Wyland Orcas
Maritime art or marine art was once a highly regarded genre from the 17th-to-19th centuries. It arguably ended its run when consumer photography appeared in 1910. Shortly thereafter fine art at large became experimental with Picasso, Matisse, and Pollock becoming "household names." Consequently, Victorian artists like Homer, Bouguereau, and Turner became passé.
In 1970, a half-century after marine art was practically forgotten, a 14-year-old boy from Michigan named Robert Wyland visited Laguna Beach, California. Then and there he saw the ocean for the first time and on that day (according to Wikipedia) he saw California gray whales breaching the surface. The fire was subsequently lit and by the 1980’s Wyland was off to the beach and then to the bank.
This is not going to be a friendly critique of Mr. Wyland’s work. I do acknowledge and deeply appreciate Wyland’s philanthropy, his passion, his industriousness, and his charitable nature. Mural-wise I find that Wyland's work hits the mark. The grandeur of his paintings is definitely impactful when they are viewed at over 30-feet tall but at 30-inches or so on canvas the detail, the quality, and the compositions border upon ridiculous…
Wayland’s compositions consist mostly of oversimplified whales, dolphins, and turtles swimming “harmoniously” together in crystal clear aquatic utopias free from predators, pollution or storms. At times he sprinkles "NutraSweet" on his subjects with phantasmal ideas such as toddlers riding upon dolphins, (as if they part of a “pony” ride at the rodeo) and kissing orcas in harmonious, choreographed poses. The end result is sea life degraded into cheapened twee or kitsch.
Weyland's work clarifies beautifully as murals but his smaller work is so mired in anthropomorphized lovable slaves that he has degraded the genre into simple K12 art contests and activities
Why my anger? The last straw for me was seeing a quote from USA Today featured within the “About” page at his site stating he is a “…Marine Michelangelo.” A quick perusal of 18th-century marine artists or even reviewing Michelangelo’s work proves not only how ignorant the reviewer was but how badly insulted the marine artists that came before him.
Finally, If I am going to criticize Wyland then I have to show what I can do, thus, I place my work side by side with Weyland’s above. As always and as always "your mileage may vary."
© 2016 Guy Austin - Medium: Fractal Flame — Title: "Jellyfish Bloom"
© 2016 Guy Austin - Medium: Fractal Flame — Title: "Phosphorescent Jellies"
© 2016 Guy Austin - Medium: Fractal Flame — Title: "Blue Whale Study"