Daniel E. Greene, Ghana's Treasure, 2010, Oil on linen, 14 x 18 inches
The comings and goings of the real world barrage our senses with a heady stew of scents, sounds, and sights.Our wondrous mind sifts through this flux of nerve tingling excitements and flags those sensory bits that groove with familiar patterns stored in evolutionary memory banks. Duly dependent upon our light sensitive eyes to pick up sensations that register in our mind as color, size, and texture, we are able to respond to environmental changes within seconds.
Thankfully, we are all sensitive creatures tuned to survive in this complex and not always friendly world.Artists, however, seem hyper-sensitive and exist in a heightened state of sensorial awareness; they seem to see, hear, and feel things before the rest of us.Perhaps this is why we revere them.Visual artists in particular point the way to sights we have missed with enchanting works of art that pinpoint and replicate optical sensations that simulate real life perceptions.
Daniel Greene is such an artist. He is a consummate realist, a virtuoso at replicating the visual effects that give form to the natural world and the built environment. Such effects exist as continuums book-ended by dual absolutes, i.e. hard/soft; big/small; near/far; dark/light.We reach for clarity about a specific thing (and how it compares to other things) by ascertaining its place in relation to a set pair of opposites – and arrive at a dual description that comprises what it is and what it is not.Opposites co-substantiate each other – hot cannot exist without cold.This tension is how we experience life – a push-pull universe (rather than a stasis) see-sawing between extremes.
The power of Greene’s illusionistic artistry exploits this recognition of oppositional forces.For example, in “Wall St. – Steel Beam,” shiny smooth subway tiles reflect a hard fluorescent glare; in comparison, the porous terracotta carvings and paint peeling girder absorb and scatter light.In “Approaching the City,” Greene creates a life-like tension by juxtaposing the auctioneer’s pointing gesture against the background image of a train tunnel.Similarly, the specular reflection of the jewelry in "Woman with a Pearl Earring," seen against the diffused light of her hair and clothing, assures a tactile rivalry that pays homage to Vermeer and the Old Dutch Masters.
Without question, Greene achieves a level of pictorial realism that requires a technical prowess and native talent to which few contemporary artists can lay claim.And yet this uncanny realism is not all attributable to a virtuoso handling of surface effects; it also underscores an existential narrative that is essentially dialectic with roots in the neoplatonic term coincidentia oppositorium. Latin for “coincidences of opposites,” the phrase describes the revelation of the oneness of things previously believed to be different.
The theme of constant motion and change arising from opposing forces pervades Greene’s work – no small feat in an art form that is essentially static. Rapid transit is designed to efficiently transport large groups of people in a timely fashion and yet we all identify with the figure in “To North Moore St.” and the seemingly endless period of isolation she is experiencing while awaiting the next train. Auctions similarly move forward in fits and starts as does the market value assigned to cultural artifacts.“Frankenthaler’s Flood” and “Lot 111 – Winslow Homer” offer a narrative within a narrative on changing tastes in art and the market forces that drive them.As a young realist painter coming of age during the heyday of Abstract Expressionism, Greene witnessed the meteoric rise of post-war American modernism.His auction paintings attest to the current blue-chip status of some of its earliest proponents.
Greene has also witnessed a popular resurgence of contemporary realism among young artists – a style in opposition to modernist practice.Here again is evidence of the contradictory nature of life – the unity of opposites.Natural law demands that the very existence of an opposing force urges its opposite into activity. It follows that in the very near future it will be contemporary realist works that are fetching record prices at auction.For further information about Daniel E. Greene or commissioning a portrait by any of our artists, please call 212.258.2233 or e-mail us.
By Michael Gormley, Curator
Portraits, Inc. was founded in 1942 in New York on Park Avenue. Over its 70-year history, Portraits, Inc. has carefully assembled a select group of the world’s foremost portrait artists offering a range of styles and prices. Recognized as the industry leader, Portraits, Inc. provides expert guidance for discerning clients interested in commissioning fine art portraits.
