In art, one idea is as good as another. If one takes the idea of trembling, for instance, all of a sudden most art starts to tremble. Michelangelo starts to tremble. El Greco starts to tremble. All the Impressionists start to tremble. This quote by de Kooning came to me by way of my friend […]
Month: January 2009
- Aesthetics
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Dingy-Friendly
“Cold Mountain Studies 10” (1988-90) by Bruce Marden Having just gone through a stack of recent art periodicals—Modern Painter, Art on Paper, Art Papers, Art Forum—I can categorically say that the number of times I felt connected to (compelled by? curious about? impressed with?) the art being written about or advertised is at a lifetime […]
Reality and Reinventions
Elatia Harris left the text below as a comment to my posting here yesterday. As is often the case with Elatia’s responses to issues I have raised here, this one is too good to not spotlight up front. She identifies concerns that are of significance to all of us who are signed up to ride […]
Public Art Policy
This posting is an addendum to the one below about the closing of the Rose Art Museum. From the New York Times on Monday, Robin Pogrebin’s piece highlights the issues regarding support for the arts on a national level. As the Obama administration tackles the challenge of shoring up the economy through infusions of capital […]
- Aesthetics
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Whither the Rose?
I’m still reeling from the news that Brandeis University has announced the closing of the Rose Art Museum. Once a bastion of painterly painting under Carl Belz’s visionary directorship, the Rose has been a cherished art destination for me for many years. The building, designed by Philip Johnson, is small and not one of Johnson’s […]
Whistling Wind
Balancing intuition against sensory information, and sensitivity to one’s self against pragmatic knowledge of the world, is not a stance unique to artists. The specialness of artists is the degree to which these precarious balances are crucial backups for their real endeavor. Their essential effort is to catapult themselves wholly, without holding back one bit, […]
Small Animals
My friend LP continues to feed my poetry habit. She posted the following poem by Larissa Szporluk on her site over the weekend. I immediately went scurrying through the web for more information about S’s work. So following the poem posted below is an excerpt from an interview with the poet from Perihelion. The sensibilities […]
Poetry and Politics
His Springboard Resolve For his firmness is most fog horn. For he’s darning our fraying hem with fine thread; for he’s following a plan. Be it a progression from detention to due process. Be it a declaration of Middle-East and market collapse mazes unmazed. Be it settled. From this day forward, a little less fetus, […]
- In Memoriam
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Laying to Rest
Deep, Bog, Night, by Fred H. C. Liang I bought this painting by Fred Liang last year after my mother died. It was part of a gorgeous show of Liang’s work at Bernie Toale’s gallery in the South End of Boston. From the minute I saw it, I felt as though I had found the […]
- In Memoriam
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Adieu To Bonnie
Tonight I said goodbye to my friend of 30 years, Bonnie Horne. She was a hero in the truest sense. Battling not one but several cancers over the last 10 years, she defied the odds and the expectations of her small garrison of doctors at Dana Farber over and over again. She braved multiple operations, […]