ART-313: Realisms

REALISMS: Representational Strategies in Contemporary Painting The course will examine the historical trajectory of Realism in painting as a political form. Taking as its starting point Linda Nochlin's 1973 essay The Realist Criminal and Abstract Law, our research will follow the historically intellectualized and politicized opposition between Realism and Anti-realism. Through a selection of readings we will investigate a plurality of stylistic strategies (Realisms), from primitivism, surrealism, social realism, cubism, and hyper-realism, that align visually disparate languages of representation as discursive working models of opposition. The studio aspect will unfold through projects that will address the meta-tropes of Realist painting - Still-Life, Figure, and Landscape - through the lens of criticality. Students will be asked to make works that claim a point of view that aligns their personal artistic relationship with Realism and Representation within the parameters and goals of the above formats. Supplemental discussions and lectures on artists, techniques, and processes, will assist in contextualizing relevant contemporary practices that use historical genre, representation, and Realism to address relevant current topics, social issues, and identitie