Forché: Reunion

Reunion Just as he changes himself, in the end eternity changes him. —Mallarmé On the phonograph, the voice of a woman already dead for three decades, singing of a man who could make her do anything. On the table, two fragile glasses of black wine, a bottle wrapped in its towel. It is that room, […]

Elegies

Elegy, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) who was in fact the most successful and popular painter of his era, the very embodiment of everything the Impressionists were fighting against. I’ve had some provocative back and forths with Lisa the Poet regarding what poems can and cannot do. Poetry that is about poetry: Valid? The abuse of […]

More Saltzian Logic

I’m basking in Saltzian wisdom. That would be Saltzism as in Jerry Saltz. Yesterday’s posting got me back in the groove, so here’s an excerpt from his “you’re speaking for me, man” book, Seeing Out Loud, Selected Essays: 2003-2007. (An updated version is set for release this September so hold on a few months if […]

Street Fighting Man

Jerry Saltz, critic extraordinaire Jerry Saltz, one of the better art minds around, has a lot to say about the current Biennale in Venice. And a lot of other international shows. As is often the case with Saltz, he just cuts through the bullshit and makes so much sense. His description of a particular malaise […]

When is Art?

Rooftops can be seen at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia through Mona Hatoum’s “Interior Landscapes,” with its cutouts of soldiers (Photo: Todd Heisler/The New York Times) A visually stunning slideshow of Venice during the current Biennale is available at the New York Times site. Here’s the intro lead in: Daniel Birnbaum, the curator of the 53rd […]

Per Kirkeby

“Mild Winter II” (Photo: Galerie Michael Werner) This weekend I found Laura Cumming’s review in the Guardian of the new Per Kirkeby show at the Tate Modern. (It is also posted on Slow Painting.) Well known in his homeland of Denmark, he’s a painter whose work does not get as much visibility (IMHO) everywhere else […]

Capacity for Delight

A section of my studio wall in South Boston The weight shifts measurably in a studio space after a large body of work goes out the door. Yes, the chaos of the last few months has cleared out, that’s true. But my experience this week was less a dust settling relief than a strong sense […]