Garth Herrick's Apotheoun is a Smithsonian Competition Semifinalist

Michele Rushworth · 03-06-2006, 04:21 PM

I must have missed your earlier post about him. (Hard to keep up with everything posted on SOG sometimes!)

It would be fascinating to hear his take on how everything unfolded at this competition, though I imagine he wouldn't tell any of the entrants about it.

John Reidy · 03-07-2006, 08:44 AM

Here is a web link to some of the artists and work for the exhibition.

http://www.portraitcompetition.si.ed...st/splash.html

It is interesting to see these pieces and I'm not surprised. What I see is that we are all serious artists, serious about our goals and sense of guidelines that we aspire to. Each of the featured pieces is art and I am moved by all of them, they just serve a different master than I, so to speak.

It is not up to me to judge if they are worthy of the exhibition because they are.

If I were the judge, the show would be different (but probably very boring).

Alexandra Tyng · 03-07-2006, 09:15 AM

Thanks for posting the link, John. It was interesting to see. There were some I could relate to, and some I couldn't. I guess it's different for everyone because art is so individual.

On a positive note, given the finalists, it is remarkable that realistic, representational work with more traditional elements made it into the semi-finals. Maybe some even made it to the finals. If they do this again in three years who knows how much will have changed in the art world!

Sharon Knettell · 03-07-2006, 09:44 AM

I thought it was very sad. I think we are conditioned today to thing that ugly and discordant work ( every piece on that site) is to be treasured because it is new. It could be dog****, but it is 'cutting edge' after all. We think of work of high aesthetics and craftsmanship as boring.

Representational artists all too often repeat themselves and go for the hackneyed and trite, which is why we are so often and justly ignored.

Alexandra Tyng · 03-07-2006, 10:45 AM

I definitely know what you mean, Sharon, though I guess I probably sound wishy-washy to you. Nothing on that sight really grabbed me, though I liked a couple of things. At the other extreme, I agree with you that

Representational artists all too often repeat themselves and go for the hackneyed and trite, which is why we are so often and justly ignored.

That is exactly why Blake Gopnick of the Washinton Post wrote his article trashing traditional portraiture. I am not saying I agree with everything he said and the specific things he said, but it is important to know and understand what modernists hate about traditional realism, and why.

It is equally important for modernists to know what traditional realists hate about modernism, and why.

That is exactly why I said somewhere above that the kind of work (this piece of Garth's for example) that bridges tradition and modernism, that uses tradition to say something new, is, I think, the most powerful direction in art.

Garth Herrick · 03-07-2006, 11:45 AM

John, and everyone,

As far as I know, the selected ten artists featured during the competition have nothing at all to do with the judging and selection for the exhibition. They are just ten interesting artists the staff elected to promote the competition last summer and help set the pace for the submissions.

How did they all fare in the competition? I don't know for sure, but it seems only Armando DeJesus Dominguez was fortunate enough to become a semifinalist. I wonder if he is a finalist also?

So I am not sure how this artist selection can reflect upon what the exhibition will be. I just wanted to clarify my understanding.

Garth

John Reidy · 03-07-2006, 12:05 PM

Thanks Garth

I wondered how the 10 could be promoted earlier than the final opening and this explains it.

To be open-minded about this I will wait to see what form the finalists take.

Jean Kelly · 03-07-2006, 04:22 PM

Congratulations are still in order here, your painting is amazing and to be one of the finalists is an honor. I visited the site, and am really curious now to see the winners. I couldn't possibly keep a journal going as I'm not a "word" person. Do you keep one Garth? I'd also be interested if others do this.

Jean

Steven Sweeney · 03-08-2006, 09:36 AM

Do you think there might be anything at all to a theory that some judges could be intimidated by a title (

Michele Rushworth · 03-08-2006, 10:50 AM

While this painting of Garth's would have received high accolades even if it was titled "A Kid Sunbathing," I often think there may be something behind the idea of intriguing titles.

Years ago I submitted a rather odd but mostly uninteresting landscape to a few shows and it was rejected every time. I had titled it something like, "California Sunset" or something similarly bland. Then my husband suggested the title "Left New York at 5:03". It was accepted into the next show I entered. Who knows!