“Pale Pair (for Malevich)”, hand dyed wool on linen, by Altoon Sultan (Photo: Altoon Sultan) In recent years I’ve begun to think of all my various endeavors — painting, textiles, photography, blogging — as part of a whole artistic life, broader and more ordinary than my New York art-world life. I want to make art […]
Aesthetics
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Willing Magic
Agnes Martin at Dia:Beacon The etymology of the term “jaded” surprised me. It has been traced back to a 14th century Middle English word for a worn-out horse, one that can no longer pull a cart or work the fields. It is about being wearied, exhausted, spent, bored, out of juice. While the roots of […]
- Aesthetics
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Living Outside Interpretation
From “The Return” (Photo: Nathaniel Dorsky) Manohla Dargis has written a stop-in-your-tracks kind of piece about the filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky in the Sunday Times. His rhapsodic appreciation of a body of work completely captured me even though I have never had the oppoortunity to see any of Dorsky’s films. (His book, Devotional Cinema, is now […]
- Aesthetics
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Lawrence Rinder: Speaking My Language
Lawrence Rinder (Photo by Ben Blackwell) I was introduced to the writing of Lawrence Rinder through his very unexpected and engaging introduction to the book Tantra Song (and written about previously on Slow Muse here and here.) Although he comes to art writing with serious credentials (he was the curator for the 2002 Whitney Biennial), […]
- Aesthetics
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An Enormous Absence to be Filled
What catches the eye and entices the imagination is a mystery. What snags me and holds my attention is often a surprise. Why does India endlessly compel? Why are fluid dynamics and ferrofluids so mesmerizing? The landscape of the desert, what is it about that barrenness that keeps pulling me in? And what is it […]
Dreaming of Shambhala
Tangka from Seeking Shambhala (Photo: MFA) The MFA’s small show, Seeking Shambhala, is a quiet treasure chest opened up in a corner gallery of the Asian Wing. With a mythical utopian location at the heart of the exhibit, Shambhala (or as it is sometimes referenced in the West, Shangri-La) offers an open invitation to blend […]
Art for Anyone
There are a few voices in my world who consistently ring true, like that neighbor who puts things back into perspective after a robbery down the street has everyone unduly fixated on urban crime. Jerry Saltz is one of those guys in the art world, and I repeatedly find his “set it right” point of […]
Olitski: The Landscape of His Dreams
Greek Princess 8, 1976, Courtesy of Estate of Jules Olitski/Licensed by VAGA, New York, Photo by Lee Stalsworth Revelation: Major Paintings by Jules Olitski, is currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. (The show originated at the Kemper Art Museum in Kansas City, travels next to Toledo before opening within reach of […]
- Aesthetics
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The Constellation of Things
The Yearling, by Donald Lipski, now installed in Denver In David Levi Strauss’ book, From Head to Hand, he begins the chapter on sculptor Donald Lipski with three quotes and this paragraph: The only works of art America has given are her plumbing and her bridges. –The Blind Man (1917) Why not look at the […]
- Aesthetics
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The Eye is Part of the Mind
Untitled (Seven Mountains) by Ursula von Rydingsvard (Photo by Ben Aqua) In the introduction to David Levi Strauss‘ book From Head to Hand: Art and the Manual, he points out that “in an increasingly mediated world, one of the most radical things artists can do is to use their hands.” He goes on to quote […]