When Tradition Overwhelms: Exploring The Fight for Relevance in Contemporary Realism
Walking into the Guild of Boston Artists is like getting a glimpse into the year 1724. Blurring the line between past and present, gold-leafed frames encase traditional depictions of landscapes, still lives, and portraits. In an art world that continually evolves, pushing boundaries and embracing new forms of expression, these works raise an important question: why do some gallerists still present outdated art?
The gold frames, once symbols of grandeur and status, are now out of step with the experimental approaches favored in modern and contemporary art. But it’s not just the frames that are stuck in time. The artworks, though technically masterful, evoke the antique styles of Neoclassicism and Impressionism through their representational depictions of life.
The oil paintings by Todd M. Casey, Frank Strazzulla Jr., and Daniel Whiteknact uphold the once prestigious standards of past centuries, when collectors and critics favored traditional subjects like landscapes, portraits, and still lifes for their technical skill and realism. However, visual imagery is no longer the rarity it once was, even as it plays a more central role in our daily lives. In today’s digital age, their impact feels diminished — overshadowed by the constant flood of images on social media and other platforms. While these artists’ works still hold value, what contemporary relevance do they have today?
In today’s art market, a balance between tradition and modernity is particularly important. While there is still a dedicated batch of collectors who value traditional realism, much of the contemporary art world leans toward concept-driven or multimedia works that challenge viewers intellectually and emotionally. Art fairs and galleries are increasingly filled with immersive installations, digital art, and socially conscious pieces that reflect the complexities of today’s globalized society. For example, Unsupervised an exhibition by artist Refik Anadol at the Museum of Modern Art in New York was an immersive digital installation that uses machine learning to transform over 200 years of MoMA's collection data into constantly evolving visual work. By using AI and data from MoMA’s collection, Anadol reflects on how technology influences our perception of art and culture. This is what Casey, Strazzulla, and Whiteknact are up against. That is not to say the evolution of traditional painting doesn’t mean abandoning realism altogether; rather, it’s an opportunity to push the boundaries of what this genre can explore and fully realizing all the potential it possesses.
When realism carried profound meaning in art it was during a time when that was the only way of capturing and preserving the visual likeness of everyday experiences. Imagine a week devoid of images—no phones, computers, magazines, billboards, posters, or photographs. Picture a world where, to experience comparable visual stimulation, you would have to visit a museum or commission a portrait. A painting wasn’t just a decorative object; it was a rare and invaluable window into the world, a way to immortalize moments, faces, and landscapes that would otherwise fade from memory. But now, saturated with imagery at every turn, it’s impossible for these works to grip the viewer as strikingly as they once did.
The work on view by Casey are formulaic still life oil paintings with their ambiguous cloth covered tables, inky cloaked backdrops, and assortments of carefully disordered items. Casey is a refined painter who published numerous books on the art of still life painting. His 2023 piece titled Lemons in a Silver Bowl, presents an eye-level view of lemons placed in and around a silver bowl with a vibrant blue silk ribbon (ribbons being a motif seen throughout his work) elegantly arranged on the table enriching the composition. Yet, despite an appreciation for his technicality, the work lacks reflection of the modern world in which it was created, making it disconnected from any cultural relevance, except for maybe, the lemons.
In Brass Pot with Green and Violet Ribbon I, the ribbon is discreet, and the palette is muted. The white of the table forces the eye down to the lower fourth of the painting where nothing of note happens and the earthy brass pot is muddied with the dark green backdrop. Then, of course like all the other works in the gallery, it is encased in a gold and black frame further reinforcing its traditional roots. In the case of Summer Marshes by Strazzulla, the landscape invites close inspection as one of the smallest works in the exhibition, but the oversized gold frame overwhelms the delicate piece, and it becomes lost in its enclosure. Had it been displayed separately, away from the visual competition, the painting could have stood on its own free from the confines of a clichéd presentation.
Both Strazzulla and Whiteknact utilize the texture of the paint to convey detail. Whiteknact leaves parts of the canvas unfinished, as seen in Old Stagecoach Road, where he omits facial details, trusting viewers to fill in what’s unsaid. However, like many of his contemporaries, he faces challenges with emphasizing the contemporary in Contemporary Realism. Artists like Whiteknact and Strazzulla must explore ways to infuse their work with the kind of emotional complexity, social critique, or narrative of other contemporary work. Perhaps, a more minimalistic presentation or mixed-media approach could help traditional works like these stand out in a way that makes them feel fresher and more engaging.
At the Guild of Boston Artists, landscapes play an important role in their collection and the exhibition centered on Strazzulla’s Woodland Interior, continues that tradition. Yes, it is true that landscapes tap into a shared connection with nature, memory, and place but, after centuries of landscape painting, the subject has become one of the most overrepresented genres in art. From the pastoral scenes of the Renaissance to the dramatic vistas of the Romantic era and so on, landscapes have been explored exhaustively by countless artists. Rather, artists should challenge themselves to think outside of the conventional norms of portraying woodland interiors or bowls of fruit and embark on an artistic journey that captures a world reflective of our contemporary lives.
