Why Doesn't Acrylic Get the Respect (I Think) It Deserves?

One of My First Paintings in Acrylic

Hi-

The title of today’s blog is a question I am trying to find the answer to.

Why hasn't acrylic earned a legitimate (and I might add, respected) place among the painting media? Someone just tell me, please.

My goal is to paint and render in acrylic paintings that are every bit as fine, as excellent, as awarded and, yes, as respected as oil paintings.

Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be an undercurrent of disrespect in the greater art world for acrylic paint as a true artistic medium.

I’ve blogged on this topic before, and still I have not been able to put my finger on it.

Acrylic seems to be grudgingly included in art competitions. I guess that’s something (to be included, I mean).

Have you noticed—there’s no Acrylic Artist magazine (print or online) devoted exclusively to acrylic painting and that publishes on a regular basis that I have been able to find? If you know of one, please leave a comment.

I can’t find an Acrylic Art Society or similar exclusively for acrylic painters. Oh, I did find the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, but as you can see from its name, acrylic is lumped in with oil and even gets second billing in the title.

As I’ve said before, acrylic has only been around since 1955. In the eyes of oil painters, has it not yet stood the test of time? To this I ask, “How long is long enough?”

Maybe it’s because manufacturers are still inventing and refining formulas, and oil painters think of the relatively new open-acrylics as experimental. What?!

Whatever.

If you agree, or especially if you disagree, with my observations, let’s discuss it.

Until next blog…