BLINK // Cave of forgotten paintings

BLINK is a series of micro-posts that will focus on individual artists. Honing in on select work or works, each post will be a fleeting snapshot of art activity from around the world, one that hopefully inspires and prompts deeper investigations.
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Mark Demsteader, Shallow Waters, oil on canvas, 43ins x 43ins

The thick layers of Mark Demsteader’s paintings are rough but delicate, and in spite of the unfinished detailing, his images are realistic. His paintings are sensual and melancholic, dark but full of enjoyment for their pure colour, and reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelites. Unfortunately his path was obscured in the 1990s by the domination of the Young British Artists, when figurative art works were out of favour. Still he is one of the best British figurative painters and his work shows that traditional means are alive and have a lot to say. It’s a comfortable feeling to watch his paintings, stripped of any requirement for overloaded cerebral analysis. Demsteader’s interpretation of reality is pure sensuality, they perhaps remind us of a more primordial and sincere idea of art, like long forgotten paintings in a cave.
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