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Bill Reynolds's avatar

OK, I would like to comment on the three artist from Contemporary Art Without an Agenda:

Firelei Báez, is the most accomplished of the three, the most skillful, perhaps. I feel she struggles to apply those skills in ways she finds culturally acceptable. It’s an interesting dilemma.

Flora Yukhnovich, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo came to mind immediately. If that is her intention, then she has succeeded.

Jadé Fadojutimi, brings a great deal of energy to her work. Slade and the RCA, but there is still much to improve upon, I’m afraid.  

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Marie Leduc - Making & Meaning's avatar

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on the three artists, Bill! When our conversation group discussed them, they came up with the same conclusion.

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Bill Reynolds's avatar

Baez has exceptional classical skills, but from what I saw online, she is trapped in some zero-sum game, perhaps not of her own choosing.

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Marie Leduc - Making & Meaning's avatar

Báez is definitely skilled, but like every artist she is challenged to find her voice, that is her singular, original métier. If she wants recognition in the art world she has to balance her personal expression with the expectations of the institutions that recognize art and artists. This is the dilemma, I think, for every artist.

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Bill Reynolds's avatar

Untitled (Transito de la sombra y penumbra de la Luna sobre la superficie de la Tierra [Transit of the Moon's shadow and penumbra on the Earth's surface]) strikes me as autobiographical, but I’m out on a limb here.

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Marie Leduc - Making & Meaning's avatar

Here is a website where you can read up on what her individual pieces are supposed to signify. https://www.kunstmuseum.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240710_fireleibaez_booklet_en_digital_geschwarzt.pdf

This doesn't mean that everyone will see the same thing in the work.

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Bill Reynolds's avatar

Hmm… If I said to you, out of confusion or ignorance, Draw me a picture, and then asked you to explain the drawing, you would naturally assume that the drawing had failed. Art work that requires a glossary troubles me. Art that endures, creates its own context within its relevant milieu. (As any successful illustrator understands.) I understand the Impressionist as an expression born of the collapse of the French Second Empire. Pissarro notwithstanding. Something even Manet internalized. A rudimentary knowledge of 19th C. French history helps, but the Impressionist are exhibited somewhere every summer to the delight of board members and tourist alike. Raphael forged an immortal career in just 37 years (exactly 37 years, April 6th to April 6th). Is Baez making the most of her abilities? Does she trust her uncommon talent?

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