Renaissance. A french word, meaning rebirth. The Renaissance, in short, was a rebirth of European culture from the 14th to 17th century. The art movement that came along with all of the advances in the sciences, literature, politics, and economics, has been on my mind lately more than ever.
We are currently experiencing a pandemic. For safety, we are undergoing a government-issued quarantine. Some people are using this time to pursue a passion, learn a new skill, perfect their craft, or anything to get their creative juices flowing. Personally, I have yet to try these things. But an artist named Chuck Styles is currently inspiring me to further consider that list.
Chuck Styles creates a lot of realistic portraits, often using vibrant paints to stand out against and complement the natural tones of humans. In my opinion, his art style is beautiful and I can’t say I’ve seen anything quite like it. I could stare at the paint for hours and continue to find more and more unique qualities and connect his pieces through more common patterns. His art is inspiring and one of a kind.
Scrolling through https://www.artofchuckstyles.com/, his writing, “Creating Art in a Crisis” jumped out to me faster than the Renaissance art movement presentation in Mr. David’s 8th grade art class. Out of all of Chuck Styles’ series’ that one grabbed me. Out of all the art movements we learned about, that one caught my attention. Probably because they were both born from a really dark time.
Styles’ series was sparked by the current pandemic and is described as “depicting this time period in human history”. And the black death ended an era and sparked the Renaissance. If there are artists out there right now that have the Same idea as Chuck Styles--which, I know there are--we could witness an entirely new and significant art movement!
Imagine living through a movement as eminent as the Renaissance. That could be our future. We still talk about it 400 years after it ended! ‘The Creation of Adam’ (specifically the hands) is one of the most recreated pieces in history! It was even a trend on TikTok a few months ago to paint those hands on jeans! What if, 400 years from now, if humans are all still doing their thing, they’re talking about and recreating your own or your friend’s/family member’s art piece? What if our art inspires people so long after it’s creation?
Even if it doesn’t last that long or is nearly that influential, I want to see this happen. I think it’s just one way to social distance together. It makes me want to pick up a pencil.