The other day as the endless social media scrolling engulfed my brain, I came upon an artist’s post in which she labelled her work “Expressive Realism”. I’d never heard the two terms combined before and it piqued my interest. So here’s a quick Google response to the combined terms as it relates to literature:
“Definition: Expressive Realism is a fusion of the Aristotelian concept of art as mimesis with the Romantic concept of art as expressing the perceptions and emotions of a person “possessed of more than unusual organic sensibility.”
Characteristics:
- Expressive realism values richness, honesty, and immediacy and rejects schematism, implausability and ideology.
- Literature is a reflection of life.
- Literature is authentic when it describes the world of social relationships or conveys the inner experience (often seen as “universal”) of the individual quest for identity.”
So, does this suit my latest drawing series? Yes, I do believe it does! And it is exciting to encapsulate the awkward place I’ve been where I have one foot in realism and the other in expressionism – not feeling right going more one way or the other.
Now I will go back to the literal drawing board and continue on, already knowing where I was going but reassured and re-inspired! How fun.
