Profiles of Contemporary Art and - ARTisSpectrum

white surface board facing the class, naming all the muscles as he went along. His lecture series covered the entire body, light
and shade as well as perspective. Two complete series would be given each September through May regular session. It was the
realization of how much information I had to absorb, process and put into practice which made me stay in that class for 3 years,
rarely missing a day, before I took a painting class.
Drawing is key to the development of the artist. Drawing is design. Drawing is not rendering. It is the placement of the figure(s) or
shape(s) in the space of a two dimensional picture plane. What is learned in drawing will inform the artist utilizing any medium.
The syntax of visual language is first understood learning to draw. One begins to understand the relationship between form and
space and how the eye is engaged. Look at any drawing by J.A.M. Ingres (1780-1867). While he drew the figure with remarkable
insight and sensitivity, the placement of the figure on the page is what gives the drawing magisterial presence. The space
around the figure is as palpable as the subject itself. At the outset of art education, drawing must be learned by constant doing,
observing and seeing under the guidance of a master. In order to think like an artist, one must engage in the act of making art
with a rigor that breaks through the preconceptions we invariably bring when we first set out to do so.
The problem most people have with studio art education is that it’s difficult if not impossible to determine the time it takes to get
to a level of proficiency. While most accredited and diploma programs have prescribed courses of study that expect competence
to be arrived at within a specific period of time, in reality, as part of the learning process in art is unlearning preconceptions (the
notion of drawing, painting or modeling what you “see,” for example is not what you think it is when beginning), that process is
determined by the individual. We unlearn at different rates of time. Learning art is an act of discovery. It’s as if we are lifting one
by one the many veils that lie before our eyes to arrive at what is there to be seen. This process cannot be measured, neither in
time or the trajectory of one’s progress. It requires dedication.
With technology having become integral to our culture and our psychology, traditional means of creating art seem, according to
most post-modern philosophy, to be outdated to the point of being irrelevant and ineffective in expressing the human condition in
the contemporary world. I would pose an alternative interpretation. The compulsion to pick up a brush, a pencil, a hammer and
chisel, an etching needle still drives artists and those studying art at places like the Art Students League, Pennsylvania Academy,
Studio School, New York Academy and many other institutions devoted to teaching art and studio practice. Perception is
expressed by any means one feels connected with. Awareness of the power and nature of art is accumulated over time. It puts
one in a state of constant discovery. It connects us with the core of our humanness and with our capacity to express ourselves.
But as with learning to master any endeavor, we cannot express ourselves intelligently or reach any level of proficiency without
an education. Besides studio skills, art history is critical, as is the understanding of the physiological psychology of color, composition,
materials, etc. The better educated we are, the better skilled we are, the better we can see. From the position of the
educated, perception can be channeled through any means at our disposal, the depth of which is fathomless.
Ira Goldberg, Executive Director, Art Students League of New York
Mr. Goldberg has been affiliated with the League since 1979 and became the Executive Director in 2001. He was the recipient
of the Carlssen Award at the 121st National Academy Exhibition and is listed in Who’s Who in American Art. The
Art Students League: Many famous artists who have shaped the vocabulary of art worldwide have been instructors,
lecturers and students at the League. They include, among others, George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Alexander
Calder, Helen Frankenthaler, Georgia O’Keeffe, Barnett Newman, Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer, Man Ray, Jackson
Pollock, Lee Krasner, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Louise Nevelson, Reginald Marsh, Romare Bearden,
Red Grooms, Donald Judd, Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko, Ben Shahn and Cy Twombly.
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