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brabander, I was also enthralled
by that Van Eyck painting. I returned to it often when I was a young art student.
posted by
Cynthia
on March 20, 2005 at 6:31 AM
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It's incredible how two people looking at the same thing can have such a vastly different experience!
posted by
DarrkeThoughts
on March 14, 2005 at 8:21 AM
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For me it was that day when I went to the National Gallery in London and saw that painting by Van Eyck : "Arnolfini and his wife". When I left the museum, it was dark already and I noticed that I had been there for several hours.
Thanks for your beautiful piece on Christo and Central Park and congratulations on being a grandmother.
Dirk
posted by
brabander
on March 13, 2005 at 8:05 AM
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Eric Sloane used to rush his paintings out of his studio.
When finished, he wanted them out of his sight; one way to tell a real Sloane is that often the paint has glued the canvas or the Masonite to the frame, they were framed by him that fast. He likened seeing a completed painting to running into an ex-wife (and, since he had four by the time he died in the Eighties, one has to put some credence in that). He threw paintings out, and when people started going through his dumpster, he started burning them (the paintings, that is). He started going and retrieving completed works and burning them, fergoshsakes. Did I mention he'd been divorced four times? (;)>>>
posted by
majroj
on March 6, 2005 at 9:42 PM
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fwmystic, I agree, but I lost
a lot of momentum after the last election.
posted by
Cynthia
on March 6, 2005 at 3:15 PM
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Telynor, I have often found
your own struggle very inspiring.
posted by
Cynthia
on March 6, 2005 at 3:14 PM
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Majroj, exactly. My own painting,
no matter what others thought of it, seemed pointless to me, so I quit. People who knew me could not fathom that I could just stop, just like that.
posted by
Cynthia
on March 6, 2005 at 3:13 PM
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That comment, by the Republicans, that they are creating their own reality
smacks of Orwell's "1984." Unfortunately, there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. This mindset must be opposed.
posted by
fwmystic
on March 6, 2005 at 12:15 PM
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I found this to be a very remarkable entry. I've learnt the hard way that art is something I -have- to do, whether or not it is going to sell or not. It's the being able to express -something- that makes it worthwhile for me. And thank you for the very kind words, I needed them today.
posted by
telynor
on March 5, 2005 at 10:00 PM
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And it's pointless only if you think it is.
posted by
majroj
on March 5, 2005 at 8:49 PM
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Thanks...I guess.
??
posted by
majroj
on March 5, 2005 at 8:48 PM
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Cynthia, I don't paint if all I am doing is "chocolate-box" but sometimes I need/want to paint/write. There are many serious activities which are far more pointless. some of what I am paid to do is entirely pointless
posted by
Azur
on March 5, 2005 at 1:27 PM
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MayB, me too, plenty. I gave
up my own painting because I didn'y want to contribute any more to that pile of pointlessness.
posted by
Cynthia
on March 5, 2005 at 1:06 PM
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Majroj, I always find your comments
lead me somewhere.
posted by
Cynthia
on March 5, 2005 at 1:04 PM
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I have seen some entirely pointless art works in my time and I am grateful for that. What's worse is what's all too real--and pointless--like a lot of the killing going on.
posted by
Azur
on March 5, 2005 at 11:20 AM
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"Babel", eh?
1. And now they've sent George out of town for a couple of months.....
2. It scares me more when everyone's little brain bubble lines up with everyone else's. "Burn the witch". "Hang the nigger". "Stone the kike". "Burn the books". "Let's be nice to Hitler and he'll go away happy with Austria and Poland". "Allahu akhbar". "We all know women can't be trusted with..."(filll in the blank). "Retake the Holy Land". "Tutus are vermin". Because, since entropy always wins and the nice idea gets clonked by the violent one, us human weinies always get silly ideas and someone gets whacked.
2a. Except when it's MY ideas they espouse!
3. Cognitive incongruity. What if, in their brains, the beautiful flowing curtains actually DID look like flapping shower curtains?
4. As you say, good art creates controversy. As Robert Townsend said in "Up The Organization", if everybody's happy, then you are probably doing something wrong.
posted by
majroj
on March 5, 2005 at 10:35 AM
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