Joanne Tod - Artist Statement
In realist painting, quality is assessed by the degree to which a depicted image resembles the model. This tradition is fundamental to the discipline of drawing. It is also a habit that has resulted in a deeply rooted consensus regarding what constitutes quality. Realism is a genre that conflates quality with accuracy, implying an absolute standard to which the work is held.
Yet paradoxically, when it comes to realist painting, the innocent pleasure associated with suspension-of-disbelief and the sensation of being-there, is just as firmly established in our collective consciousness. The notion of images having phenomenological attraction based on the seductive quality of illusory space is compelling.