Comments on: The Ratio Of Love To Pain: The Limits Of Criticism http://artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html a multi-disciplinary dialog Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:27:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Jay http://artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-91586 Jay Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:31:43 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-91586 McFawn: You would be referring to pulp fiction. McFawn:

You would be referring to pulp fiction.

]]> By: McFawn http://artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-91488 McFawn Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:18:07 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-91488 Speaking of meditative, slothful things, I used to take a piece of notebook paper and fold it and unfold it until it became so soft it was like tissue...this is what I did in school. I tried to impress my neighbors in study hall with it. It ended up being a good activity for a frustrated writer. Speaking of meditative, slothful things, I used to take a piece of notebook paper and fold it and unfold it until it became so soft it was like tissue…this is what I did in school. I tried to impress my neighbors in study hall with it.

It ended up being a good activity for a frustrated writer.

]]> By: Jay http://artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-91478 Jay Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:35:20 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-91478 McFawn: The DeKooning exercise would be useful if it were conducted entirely by hand with no tools. As a form of meditation it sounds like an Indian practice that I heard of in which a brick is made into a mirror through painstaking effort. Sloth may overcome ambition in which case I will content myself with thinking really hard about making the circular object. Truth be known, such a tightly crafted piece would start to go bad almost immediately - unless one were to introduce the element of distressing, thus creating a context of "once was faultless". I recall seeing an Ellsworth Kelly painting that had suffered a minor puncture wound. The whole effect was killed dead. Better, perhaps, that it had been used as a dart board so as to change the terms of its presentation. But I can get lost in a circular format: there's nothing much for my eyes to catch and mind and eye begin to swim about within. And, actually, making the thing would be utterly trivial. And I believe that the product would best be approached in a spirit of meditation; not looking for improvisation or surprise, but rather seeing it as a kind of blank upon which one might project one's musings about love and pain. McFawn:

The DeKooning exercise would be useful if it were conducted entirely by hand with no tools. As a form of meditation it sounds like an Indian practice that I heard of in which a brick is made into a mirror through painstaking effort.

Sloth may overcome ambition in which case I will content myself with thinking really hard about making the circular object. Truth be known, such a tightly crafted piece would start to go bad almost immediately - unless one were to introduce the element of distressing, thus creating a context of “once was faultless”. I recall seeing an Ellsworth Kelly painting that had suffered a minor puncture wound. The whole effect was killed dead. Better, perhaps, that it had been used as a dart board so as to change the terms of its presentation.

But I can get lost in a circular format: there’s nothing much for my eyes to catch and mind and eye begin to swim about within.

And, actually, making the thing would be utterly trivial. And I believe that the product would best be approached in a spirit of meditation; not looking for improvisation or surprise, but rather seeing it as a kind of blank upon which one might project one’s musings about love and pain.

]]> By: McFawn http://artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-91420 McFawn Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:45:43 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-91420 Jay--this reminds me of a post I wrote regarding <a href="http://www.litandart.com/2007/10/31/sphere-making/" rel="nofollow">the process</a> of trying to create a formally perfect sphere. As far as critiquing this, my only comment would be--is it worth making? The conversation and considerations about it almost make its physical existence superfluous. We get as much out of talking about it as we would out of seeing it. As for the process of making such a thing, the striving for an ideal might make it interesting, but a perfect red circle lacks the improvisation and element of surprise that makes most art worth making. A circle is so elemental--it is present in almost everything and therefore has no particular allegiance to anything. How could you give life to it? Jay–this reminds me of a post I wrote regarding the process of trying to create a formally perfect sphere. As far as critiquing this, my only comment would be–is it worth making? The conversation and considerations about it almost make its physical existence superfluous. We get as much out of talking about it as we would out of seeing it. As for the process of making such a thing, the striving for an ideal might make it interesting, but a perfect red circle lacks the improvisation and element of surprise that makes most art worth making.

A circle is so elemental–it is present in almost everything and therefore has no particular allegiance to anything. How could you give life to it?

]]> By: Jay http://artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-88708 Jay Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:06:07 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-88708 David: Something, then, like the ratio of size to profitability. David:

Something, then, like the ratio of size to profitability.

]]> By: David http://artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-88619 David Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:25:01 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-88619 Jay, I guess I've spent too much time in art galleries. When I see a red dot like that, all I can think is "sold". A big dot would mean a big sale :) Jay, I guess I’ve spent too much time in art galleries. When I see a red dot like that, all I can think is “sold”. A big dot would mean a big sale :)

]]> By: Jay http://artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-87966 Jay Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:26:52 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2008/03/the-ratio-of-love-to-pain-the-limits-of-criticism.html#comment-87966 Birgit: The shadow was added as a sign of impending thinghood. And while I haven't envisioned the plaque as spinning, it is an interesting notion. But if it spins for you as is, then we can dispense with the required mechanisms. For sure, the eye, or maybe our eyes, Birgit, tend to scan this object in circular motions, and may account in part for your and my kinetic response. "Geometry and art" might also transmute into "mathematics and art". I have been told that an elegant equation is a thing of beauty to a mathematician. As for "minimalism and poignancy", would you consider Malevich's black circle as being poignant, or is it the emotional connections of the title, The Ratio Of Love To Pain? Frankly, I could propose any number of dualities as virtual and undivided pie charts. Perhaps I am being called upon to go into Spencer Finch mode and put up a long row of circular disks, each with a title indicating a different blended duality. Heck, I could put up one disk and represent it as a pie chart that incorporates a puree of as many terms as the walls will hold. Just give it that slightly brownish color of the blended universe. D. Aren't we all? Birgit:

The shadow was added as a sign of impending thinghood. And while I haven’t envisioned the plaque as spinning, it is an interesting notion. But if it spins for you as is, then we can dispense with the required mechanisms. For sure, the eye, or maybe our eyes, Birgit, tend to scan this object in circular motions, and may account in part for your and my kinetic response.

“Geometry and art” might also transmute into “mathematics and art”. I have been told that an elegant equation is a thing of beauty to a mathematician. As for “minimalism and poignancy”, would you consider Malevich’s black circle as being poignant, or is it the
emotional connections of the title, The Ratio Of Love To Pain? Frankly, I could propose any number of dualities as virtual and undivided pie charts. Perhaps I am being called upon to go into Spencer Finch mode and put up a long row of circular disks, each with a title indicating a different blended duality. Heck, I could put up one disk and represent it as a pie chart that incorporates a puree of as many terms as the walls will hold. Just give it that slightly brownish color of the blended universe.

D.

Aren’t we all?

]]>