My struggle and resolution with Realism

I've studied some art in my time but absolutely don't know it all. I definitely have things I like more than others but art is there to challenge and I'd like to think I'm open to finding out about new things in life and in art. To complete my Artist Badge, I thought I'd share some glimpses of my thinking around the art movement Realism. Just don't tell my art teacher - she'd be furious to read anything so shoddy.

Though I can appreciate the skill involved in classic art, I tend not to be so interested in the subject matter for art's sake, often finding my interest is more in the process and skill of the art and the recording of history. For many years, I had something of an aversion to Modern Realism, being of the opinion that we have photography now so why waste our artistic skills on recording things in a realistic way when we can use technology for that.

So, having given my ill-formed thoughts little more than fleeting thoughts, I have come back for another look at Modern Realism.

It never was a movement as such but refers to works made since the development of absract art and continuing to present things in a realistic style. It was modern because everyday life and objects representing the modern world were considered suitable subjects for art, as opposed to Classic Art. Quite often, there is an edginess to it, which I hadn't really appreciated and many artists moved from more abstract styles to a more realism-based art, eg Andre Deraine moving from fauvism to "traditionalisme". Artists across Europe and America used Social Realism to send messages to their audience about things such as injustice and inequality and I guess that's something I can get behind.

And so to Edward Hopper, an absolute favourite of mine, who used his own form of Realism to show everyday life and loneliness in America. It has me asking why I casually dismissed realism whilst loving this man's work. For me, his paintings are all about our place in the world, reflecting our thoughts and feelings in a way that can be uncomfortable at times because we have a sense of voyeurism, whilst giving us a fascinating back-catalogue into iconic views of American life.

On to a current artist working in a hyper-real way with his sculpture -Ron Mueck. I first saw a huge piece of his work in 2000 as part of the Millenium celebrations in London and more recently saw a really moving, much smaller piece.

Boy and Youth are both hyper-real sculptures but there is nothing ordinary about them because of their scale. Youth depicts a yound boy examining his stab wound, and the diminished size of this hyper-real sculpture is what brings emotion to the piece, showing the boy's vulnerability.

I shan't bore you further with my ramblings but I am pleased to have paused to look at art today and shall continue to look a bit more closely into a form of art that has definitely not been eclipsed by the camera.