Impression, Sunrise

By: Bryan Lord Taningco

         In our own time, landscape painting retains an unquestionable popular appeal. As civilization pulls us further and further from nature, it's no surprise that we cherish glimpses of arcadia. Landscapes have become nearly ubiquitous: in living rooms and waiting rooms; on fine china and restaurant walls; at artsy galleries and on auction blocks; in regular blockbuster exhibitions and on the resulting sweatshirts, mugs, and even refrigerator magnets. We are too occupied in the confines of this consumptionist post-modern society that we forget the true value of the outdoors; the nature around us.

To appreciate landscape painting is too marvel on its roots, the inspiration of the painting itself. But why paint a piece of Land? Why be inspired by the very ground that we simply trot upon? 

Some experts would say that the land is truer than its people; I’d say the land is the paragon of change, things are never permanent. This is the essence that the artist wish to capture; the preservation of beauty despite the test of time. Every canvas tells a different story some may even be relative to the eyes of who appraise them, some landscape paintings tell tales of romance and mystery, others of adventure and grandeur;  yet one thing is for sure, all fixed their eyes upon the mademoiselle of the picture, Nature herself.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, thoughts tailored upon the waning ideas of experiencing nature. In this time where paintings are more valued than the preservation of arcadia maybe my values are out of place. I do not condemn the commercialization of these works, but I cannot help but to point out that we are missing the true value of  landscape art.

Know that I stand, hoping that one day the appreciation for these paintings will not only be contained within the slumber of its frames, that once again man will be in tune with nature; such is the Impression of a Sunrise.