist, but only few are prophets.
Thomas Michel, Land of Two Rivers, oil on canvas, 1993, 145×180 cm
Painting finds its direct way into the subconscious.
In the 21st century culture is degenerated to a mere product on global markets, art criticism doesn’t exist anymore, and to distinguish good from bad painting is hardly possible today. Art is what is rated to be commercial by the art market. Although painting was said to be dead several times, its attractiveness is continuing, especially because its two-dimensionality is the easist way of handling for centuries. Painting casts a spell on the viewer, if the picture points beyond its pure workmanship, the very manner how paint was applied to the support, how the painter has left his physical marks. In this case the area of the image harbors a secret, a mystery of its history. A texture, paint, glaze that are just there and live a life of their own, independent from their creator, arise from the same metaphysical dimensions as the very first pictures of mankind, that were still under the spell of magic.
This feeling, however, will be evoked only, if the signal finds its direct way into the subconscious of the viewer, without detour over rationality. Within the classical ancient genres this works besides music only in painting, all other genres are perceived on a cognitive intellectual level of perception. The messages they convey need to be processed rationally at first and be translated into simpler images to reach the focus of consciousness on a lower level of perception, that can be targeted by painting and music directly.
Collage is an indicator for the state of current world affairs.
One of the greatest achievements of the Modernist era is the technique of collage. In a collage fragments of different realities, alien to each other, are brought together on the same level, keeping their fragmentary character. The different elements are treated equally ranking, which requires a levelled surface or a comprehensive frame. Collage emerged from Dadaism, the destructiveness of which blew art into debris, in order to leave them as a reminder of a questionable world order, that is turned back into primary chaos.
It was not until literature and painting of Surrealism made an attempt to create a new world on the debris of Dadaism. The motivation of Surrealism was definitely of a constructive nature, as in the surrealistic collage the fragments of reality don’t remain isolated, but complement each other in a mutual dialogue to a new higher level of reality, where the total sum is higher than the sum of its components. Destruction and construction are just as logical subsequent phenomenons in evolution as the art historical emergence of Surrealism from Dadaism. The alternating emergence of destructive and constructive phases runs through the entire Modernist era, with the collage being a reliable indicator for the phase of current world affairs.
The loss of a synaesthetic perception resulted in a pluralism of styles.
In the course of the disintegration of cross-genre and holistic aesthetics, as it had been the case in the era of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, the Modernist spirit established a pluralism of styles independent from each other. Three big collective movements, the goals and contents of whose reached beyond the correspondent art historical terms, form a triangle of conflicting fields, that forced the Modernist artist to define his point of view: the holistic aesthetics were disintegrated into expressionist, constructivist and surrealist views of the world. Each of these world views had their own targets that were opposed to the ones of the others.
Expressionism overemphesizes the gesture and the subjective, remaining largely non-committal with regard to content and opposing to formal restrictions. Several movements have applied these principles: expressionist groups as the Brücke, the Blauer Reiter and the Fauves, in the post-war-modernist era Informal Art and Abstract Expressionism, finally the Neue Wilde in the eighties.
Thomas Michel, Explosion in a Landscape, oil on canvas, 2004, 130×170 cm
In opposition to this stands Constructivism, that emphasizes rationality and calculation. It rejects personal handwriting and psychological contents. Picasso’s transition from his holistic symbolist pink period to Cubism is an exemplary illustration of the disintegration of the Modernist spirit into the three different world views. Cubism was the first constructivist movement, the pictures created together by Picasso and Braque at the beginning are freed from any personal handwriting to such an extent, that their author can hardly be identified, the subjects are inspired by simple everyday objects. Futurism and Russian Suprematism pursued the approach of Cubism, in the Netherlands the De Stjil movement and in Germany the Bauhaus were founded. In the post-war-modernist era also Concept Art and Minimal Art applied the principles of the constructivist world view. Even Pop Art can be counted as constructivist approach, as it denies personal handwriting and psychological content as well.
The third big world view of modern art is represented by Surrealism. Surrealism overemphesizes psychological content, being opposed to formal restrictions and remaining largely subjective and non-committal. The Surrealist movement strictly disapproved of calculation and rationality, pursuing incompatible goals with Constructivism. In the post-war-modernist era this was continued by the Fluxus movement and Neodadaism, emerging from it. As Paris in ancient times the Modernist artist stood in front of the three Graces and had to choose one of them, in order to define his position in the art market.
Painting between the poles of this life and the hereafter.
Although the disintegration of genres in the art of the 20th century advanced more and more, painting continued to be of great attraction. The two-dimensional picture represents a window you can look through to the outside or to the inside. For the viewer the decisive criterion is, if the picture presents itself as part of this life or the hereafter. However, not the picture itself, but its correlation with the surrounding space invites the viewer to look to the outside or to the inside, redefining his own psyche by reflecting upon the picture. The most original kind of picture frame was the archaic ritual, which elevated the content beyond everyday life by means of a performance. Later the place of worship emerges from the ritual, the centre of which is the spell or magic circle. The magic circle focuses the spiritual power of the participants upon the fetish, with a line drawn discerning between inside and outside. The further development of the magic circle emerges into the altar, framing the fetish on a stage. Therefore the Byzantine picture frame doesn’t serve for decorative purposes only, but has a metaphysical meaning. The spiritual power of the archaic magic circle is replaced by physically stored energy, represented by the investment in workmanship, the frame is artfully ornamented with a high amount of time and effort. In the transition phase to the Gothic period the picture respectively the idol is removed from the altar and treated as a portable icon. The frame itself takes over the function of the altar now, which is illustrated by elaborate and precious gilding.
In the period of secularization the picture emancipates itself from the client and leaves the worship space. For the first time ever it has to stand its ground against profane surroundings, filled with objects that don’t correlate with each other and create chaos within its metaphysical interference pattern. In order to minimize the chaos, a replacement for the worship space is created, that restores the privacy sphere of the work of art: already during the Renaissance this is accomplished by the Palazzo with its architecture and interior restoring the correlations between the different objects. In the 19th century the picture is presented within the private framing of the salon, which is transformed into a public one later, with the museum turning out to be the presentation place of art. At the same time the dwindling sacred relevance of the work of art is compensated by its material revaluation, which results in the emergence of the art trade. In the period of industrialization the picture contents appear more and more profane, until Impressionism cancels the distinction between cult object and everyday object completely.
The White Cube is the Byzantine worship space of Modern history.
Duchamp’s invention of the ready-made reverses this process for the first time. A simple everyday object like a bicycle wheel is fetishized by putting it inside the magic circle, outside of the magic circle it just remains the wheel of a bicycle. Through this act of will the work of art returns to its roots, demonstrating at the same time, that is cannot exist without the framing spell of the magic circle. To maintain the mystic aura of the object being transfigured into a piece of art, the magic circle needs to be protected in the public. Therefore the institutionalization of the museum becomes essential to frame the fetishized piece of art, as the latter one didn’t have to carry content anymore and would have remained invisible. Soon the framing function of the museum itself becomes the content of the presented works of art, from this point of view, in the 21st century the White Cube represents the Byzantine worship space of Modern history.
Thomas Michel, Writing girl in Purple, oil on canvas, 2014, 120×120 cm, positive-negative-inversion
The declared goal of the avant-garde artists was to reconcile art and life, but if they had succeeded, art could be implemented easily into everyday life without the glamorous framework of the art market. If the framework is removed, the work is thrown back on itself and has to stand the competition of everyday objects. In this case, a towel at the wall isn’t a magic object anymore, but a towel at the wall, that is absorbed by its environment. It is the personal freedom of the viewer to see something philosophical or metaphysical in it, however, it isn’t a work of art of universal importance then, but just a simple individual fetish, that is transfigured by the magic nail in the gallery. In this case the work of art obtains its relevance not from itself, but serves as void projection screen of the market, which is projecting its speculative expectations onto it.
If the meaningfulness of a piece of art collapses, when another object enters its environment, it is quickly unmasked as calculated construct. The work of art, however, that has the power to find its way into the collective consciousness, stands absolutely for itself and outshines everything else, no matter how strong the interference in the environment may be. In this case it doesn’t require an outer frame, its meaningfulness is so profound, that the strong sender recipient relationship will remain unchanged, independent from the surroundings, which emerge by physical compulsions only.
Beauty represents the average value on a scale between two potential poles.
The avant-garde artists of the Modernist era started to question outer beauty as a matter of principle, removing its transfer pictures from the surface in order to uncover the aesthetic core of things, the inner beauty. As a result, the fallacy arose, that inner and outer beauty exclude each other, ignoring art historical achievements of the Renaissance. Beauty is the average value on a scale between two potential poles. The farther the actual value deviates from the average value, the less of a majority of viewers will find it beautiful. A virtual face, that is blended by a multitude of real faces, will set the benchmark for beauty for the great majority of recipients, ugly is according to this, what will deviate most from the average value. Against this background, the aesthetic achievement of the artist isn’t to hit the average value and the taste of the majority, but to filter out exactly the value, that characterizes the period in the most typical way from a myriad of options on an open scale. The artist needs a highly sophisticated intuitive computational competence to hold a mirror up to society.
The declared goal of Modernism was to destroy the firmly established aesthetic consensus in favour of changed points of view, that accepted also the value deviant from the average value as an aesthetic option. While society has adopted this message in the meantime, art has drifted to the outer fringe of the open scale more and more, mainly due to the fierce competition on the art market. The more art deviated from the common standards, the more subjective, non-committal, fragmentary and irrelevant it became to society, as the ideal of beauty from ancient times continues to shine in the limelight of media in a never seen splendor.
Painting as shelter against the flood of pictures.
Every day the human being is harassed by thousands of incoherent and banal pictures, that come unfiltered. Within one century the number of pictures, the human eye has to process, has increased a thousand fold. To cope with this flood of pictures, the viewer needs a filter, that enables him to filter out relevant pictures. To become relevant for society again, art has to take over the function to visualize examples of pictures with highly condensed content. Continously the Modernist artists preached the mantra, that points of view needed to be changed, in the 21st century, however, the challenge for artists is to teach man to see again by using painting to visualize archetypical picture contents. The focus on the two-dimensional area is still up-to-date, canvas and screen permeate each other, as medium of the still and the moving picture. But in contrast to the screen painting always has created a multidimensional space, and represents the spirit that creates itself from nothingness.
Thomas Michel, 1995/2015