Do you mean images like these?WilliamSmith wrote: ↑August 28th, 2022, 4:50 pmI am low on data (Scotch heritage penny pincher) but will get back to you on this with lots of pics as well as my comments:
Ancient Chinese art, architecture and aesthetic style absolutely blows me away, I am crazy about it! The way they use brilliant intricate architecture, and use a hypnotic approach to build those amazing heavily laquered interiors and atmospheric lighting is also amazing. The Cantonese built tons of amazing things all over the place in their diaspora as well as on their own turf, but there's some exceptionally great stuff in Vietnam (which has its own interesting artistic traditions too mixing native, Chinese, and even French/European influences, as well as some from the old Khmer kingdoms they would brawl with in some older periods of history, as well as continuously brawling with the Chinese). But they mostly embraced Chinese aesthetic influences despite their fierce sense of distinct national identity and tradition of refusing to willingly just become vassals of China.
Traditional Japanese art is really cool, and they have some elements that are all their own, but what I like best in aesthetics still tends to be primarily an offshoot of embracing the Chinese styles. In music it is actually very much an exception: I like Chinese ancient/classical traditional music which is more sentimental a lot of times (sometimes gets zany), but Japanese traditional music (gagaku, shinto music, for example) is totally a creature of its own and unbelievably atmospheric and appealing. Their sense of integrating Shinto traditions in the beautiful natural environments they have there combined with the otherworldly nature of their music impresses me.
Anyway, of those Western styles, I personally only like realism or very ancient stuff, I can't stand any of it when it gets into abstraction and deliberate ugliness.
I mostly dislike Western art even though I acknowledge the amazing skill of realist painters and some European architecture (though can't say I'm too crazy about it except some very Germanic "gothic" looking stuff here and there).
The Western stuff I like:
Albert Bierstadt, a real legend. He influenced a lot of others in the amazing way he used lighting as well as being a masterful landscape painter.
There were some others from that optimistic late 1800s period with very nice skill, which was appreciated at that point before it all went to shit from degenerate art and abstraction being promoted as all the rage. Thomas Cole was kinda whacky yet had similarly strong skill.
Gustave Dore, an illustrator who actually worked in woodcuts, an astounding feat considering he's be one the very best. He also paints too.
There's some other good names in there I'm not thinking of off the top of my head, but it'll be a fun topic to return to.
Later on almost everything I ever see in "serious" art is a bunch of crap (I'm sure there's exceptions, but never saw too many), but people with more talent ended up in popular entertainment rather than the art scene:
I like what some vintage retro RPG artists did where they brought in a more "gothic" style, which was used quite a bit in stuff like 80's popular entertainment, and stayed pretty good up into the mid-1990s when aesthetic styles all started going down the tubes and lost their edge for the most part.
These are supposed to be ancient Chinese art works. And they do have their own charm. Also, ancient Chinese architecture is pretty cool. I agree with you about traditional Japanese art as well. They often have decent aesthetic styles.
When you get back from your trip you will have to share some of your favourites from ancient Chinese or Japanese art works. Hope you're having a good time, my dude.
I also really like realism as an art style, I would say it is my favourite style as well. The Renaissance was a great period for art work. Like the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Some of the art was inspired by Christian theology as pointed out by @Outcast9428 Here are some examples:
Birth of Venus - Sandro Botticelli
The Creation of Adam - Michelangelo.
As for the other styles I asked about I don't like the minimalist style, I don't see the point in it. I remember when @Lucas88 and myself went to a new gallery which had been built in our local area and there was a lot of minimalist and post modern art. We just thought it was hilarious. There was even an empty canvass "True Minimalism" and just a signature at the bottom. That composition Red Yellow and Blue is just too simplistic to be considered art in my opinion. I don't see what is talented about that at all.
I like Surrealism though, for the simple fact that they remind me of dream scapes and often have hidden meaning which has to be interpreted by the viewer.
The meaning behind this painting has something to do with these "soft" watches representing that time is omnipresent and has mastery over humanity, it is inexorable.
I don't think much to Cubism though as an art style, in fact I think the example I posted of Picasso's Weeping Woman looks pretty ugly if I am being honest.
I am neutral towards Expressionism. Even though The Scream is pretty iconic, I don't think much of it. Although capturing human expression through art isn't necessarily a bad thing. I just don't think it compares to a nice painting of a landscape like the one you shared @WilliamSmith