Gary Towne Perspectives On Humanity In The Fine Arts < TOP-RATED » >

Towne, who built his career in the shadow of the postmodern giants, offers a refreshingly uncomfortable perspective. For him, “humanity” in the fine arts isn’t about tenderness, beauty, or even empathy. It’s about friction .

Towne famously rejected the Renaissance notion that humanity is best represented by idealized proportion. He looked at Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man and saw not a celebration of potential, but a cage. “We don’t live in that circle,” Towne wrote in his 2003 collection, The Unfinished Figure . “We spill out of it. We are asymmetrical, anxious, and odorous.” gary towne perspectives on humanity in the fine arts

Beyond the Likeness: Gary Towne on the Fractured Mirror of Humanity in Art Towne, who built his career in the shadow

According to Gary Towne, that crack isn’t a flaw. It’s the only place where humanity can breathe. What do you think? Does art need to be perfect to be profound, or is it the rough edges that make it real? Drop a comment below. Towne famously rejected the Renaissance notion that humanity

We throw the word “humanity” around a lot in art criticism. A painting is “deeply human.” A sculpture captures “the human condition.” But after spending an afternoon with the essays and lectures of the lesser-known but fiercely insightful critic Gary Towne, I’ve realized we’ve been using the term as a comfort blanket, not a scalpel.