Don't ask them to be groovy

This is the last part of a series of aquarellista-blog reactions on the article in the Sunday Times that said:

Although I mostly agree to what Waldemar states in the article, this groovy business just goes too far. First challenge of course -  "define groovy"...

Is groovy (in art) something that is reserved to insane artists, related with drama and passion and throwing paint (and other stuff) on the canvas? (or in our case paper) 

Is groovy conceptual, visionary, or original (as in 'new', never done before)

Because although all of the above can be done -and is actually done- in watercolours, all over the world, I must agree that aquarelle watercolours as a technique, in itself asks for another approach.

Joseph Zbukvic - Master Watercolourist from Zagreb

As Joseph Zbukvic says "You have to combine the skills of a surgeon, the clear thinking of an engineer and the emotion of a poet" (and I would add, the patience of a fisherman) to do good watercolours. And that description doesn't completely fit the crazy wild artist...

Pig by Carole Carter 2007

But - isn't Groovy the new 'HIP' ?!? Because I dare to argue that WE may just be the new hip!! Think technology, miniaturisation, thinking computers, nano, bio...

Shocking discovery by Chris Beck

Aquarelle watercolours are environmetally friendly, lightweight, refined, ultra detailed, easily miniatured and enlarged, there is fuzzy logic in it and chance - you can do it everywhere and the result is light & poetic, it is difficult to do, interesting and an acquired taste. 

It may not be for everybody yet - but I see a very groovy future for our medium!!

The Watercolour Exhibition in Tate III

As promised for some time now, I was going to write something in reaction to the article of Waldemar Januszczak in the Sunday Times, that criticises  the Watercolour exhibition in the The Tate Britain... If you click the scan you can read it for yourself:

THE article... illustration by William Turner

(a watercolour and not a pure aquarelle, look at the yellow...)

The article is a great read and has an introduction that shows Waldemar understands - he sais familiar things!

How about:

"[watercolours are] difficult to display - not only does exposure to sunlight begin to dim watercolours the moment they are out of the box, if you hang a row of them on a wall, they will usually fail to impose themselves on your imagination in a visceral way. There is something timid about he medium. Something sensitive, something inherentely unsuited to the bunga-bungaworld in which we find ourselves..."

and

"...this aspect of watercolour, its facility for miniaturisaton is a feature too..."

Yep, that's us, with the one-hair brush! Much more difficult for the users of the thicker media of course.

and about some 17th century beautifully precise flowers and animal watercolours he goes on:

"Technically, these are scientific illustrations with a scientific purpose in mind. What is being celebrated here is watercolours' excellent portability and descriptive usefulness. Un-technically, some instinctive associaton between watercolour and the yearning for paradise is also being sensed here. Innocence seems te be a watercolour quality too ..."

OK- so we established that he understands the medium- the point of his article is however, that watercolours aren't sexy, or "Groovy" and that the Tate has therefore put up work that can't be called watercolours:

"[the] organisers are so fearful of watercolour being seen as mumsy or old-ashioned they shovel in a host of contemporary practitioners who are undeserving of inclusion"

And that's a subject we'll discuss later, aquarellista Sandra Seymour-Dale is visiting the expo as we speak and we'll wait for her verdict (and I may go to London too, a bit later). The only thing I would like to argue, right now, for the record, is that serious and groovy watercolour artists do exist. They work in a serious and actual, nowadays style, abstract, surrealist, scientific, inspired by street art, etc. etc. They have something to tell and they do that with the poetic, fragile, transparent medium of aquarelle watercolours, in the tradition of Turner and Girtin and Cozens... In the coming time I'll show some watercolours that I think represent the 'groovy' that he refers to...

'Renew' a large size watercolour by Catherine Earle

Guan Weixing

I know, I know, I promised to write a reaction on the article by Waldemar Januszczak in the Sunday Times  that said that watercolours couldn't be groovy - and I will, but one way or another the words won't come... In the meantime I'd like to introduce this Chinese MASTER aquarellista: Guan Weixing

Guan Weixing

And especially recommend his portraits, because they are so unbelievably, breathtakingly  good...

Backlighting - Guan Weixing

He is that good since 1962, so there's definitely consistency there...

Widower - Guan Weixing

Weixing is regarded as one of the most authoritative and influential watercolourists. He has a blog but unfortunately that is in Chinese... I have placed a link to his website (in English) in the Aquarellista blog's link-list and I recommend you to go there -and enjoy big time!!