Kitsch & Beauty is a record of 21 speeches and presentations made at The Representational Art Conference 2014 (TRAC2014). Roger Scruton and Juliette Aristides gave keynote addresses, and the artist Odd Nerdrum came from his home near Paris to join in a public conversation with Dr. Scruton.



What readers will not discern from the written record is that this was an extraordinary event - a joyful gathering of more than 350 representational artists and thinkers from around the world finding community and relishing the opportunity to share in ideas about representational art. New friendships were made and old friendships reaffirmed; there were strong discussions about issues confronting representation were addressed by thought leaders in media, museum curators, artists, and professors; fascinating demonstrations by skillful painters, sculptors and draftsmen shared technique and nourished the audience's studio practice. The conference fed the mind, the heart, and the hand.



What readers will discern from this book is that the conversation about representation is broad and deep, with global dimensions. It includes papers by authors from China, Africa, Europe and the United States written about an extraordinary range of topics that concern the representational art community. The keynote addresses given by Scruton and Aristides have been transcribed and edited, and fascinating insights into life in Odd Nerdrum's studio have been included. This is an essential text for readers interested in the thinking that is being shared among people working to establish meaningful aesthetics for representational art in the 21st Century.



176 illustrations



CONTENTS



Preface

Michael J. Pearce PhD MFA



Faking It
Roger Scruton


Kitsch As Superstructure-Comparing the criticism of kitsch and Odd Nerdrum, and explaining the potency of "kitsch" as superstructure for representational, narrative painting.

Jan-Ove Tuv



Redemptive Realism-An Introduction

Alan J Lawson, MA



Big Beauty and Form Sense in Contemporary Figurative Practice

Patricia Watwood



Apollo and Dionysus in the Representational Painting Family Feud

Elana Hagler, MFA



The Sublime: Transitioning Definitions Through History, and Its Place in Contemporary Plurality.
Guy Kinnear, MFA



World Disclosure Through Paintings: Can Phenomenology Provide A Basis For Making An Argument For The Importance Of Representational Paintings?

Carl Wegner Korsnes



Creating Truth. The Continuing Value of Accuracy and Sincerity in the Arts
Michael Lierly



The Aesthetics of The Idealized Male Figure in 21st Century Representational Art
Aihua Zhou, MFA



Selfies: The Self-Portrait in the in the Age of Facebook

Katherine E. Zoraster



The Impact of Atelier Training upon 21st Century Art; Dreamscapes in the Works of Abayomi Barber

Olatunde Barber, MA



Words Against Words

Virgil Elliott



Beyond the Golden Ratio: Composition as Human Perception
Ryan Brooker, BA



The Quest for Beauty Through Classical Proportions

Kristie Bruzenak, MFA



Contemporary Chinese Atelier Training and Realist Oil Painting

He Lihuai



Representational Oil Painters Group in China: A Case Study

Nan Liu, PhD, MFA



A Short History of Ornament and Its Relationship to Narrative Painting

Steve Shriver BA



The Medium of Easel Painting in Contemporary Art Theory

Sharon Orleans Lawrence, MFA



Into the Wasteland

Brandon Kralik



The Nerdrum School

David Molesky



The Enduring Value of Art

Juliette Aristides