Brian Neher studio week

Filed in News on August 18, 2010



I am in the studio this week working on a instructional DVD project with portrait painter Brian Neher.  I have written before about his work here.

As I may have mentioned before, I find much in common philosophically with Brian regarding art/music.  It is very interesting how music and visual arts have developed in similar ways over the past few centuries.  I have often thought it would be fun to compare paintings with music through the various periods.  It is easy to see similarities between painting and music in each period.  For example, compare impressionistic music to impressionistic paintings and note how both communicate in similar ways.

There have been many other similarities in the development of painting and music in Western culture.  For example, the church strongly controlled the development of painting until just a few centuries ago exactly as it controlled the development of music.  After the church lost control, development sped up dramatically. 

And just like music, it is easy to see how in general, painting is far more advanced than it used to be.  That is not to say that much modern art is not basically fraudulent or that painters today are as strong in every area as painters used to be in the past.  Brian especially says that the mechanical aspects of drawing are weaker today than they were during the days of the Renaissance.

But the strongest development has probably been in the use of color, and that development largely occurred during the Impressionistic Period.  It is highly ironic that that period was also when music composers began to really learn how to use color in chords (by adding extended tones such as 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths).  In many ways, the subtle use of color in paintings is very similar to how today's musicians use subtle color in chords. 

It is important to value the past and the great artists/composers of the past without lifting them and their work to an unrealistic level.  They contributed greatly to the arts but they do not represent any pinnacle in the arts.  Because of their contributions, today's musicians and artists can (and often do) produce superior work.

I will talk more about Brian and his project at a future time.  I have been learning a lot about painting this week.





Will you do me a personal favor?
If you use Facebook, please take a moment and comment on this post. I appreciate the feedback and doing this helps other people learn about my resources. Non-Facebook users can leave comments using the alternate form below.

Leave a Comment
All comments are reviewed for offensive content or spam. Your email is required but never used.

Name:
Website:
Email:
	Please email me follow up comments to this post.
Comment:	Note that HTML is not allowed, but your name will be linked to your site.
Verify Code: