Seeds of renewal.(ART)(Classical Realism painter Jacob Collins at Hirschl & Adler Galleries)(Critical essay)

ONE of the most refreshing exhibitions I have seen this year is a group of 30 small still lifes by the startlingly good young painter Jacob Collins. That's the good news. The bad news is that the show closed July 6 at the Hirschl & Adler Galleries in New York. "Well, thanks for that," you say: "A good exhibition finally pops up and you come bearing news that we can't see the stuff." Not quite. The exhibition came and went quickly, as gallery exhibitions are wont to do, but you can still go to Hirschl & Adler--21 East 70th Street--and ask to have a peek at some of Collins's work. They generally have a lot of it on hand. Make the trip. You won't be sorry. Collins is one of the most prodigious painters on the current scene. More than that, he is laboring mightily to help remake what counts as the current scene.

I first became aware of Jacob Collins last year shortly before he exhibited a group of portraits--oils and drawings--at Hirschl & Adler. I found his combination of visual exuberance and technical command breathtaking and immensely gratifying. That's a rare experience these days. Open the lexicon of praise routinely consulted by contemporary art critics: At least since the triumph of Abstract Expressionism, what you find is an odd assortment of adjectives, beginning with such lo-cal terms as "interesting," "taut," "strong," "remarkable," and proceeding up (or perhaps down) the moral ladder to epithets such as "challenging" and (the all-time favorite) "transgressive." What you almost never hear is a work praised for its beauty, its artistry, its humanity; for the pleasure it gives. The truth is, most contemporary art critics soon find themselves becoming masters of excuse-making: Artist A's painting is "bold" (i.e., poorly drawn) while B's is "original" (i.e., repellent and poorly drawn). In this age of demotic Dadaism, criticism more and more becomes a quest for extenuating circumstances.

Collins, now in his mid-forties, is a leading proponent of Classical Realism, a movement that seeks to put the artistry back into art and to take us back behind, beyond, the deformations of Dada and its many unlovely progeny. He and his colleagues create art that needs no excuses, no alibis, no apologies. It is art that is confident, accomplished, and traditional, understanding that last word in a positive, enabling sense, not as a term of diminishment.

Classical Realism is a relatively new movement, and it is too early to say with confidence what its influence on contemporary taste will be. I suspect it will be large. Collins and his fellow Classical Realists are seeking to foment a revolution--more precisely, a counterrevolution--in art by reinvigorating, reinhabiting, the aesthetic canons and plastic techniques pioneered in the Renaissance and promulgated in the studios of the Beaux Arts.

Will they succeed? It is hard to say. In order to do so, what they require are not just private victories but public acquiescence, critical understanding and celebration. There are some auspicious signs, from the growing impatience of the public with the antics of a degraded art world to the fructifying energy and talent of many of the artists associated with Classical Realism. The movement is a proselytizing coterie, actively seeking allies, converts, the future. Many of its most accomplished practitioners, Collins among them, expend nearly as much time and energy on teaching as they do on their own work. (At last count, Collins had started two schools and was involved with several others.)

Are there things to criticize about Classical Realism? Of course. ...