Finding Meaning in Painting Today

Millions of paintings are created each year. But do they have something to say? And whether they do or don't, what does that say about us?

I have been consistently painting since the beginning of the year. My first attempts date back three years, when I enrolled in art school in London. I got in for graphic design, but the closer I got to the end of my master's, I understood that my path pointed towards making and creating with my hands, and not with a computer. I didn't feel inclined to create interesting visuals to solve a problem, but just for the sake of putting something out into the world and seeing how it reacted.

With a more structured painting practice and by publishing my work online, the algorithm quickly responded to it and knocked me into the rabbit hole of artists showcasing their process and their work. And while I've encountered some truly inspiring art online, a lot of it felt very detached. Detached from context, lineage, meaning.

Just like beauty seems to be the most valued quality in this world, regardless of who holds its gift, the same seems to apply to contemporary art. It's not important to the artist or to the viewer to understand context and meaning in art, but rather to be able to tell whether something is pretty or isn't. But when painting becomes about beauty for the sake of beauty, there's something lost along the way. Something that I find important and non-negotiable about art: meaning.