01-22-2005, 12:50 AM
Good to read your thoughts on this Paul and congrats on the conversation with Meisel - no higher praise needed! I would be very interested if he considered some of the work coming from Japan in the last twenty years or so, some of it is certainly the equal of Bernardi's work technically. As illustrations it's a shame but I suspect that they are largely overlooked or dismissed in fine-art circles.
I think you're completely right about the reaction to Photorealism - some people get it, some don't - I just wish people wouldn't knock it as lifeless, sterile, pointless etc. when they have never actually seen a Photorealist painting in the flesh and felt the visceral reaction. Many are far from the completely flat, photographic-print-like pieces they appear to be in reproductions as I'm sure you know, virtuoso brushwork isn't uncommon and I think it's only in the flesh that they can be appreciated properly.
I am very interested in what you said about Meisel's comment on painting over an image printed onto canvas, he didn't by any chance mention Gottfried Helnwein did he? I was lucky to see a number of his vast Irish landscapes recently and their appearance in the flesh was intriguing to say the least.