4
WHAT'S REAL, from page 1
street roots
O ct 28, 2011
freedom is an injustice.
J.Z.: The people in your paintings look like
80-year-old artist talked passionately, and
sometimes quite emotionally, about his years
as an artist, a teacher and a friend of the
people in his paintings. Among his greatest
memories is volunteering his time, early in
the mornings, to teach students the
technique of realistic painting, providing an
opportunity not available in the regular high
school curriculum. It was a role he relishes
to this date, but true to the time, one that
many school administrators and teachers in
the union could hot understand or disagreed
with.
Joan n e Zuhl: And your own fellow painters
couldn’t understand that either?
Max G insburg: They didn't like the fact
that we were teaching “traditional old-
fashioned” realism. But from my point of
view, because realism is not in vogue, it is no
justification for rejecting i t I feel realism iri
art, like truth, is aesthetically beautiful. I also
feel that it communicates ideas strongly. If
you look at my more recent work, like “War
Pieta,” “Torture Abu Ghraib,” or “Homeless,”
you see the emotion strongly expressed.
And I feel that communication, which is
not just cerebral, but also on an emotional
level, is an extremely important part of art.
So in addition to my aesthetically liking
realism, I feel that it has an emotional appeal
to all audiences. Artistic realistic skill is
important to resonate the message with the
public. It’s not just the subject alone, it’s that
it’s realistically done. There are abstract
artists who agree with me on many social
issues, but the communication of their ideas
do not have as strong an impact with people
as a realistically painted work.
Audiences are not exposed to this kind of
art because the art establishment
discourages its development and exhibition
opportunities, and this lack of artistic
people I know, they’re not symbols, or
composites^ an idea, or metaphors. They look
like my neighbor, like people I see ■walking down
the street.
M.G.: They are.
J.Z.: It ’s almost unnerving, it’s unsettling to
look at people in your painting, particularly
“Homeless” or the “Foreclosure” or “War Pieta, ”
it’s like I know that guy.
M.G .: I’m glad my paintings have
communicated. Identification with the people
about the social condition is my intention. I
want the people in my paintings to be real
people, individuals, hot stereotypes without
individuality. I try to apply John Feats’
phrase, “Truth is beauty” in my art. Pacing
the truth is beautiful, avoiding it is ugly.
Capturing the reality of individuals is
beautiful, falsifying and covering up is n o t
Yes, my “Foreclosure” painting was
unnerving. Some felt it was too
melodramatic; some people thought the
melodrama was good. It is outrageous that
people are being thrown out of their homes.
Does greed and profit come before
humanity? Melodrama is justified for real-life
issues, not only for biblical narratives. You
don’t need a metaphor to explain something
in emotional terms today. Don’t be afraid to
be a nonconformist on behalf of humanity.
I felt the same way about my “War Pieta.”
I was so outraged about this war that I felt
that it was necessary to express niy emotion,
no holds barred.
J.Z.: How is Occupy Wall Street fitting into
your artwork? Are you going to paint that?
M.G I went down there a few times. I’m
80 years old, so I don’t know if I want to get
arrested at this point But I did go down
there. And once I even painted with two
Above, War Pieta,
50” x 60” oil on
canvas, 2007,
expresses »
Ginsburg’s disgust
for the “blood for
oil” policies
overseas, using the
Renaissance
imagery o f the
Madonna ahd
Christ in the Pieta.
A t right, “Coffee
Break, ” 16” by 16”
oil on canvas, 2007,
shows a G ulf War
veteran, draped in
the American flag,
under the watchful
stare o f a
policeman.
friends. It was a
matter of showing how I and other artists
identify with this movement And to identify,
you’ve got to be there and show what you do.
But I was there as another body among the
people, the 99 percent, when they marched
to City Hall. And I expect to go down more.
The Occupy Wall Street images are
exciting. The action and determination of the
mostly young people is a great idea for a
painting, but right now I have been in the
midst of a painting about unemployment.
There are many figures and emotions
involved, able-bodied people who.don’t have
jobs, a sense of desperation. Some are
sullen. Some have pride. Some are angry. All
kinds of people: men, women, laborers,
various kinds of workers as well as those who
have been calling themselves the middle
class for years. This is the kind of painting
that will take months to do. But the Occupy
Wall Street idea is captivating and has a
positive thrust. I may be doing two paintings
at one time.
J.Z.: Will we see the work that you created
from that?
M.G: I hope so.
J.Z.: You mentioned that you are inspired by
Goya and Picasso....
M.G.: In terms of style, I’m more inspired
by Caravaggio and Rembrandt, because their
style is more realistic. Like I said before, you
can identify with realistically painted people.
You know them. That’s important to me. In
term s of Goya and Picasso, it is the subject
matter of Goya’s “Disasters of War” and
Picasso s “Guernica” that inspired me and,
See WHAT'S REAL, page 5