The abstraction is often the most definite form for the intangible thing in myself that I can clarify in paint.
Nothing is less real than realism…details are confusing…it is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis that we get at the real meaning of things.
I’m having trouble understanding the second quote. If it just read, “It is only by selection, by elimination…” I wouldn’t have any trouble with it. But “Nothing is less real than realism?” I’m lost. Maybe I need more context or something.
Tree,
I think she’s being a bit neo-platonic — as in, the things (details/bits and pieces) are not as real as the ideal form of them. O’Keefe’s words here are not a true neo-platonism, but they seem to come close.
Of course, she might also be being merely egotistical — when she says that only “by emphasis” do we get at the real meaning of things I want to ask who is doing the emphasizing….
But I see Steve is having a bit of pear envy.
I wish there was a larger version of the third red/yellow painting.
June,
I share your interest in the Red and Yellow Cliffs near Abiquiu. I grabbed one of my Georgia O’Keefe books to admire them more fully.
Having photographed water and sand for several weeks now, I am thirsting for pink and red!
I basically agree with June, except that it’s not necessarily the “ideal” form that O’Keefe is after, but rather the ideosyncratic form that is meaningful to her, the way that she represents the world she observes. She considers this a distilled, stronger version of “reality” than the original.
By the way, for those interested in such discussions, there was a related Winkleman post a few days ago regarding Richard Tuttle’s claim that art is the only way to experience reality.
Sorry I don’t have larger images; these were grabbed from the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, which appears to have a lame web site. But the pears struck me as timely, and the landscapes reminded me of June’s and mine and Karl’s backgrounds.
Back in my philistine, uses-her-eyes-only-to-keep-from-running-into-the door days, O’Keefe was one who made me stop thinking and take to looking. For that I’ll always be grateful.
Steve, I like your language –“the idiosyncratic form,” meaningful to the individual. Certainly her forms are strong. The difficulty for me now is that if you (me I mean) paint desert mountains and landscape in strong colors, you have to resist O’Keefeing them.
Reading more from the first quote
and then going for walk, looking at trees, dunes, sunspots reflecting through the clouds onto water and thinking about the quote was a rich experience. Thank you Steve.
Thanks everyone, that helps. There’s just so many ways to look at reality LOL
These quotes indicate to me the importance of being a good painter — you can say anything and it sounds interesting.
Karl,
HA! You’ve got it, although I wonder about the sequence — you become a good painter so you can say anything and sound good? Or you can anything and sound good if you are a good painter?
Maybe you become a good artist if you pursue interesting ideas with all your heart, whether or not they make sense to Karl.
Guys:
Would you agree that being good at something gives you three steps toward the door in reference to other things you may wish to do?
Steve,
Don’t you think that Richard Tuttle claim was too symptomatic and smacked a little
bit of rigid thinking?
what is the one with the two pears called ?
what does this quote mean overall “Detais are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis, that we get to the real meaning of things ” please help. thanks