It is a perennially woolly question: What makes a work of art stand up and stand out? This query came to mind while reading two recent reviews by Pulitzer prize winning art critic Sebastian Smee in the Washington Post. He veers in two very different directions, from a carefully articulated dissatisfaction with the Cecily Brown […]
Spiritual
Reconsidering the Spiritual
In a recent Washington Post opinion essay, Rebecca Solnit addressed the defeated, Sturm und Drang tone that dominates conversations about planetary extinction. Most of us have been operating from the assumption that a healthy future means giving up things and conveniences we love, then living lives of austerity. But what if it meant giving up […]
Maps, Territories and Mind Drift
Territory I could get lost in, with a map or without (Southern Utah, near Boulder) The texture of every day consciousness has changed dramatically over the last two years for most people with whom I share my life. We are like patients whose vitals don’t make any sense—some of the indicators are healthy and hopeful, […]
- Aesthetics
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The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art: Daylighting an Underground River
Charlene Spretnak is a scholar who has blended interests. She has written books on ecology, ecofeminism, politics (she is a cofounder of the Green Party in the US), art, and spirituality. With a formidable CV and a demonstrated knowledge of art and art history (she has taught art history, inter alia, at the California Institute […]
Consciousness of the Mountain
The poet Robert Hass has won the National Book Award, The National Book Critics Circle award and the Pulitzer Prize. I have admired his work for some time. So when a good friend enthusiastically suggested that I explore some of his prose as well, I took her up on it. What Light Can Do: Essays […]
- Antiquities
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Powers of Life and Death
Lights at a roadside shrine In his introduction to Tantra Song (written about previously here) Lawrence Rinder invites us into the world of Tantric images by describing how he feels when he is out in the countryside, looking at the trees and the stars: I have little idea what I am looking at, even though […]
Standing Alone: More on Solitude
The view of Coolidge Point near Manchester Massachusetts and home to my friend Laurel, a hermit artist extraordinaire. Being a 21st century Thoreauian is a singular stance. More on the theme of isolation, solitude, quiet (see the earlier post Where it Works.) Online artists and friends Walt Pascoe, Luke Storms and Holly Friesen directed me […]
Mind-In-Making
Monologue of Ice, 24 Hours, by Atta Kim This is a follow on to my earlier post about Grain of Emptiness at the Rubin Museum, a show that features works by artists who have been influenced and inspired by Buddhism. From the catalog introduction by Mary Jane Jacob: To make the most of experience and […]
In Praise of Everyday Living
Partially frozen fountain at Ojo Caliente, New Mexico I am in a bit of a detached and quiet place these days, a state of mind that is drawing me to Zen concepts, Zen words. One of my daily rituals when I arrive at the studio is to flip open Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the Tao […]
The Complex Whole
Monastery in Ladakh, 2008 Terrance Keenan’s book, St. Nadie in Winter: Zen Encounters with Loneliness, has been my companion while traveling for the last few days. An enigmatic mix of Zen wisdom—part personal memoir, poetry and recovery confessional—Keenan has offered me a rich variation on that unique conversation that can happen with a book. Early […]