by donald dusinberre imartsyfartsy@gmail.com
I’ve seen a lot of landscape paintings over the last few weeks. First, I saw a beautiful collection of classic American art from the 19th century on display at the Cummer Museum. Then I saw Jim Draper’s work, a fantastic collection of Southeastern landscapes on display at the Stellers Gallery. In a world obsessed with so many ill-advised paintings, I’ve definitely been lucky as of late, but unfortunately, my lucky streak has come to an end.
I really hate to do this. Really. I try hard to find enough positive things to say about an artist’s work to fill these articles. The only thing I can say is this: Landscape paintings are extremely difficult to represent successfully. Not only are they hard to do well, they are among the easiest to scrutinize, even for untrained eyes. There are more skills to master than most artists are capable of, and most of them don’t realize they don’t posses them all. Personally, I’d rather paint Phil Spector’s portrait (poodle ‘do and all) than deal with the challenge of any landscape. Then again, I’m more of an Abstract Expressionist, which is my code for lazy.
So here is one of the few positive notes I will offer today: God bless anyone who attempts to capture the earth’s beauty.
That being said, let’s move along to the artwork in question. Olive Forever is a collection of paintings by Michael Baum on display at Ocean 60, a restaurant and bar in Atlantic Beach. Baum’s subject choices cover more than just landscapes, as he also has an abstract composition and numerous still lifes on display. Nevertheless, all of them suffer from the same skill deficiencies.
Baum’s use of color on most paintings is garish and elementary. His work suffers from a condition I call Tube Color, in which most of the colors on the canvas are applied largely unaltered from tube to canvas. There is a degree of mixing that occurs on the canvas itself, but not enough to mask such an obvious sign of inexperience. Mixing color is more than just adding black or white to change the shade of a color. It’s about increasing the realism or more precisely expressing the vision of the artist. Unfortunately, when an artist fails to exhibit his knowledge of color, he prominently exhibits his incompetence.
Not only are the colors loud and discordant, his representational skills are also in need of instruction. The ocean waves, palm trees and clouds are akin to those painted on sand dollars sold in souvenir shops. It’s apparent that Baum doesn’t paint what he sees, but only what he thinks he sees. Harsh criticism, I know, but I think I know what he should see, even if he thinks I don’t see what he thinks he sees.
Whatever shortcomings he must overcome, Baum does seem to be interested in the form of his work, which seems to be his strong point as an artist. His more popular works are painted on copper plates, which gives them a slight shimmer, an uncommon quality that may satisfy some viewers. He also paints some scenes with the canvas turned diagonally, while one of his other paintings is composed on multiple canvi (canvasses) and arranged in a fragmented manner.
To learn more about Michael Baum and his work, you can contact him at (904) 962-4495, or visit his website at artbaum.com.
Check out Baum’s artwork and decide for yourself. Ocean 60 is a remarkably stylish restaurant with much to offer, even if you never cast your eyes upon the walls. It is located at (you guessed it) 60 Ocean Boulevard in Atlantic Beach.
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