Desert “We have to be in a desert, for he whom we must love is absent.” –Simone Weil Early morning and the mist, saturated with light, obscures the disappearing powerlines. A damp obscurity but a desert nonetheless: birds that fly into it lose their bodies and survive as the songs of birds, the tallest locust […]
Art
It Isn’t About What is Seen
Artist Agnes Martin, 1912-2004 Another thank you to Pam Farrell for leading me to artist Susan York’s account of her relationship with the legendary Agnes Martin. I’ve included the text at the end of this post. It offers a compelling window into Martin’s way of seeing the world. Martin is a quirky but powerful presence […]
- Art Making
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Joined at the Metaphysical Hip
Pam Farrell wrote a provocative piece on her excellent blog, P Farrell artblog, that explores the relationship between the artist and the studio. (Anyone interested in this discussion should go to her site and consider participating in a challenge she has posted.) Part of every artist’s consciousness, the space where the work gets done holds […]
Art as Gift
My son harbors the secret hope that the meltdown of the world’s financial markets will shift the mindset of this nation and the world to a much-needed consciousness of sustainability. I see that possibility too, convinced that these great swings into the dark end of the spectrum can also initiate a great swing into the […]
Election Day Ponderings: Art, Empathy and Politics
Can you tell that I can’t think about anything other than this election? Until this contest is over, that’s the only channel I’m on. To continue on the theme of my posting below, here is a provocative piece by John Stoehr from the excellent blog, Flyover. This adds yet another dimension to the discussion of […]
Subservient to Painting…More on Saville
I’m still on a Jenny Saville bender (see post below)…Here are a few passages from an interview with Saville conducted by Suzie Mackenzie of the Guardian. I found these passages provocative and insightful. She attributes the early “fascination with fat” to sitting on the floor watching her piano teacher. “From below she had these big, […]
This Ain’t No Hobby, Investment or a Career
I have a lot of artist friends who are dedicated, hardworking and optimistic about their work. But when it comes to the vicissitudes of the larger world, they are ass-dragging pessimists. And it is understandable, given an art world that lavishly (and to a certain extent, randomly) rewards a few practitioners but leaves the majority […]
- Aesthetics
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Gillian Jagger: In Between
Installation at Violet Ray Gallery One of the old lions of the art world, Gillian Jagger, got a high five from John Perreault’s Artopia this week. She IS amazing. Can an artist be too original, too ambitious? Gillian Jagger, in my book, is truly an original, one of the most original artists I have ever […]
Inbreath, and Out
Installation views With curator Kate Fleming Friday night was the artist reception for my show at 38 Cameron Gallery in Cambridge. It was a wonderful night for me, full of feelings of gratitude, camaraderie, completion. So many elements came together to make this night memorable–Kate Fleming’s exceptional curating, the dedicated staff at 38, the lively […]
- Art Making
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The Thinking Gaze
The Frieze Fair, the UK’s biggest art fair, is currently open in London. A lot of the coverage of this high profile event has focused on how the global financial crisis will impact high roller art sales. That’s not the channel I’m watching, but a recent article in the Guardian by Sarah Thorton had something […]