Kenneth Noland passed away in early January. Although this is several weeks after the fact, my response to the Roberta Smith article in the Sunday Times has led to a more contemplative approach to the strange journey of painting that I have observed during my many years as an artist and art lover. Mark Dagley […]
Month: February 2010
Do Something Else Next
Adam, Eve, by Philip Taafe (Taafe is one of several undervalued painters mentioned in Roberta Smith’s Sunday Times piece) Roberta Smith secured the premier position in the Sunday Times Arts section, above the fold and in the center. The visual arts rarely show up in the top slot these days. Her article, Post-Minimal to the […]
Gaia And/Or Medea
In his book “I Am a Strange Loop”, Douglas Hofstadter argues that complex feedback loops in the brain are the origin of consciousness and the illusion of self. That illusion is absent or muted in lower life forms. In consequence, it is ethically neutral to swat a mosquito, which is a half step above an […]
Hand in the Water
Sometimes the online world reminds me of Salman Rushdie’s image from Haroun and the Sea of Stories: In this tale written for children (putatively) stories live in the sea like currents. All you have to do is sit in your boat, reach your hand into the water and pull one in. Yesterday’s post about Diane […]
Shape-Shifters and Magical Reinventors, All
My admiration for Diane Ackerman dates from my first encounter with her unique blend of earthy spiritualism and a poetic sense of the material world. A Natural History of the Senses was published in 1993, and I have been shadowing her ever since. She lives in Ithaca, New York with her husband, writer Paul West. […]
God Gutters Down to Metaphor
Continuing on the theme of 19th century masters (an earlier post this week featured Paul Cézanne) here’s a poem by Irish poet Derek Mahon (whose work was featured previously here) about Vincent Van Gogh: A Portrait of the Artist (for Colin Middleton) Shivering in the darkness Of pits, slag-heaps, beetroot fields, I gasp for light […]
Earnings
My sister in Fairfax County, Virginia has 30 inches of snow outside her door. My son in Arlington hasn’t been to his office for a week. Maureen, blogger/poet extraordinaire who also lives in Arlington, has been basking in her snowboundedness, digging into the stacks of compelling books that are duly displayed on every floor of […]
Cézanne: A Multiplicity of Successively Probed Sensations
Apples and Oranges, by Paul Cézanne (Photo: Galerie du Jeu de Paume, Paris) Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer sat for several years on my bookshelf (the one that is, unfortunately, gravitationally challenged and is sagging precariously) waiting for its chance to get cracked open. That finally happened during those luxurious, divinely isolated hours […]
The Bottom Line on Happiness
Double happiness (Chinese). I like the concept, but where does it end—gazillion billion trillion? Maybe best not to get started on multiples… Amy Bloom is a terrific writer. Her latest book, Where the God of Love Hangs Out, was published last month. Therapist and storyteller, Bloom is in a unique position to write about our […]
- Children's Art
- ...
1000 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Listen, Tell, Draw at Bergamot Station Another memorable exhibit seen while we were in LA: This one was at Bergamot Station (in Santa Monica) although not inside any of the many galleries at that location. Sponsored by the Santa Monica Museum, the installation featured the art of children responding to Wallace Stevens’ poem, 13 Ways […]