About Artist Christopher Vidal and Philosophy

About Me and School Philosophy

My interest in drawing started as from childhood where as so many kids of that age I used to draw what ever is around me. I was popular among my colleagues for my abilities in drawing.

When I was 13 years old, for 3 years, I attended school of Arts at Palazzo deLa Salle in Valletta Malta. I was trained in an Atelier style, drawing mainly from still life objects, casts and master copies. At that time my paintings were mainly inspired by master artists such as Caravaggio and hence my body of works mostly consisted of mythological and religious figures.

After finishing school of arts I continued to practice drawing and later on painting in various media including watercolor, acrylics and later on oil paints. I used to be commissioned to paint banners and flags for the local communities in Malta.

In 2001, I started experimenting and working with oil paint and from that time oil paint became his preferred medium. My interest and focus shifted towards painting the landscape and the local scenery. After moving to Australia, I continued to focus on development of technique focusing on the landscape. The light and its effects on the Australian landscape inspired me to start painting more often and hence to improve his painting techniques. During the last 6 years I exhibited my works in various exhibitions, I was commissioned on a number of occasions and was featured in Australian Artists and Artist's Palette magazines. My works are found in private and corporate collections in Australia and Internationally.

After starting teaching drawing and painting to beginners, from my students I learned a lot not only about arts and painting but also about teaching arts. I see that teaching art is very personal and each student is different from the other. However I also see the importance of teaching the basics especially of drawing in order for the student to be able to draw or paint what ever she/he feels like and hence be free to express the creative side.

To read more about Christopher Vidal and view his portfolio please visit his website by CLICKING HERE

The Philosophy

The aim of my teaching is to teach students how to draw and paint representational realistic art in a way that are able to draw and paint what ever they would like to.

In order to reach a level of excellence one needs to learn and know the techniques. As from the 16th century Ateliers were the places where aspiring artists were trained to develop their skills and abilities. To become a trained artists, a person had to spend years of apprenticeship "sponsored" by an established artist working in the studio. During the 20th century this was somehow hindered by the idea that everyone has a creative side and that structured teaching of technique holds back the person from expressing own self freely. Hence during the 20th century importance was given more to expressive art rather than to technique. As a result of this we now have a lot of "artists" that do not even have an idea how to draw. The situation was even further worsened by the introduction and over use of photography. However during the last decade there has been a comeback and now we are seeing a greater interest in realism and in learning technique. This interest can be seen from the increasing number of art schools in Europe and US that are committed to teach technique based upon 16th century Atelier methods.

As a member of the Art Renewal Center I am committed to teach my students how to draw and paint realism. Opposite to the common 20th century philosophy, I believe that having a structured way of teaching opens more opportunities to the students to be more expressive. Once you learn the basic techniques you can then use these as foundations to build your own style and hence deviate and express yourself freely. It is the same like in music and other art forms. You cannot start playing a musical instrument without knowing the basics and how to read music. If you know the basics you can then become more expressive and you actually start writing music. The same is about painting.

In visual arts, drawing is the foundation of painting and hence it is given a lot of importance in my classes. This is followed by learning the painting techniques in oil painting based on those of the old masters that were the pioneers of this medium. Their masterpieces can still be enjoyed by us today, hundreds of years after their deaths. This is a proof that their techniques were successful. However, I also acknowledge the fact that from that time a lot of things were further developed and improved. We now have more and better pigments that are used in paints together with other technologies that can help us make better paintings if we know how to use them properly. One of these technologies is photography. I cannot consider the use of photography as a positive step forward in case of those artists that entirely rely on it. Neither it is a good medium for beginners to start and rely on. However if you are trained to know the basics then yes photography can prove very useful to the experienced artists with a trained eye. So I believe that we need to move forward with time and development taking advantage of what is new but always building up on solid foundations based on the old masters' techniques.

Finally, the purpose of art was always to communicate a message. As from the beginning people living in caves were drawing on walls to communicate their way of life. If one cannot read a message when looking at a painting then the scope of art is lost and hence that work can only be called a craft. The term fine art is also applicable only for works that requires excellence and proficiency in technique. Paintings from the Renaissance and Baroque eras exhibited excellence in technique that deserves admiration even if these were portraying and showing misery, war, death or tragedy. So even if the message communicated to the viewer was a negative one, still they are known as masterpieces in technique and skill. Based on this, my mission and duty is to teach my students how to excel in technique in order for them to be able to produce beautiful art and to be able to express themselves independently, in their own style and without any restrictions through their works of art.