The only truly uncomfortable moment for me during Obama’s inauguration was the moment I least expected to dislike—Elizabeth Alexander’s poetry reading. I haven’t wanted to talk about that particular feature out of respect for what was an emotional and history making moment. But enough time has passed I suppose, and the rattle of discontent from […]
Fairied
This morning a group of us went to see the Shepard Fairey retrospective at the ICA in Boston. Having lived through the viral spread of Andre the Giant and the OBEY stickers and stencils in Boston and Providence, I had a preconceived idea about what it would be like to see his work assembled in […]
The Rape of Europa
With so many postings on the demise of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University (here and on Slow Painting) I have been thinking a lot about art ownership and how a work can take on a life of its own. In her scathing jeremaid about the Brandeis decision, Roberta Smith of the New York […]
All Art Worthy of the Name
Thanks to friend and artist George Wingate for sending me to Jed Perl’s latest essay in The New Republic, “The Spiritual in Art”. Focusing primarily on the works of George Rouault and Marc Chagall (not two of my favorites BTW) Perl brings some salient issues to the fore, raising questions that concern a variety of […]
Through the Walls
Overheard Through the Walls of the Invisible City . . .telling those who swarm around him his desire is that an appendage from each of them fill, invade each of his orifices,– repeating, chanting Oh yeahOh yeahOh yeahOh yeahOh yeah until, as if in darkness he craved the sun, at last he reached consummation. Until […]
Dispensibility and Other Sorrows
Bravo to Roberta Smith, the New York Times art critic who journeyed to Boston this weekend to see firsthand just what was at stake with Brandeis’ decision to close the Rose Art Museum. Her report is a devastating one, revealing a process that is more egregious than I had previously realized. (You can read her […]
I See Trembling
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 […]
- 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 […]