Art & Perception

OK, this is a hoary topic vulnerable to nit-picking definitions and over-intellectualizing (not that those serve no purpose). But it was brought to mind today because of a comment from an artist (Molly Stevens) on an Ed Winkleman post: “Meaning is seen as romantic, outdated, idealist, basically corny.” This reminded me of Sunil’s and my own recent remarks of looking for meaning in abstraction, in counterbalance — not opposition — to June’s reveling while meaning is “beside the point.”

So my question is: what do you feel is the role of “meaning” in your own creative work? Do you have a goal or message or effect in mind while working that could be called meaningful? If so, is it perhaps a different kind of meaning from that which might be present in a more “traditional” work of art?

The world of the future will be organized around cooperating blocs of nations engaged in easy barter of goods and services engendered by commonly understood customs, laws and rituals. The European Union, Organization of African Unity, G8, SAARC, ASEAN are but some examples of such unions. This year the EU completed 50 years and one of the events to commemorate their anniversary was an art exhibition in Rome titled Capolavori dell’ Arte Europea (Masterpieces of European Art). The exhibition is on at the Quirinale Palace in Rome. 

The stipulation was that each country in the Union send artwork that best represents the nation in relation to the Union. An exercise in which an entire nation is asked to nominate a single piece of art is one fraught with acrimony, but it is pretty amazing what the EU can actually accomplish sometimes…
The choices were intriguing.

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I’ve just returned from my trip to Utah in pursuit of earlier denizens, the Anasazi. Like the proverbial tourist, I won’t know what it was like until I’ve seen my pictures. Not because I never took my camera from my eye — it was there less than 1% of the time — but because the trip is not over yet. I’m done exploring the canyons for now, but I’ve just begun to explore the latent content of my experiences and the images captured by my camera. That will take longer, and I know there’s plenty of discovery still to happen. Nevertheless, one idea can be identified that is not entirely a surprise.

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Painting From Life vs. From Photos

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To be an artist today is to confront continual uncertainty. There is economic uncertainty, and also uncertainty of purpose. Modern society seems to value art — art is preserved in museums, and purchased for large sums by “collectors.” And yet the typical artist is strangely disconnected from the top levels of success. Compare this with other professions. A competent pilot, trained at a good flight school, is more or less assured of a successful career. He or she might not get the opportunity to fly the biggest and newest commercial planes, or fancy jet fighters; but a stable career is a reasonable expectation, certainly compared to what an artist can hope for.

The profession of art has not always been so uncertain. For example, Cennino Cennini discusses the motivations of those entering the profession in his time (the 14th c.) “There are those who pursue it” he writes, “because of poverty and domestic need.” In 17th c. Holland, parents would encourage a talented son to pursue art as a profitable and respectable occupation. But nowadays, “poverty and domestic need” would better describe the results of becoming an artist, rather than causes for becoming one.

There is far more wealth in the world today to purchase art than in any time past. The difficult position of artist today is therefore something of a mystery.

If there is a general appreciation of art, and money to buy art, then why is it so difficult to fulfill the role of artist?

Are the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge queer?

In response to my “tribute” to the Empire State Building, Karl asked a simple question that caused me to do an extraordinary amount of thinking.  This post is the answer and it’s hardly a simple one.

I was gushing over my life-long fascination and love affair with the Empire State Building and its powerful iconic nature. Karl asked: “How much of your attraction to the building has to do with the architectural style itself? At first I couldn’t’ see how to separate the two but after a while it dawned on me that there was much more to the question than was immediately apparent.

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I do better work when I flow with rather than resist my passions. You are probably the
same. This winter my great passion was skiing.

I needed the exercise, for one. When I get out of shape, I lose my vim. When I lose my vim, I lose everything else. But exercise all by itself is boring, so doing something that is both fun and physically demanding is just the thing. This post asks no important questions. Probably, I should put it on my blog and not here, but I do share some photos for the first time, and I do get to an important theme to all artists at the end.

And yeah, this is a long post. But I’ve been gone. There’s some catching up to do.

 

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