James Freeman on fri 17 dec 10
The topic of what is and what is not art has come up on ClayArt
numerous times, and I must confess that it is one of my favorite
topics. Offered without comment is the following news release:
"Arguments about what does or doesn't constitute art come and go all
the time, but it's rare that an aesthetic judgment actually acquires
the force of law. But that's exactly what happened when the European
Commission ruled that installations by Dan Flavin and Bill Viola
cannot be classified as "art" by the galleries importing them. Instead
of being subject to the five percent VAT (value-added tax) on
artworks, such pieces will be taxed at the standard VAT, which will
rise to 20 percent in 2011.
The issue first arose when Haunch of Venison imported six disassembled
video installations by Viola into the United Kingdom in 2006 and also
sought to import a light sculpture by Flavin"
...and further:
"In its decision, the European Commission describes the Flavin work as
having "the characteristics of lighting fittings... and is therefore
to be classified... as wall lighting fittings."
..and:
"the commission stated that Viola's video-sound installation cannot be
considered sculpture "as it is not the installation that constitutes a
'work of art' but the result of the operations (the light effect)
carried out by it."
One is reminded of the first Brancusi piece to be imported to the
U.S., which was held up at Customs because the import documents
described the contents as "art" while the crate contained something
that was not art, which was finally cleared for import as "scrap
metal".
Just sharing.
...James
James Freeman
"...outsider artists, caught in the bog of their own consciousness,
too preciously idiosyncratic to be taken seriously."
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice.=3DA0 I
should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
Wes Rolley on fri 17 dec 10
James,
While this is apparently not the object of your post, I have seen some
of Flavin's work that would seem to indicate that the EUC got it right.
The "works" best functioned to illuminate the rest of the exhibit.
See... even minimalist art can be functional.
> Posted by: "James Freeman" jamesfreemanstudio@GMAIL.COM
> %20%22Not%20Art%22%2C%20now%20it%27s%20law%21>
>
> Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:09 am (PST)
>
> The topic of what is and what is not art has come up on ClayArt
> numerous times, and I must confess that it is one of my favorite
> topics. Offered without comment is the following news release:
>
> "Arguments about what does or doesn't constitute art come and go all
> the time, but it's rare that an aesthetic judgment actually acquires
> the force of law. But that's exactly what happened when the European
> Commission ruled that installations by Dan Flavin and Bill Viola
> cannot be classified as "art" by the galleries importing them. Instead
> of being subject to the five percent VAT (value-added tax) on
> artworks, such pieces will be taxed at the standard VAT, which will
> rise to 20 percent in 2011.
ivor and olive lewis on sat 18 dec 10
Dear James Freeman,
Customs officers have to earn their income by applying the highest rate of
commission (VAT, Customs Duty etc.)on what moves from outside the EU to
within the EU. I am sure this is a universal principle within all customs
jurisdictions. Metaphysical objects do not raise the same income as concret=
e
things. It's a game all governments play.
Merry Christmas.
Ivor Lewis,
REDHILL,
South Australia
Larry Kruzan on sat 18 dec 10
Oh my goodness.... The question "What or Why is art????" is like catnip to
this crowd. Now I'm not saying that is a bad thing - but, can we please kee=
p
it within the lines of discussing art that we (the great unwashed that do
not read EVERYTHING the all the art critics write) can find in common
references.
"...Can't tell the players without a scorecard" and such comments.
I for one need the help. Thank you for the Duchamp "touch stone" - I found
the picture of the "Urinal" fun - afraid that I'm not very deep when it
comes to art criticism. Either I like it and want to have it in my home to
enjoy - or - I want use it to catch the oil dripping from the motor of my
van, or to fill the sinkhole in the "back 40". Of the two divisions I would
pile the majority today's art into, based on my visit to "The Walker" this
past spring, the sinkhole.
I am a simple man who spends his time playing in the mud or with fire, the
precepts of higher artistic criticism elude me, but I am trying with your
help. I have dug my Art History textbooks out of the bottom of the bookcase
and await your guidance. Fire away my friends, we are ready.
Larry Kruzan
Lost Creek Pottery
www.lostcreekpottery.com
Fred Parker on sat 18 dec 10
SIGH...
Yet another argument for limiting government...
Fred Parker
On Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:23:46 -0500, James Freeman
wrote:
>The topic of what is and what is not art has come up on ClayArt
>numerous times, and I must confess that it is one of my favorite
>topics. Offered without comment is the following news release:
>
>"Arguments about what does or doesn't constitute art come and go all
>the time, but it's rare that an aesthetic judgment actually acquires
>the force of law. But that's exactly what happened when the European
>Commission ruled that installations by Dan Flavin and Bill Viola
>cannot be classified as "art" by the galleries importing them.
SNIP
Randall Moody on sat 18 dec 10
We really haven't known what is art since Duchamp screwed it up for everyon=
e.
--
Randall in Atlanta
http://wrandallmoody.com
Lee Love on sat 18 dec 10
For the MingeiSota show in Nikko in 1998, we were asked not to send
"sets" because a snap judgement might delegate the work as dinnerware
instead of "art" and then be subjected to an import tariff that art is
not subjected to. We also had to include the recipes for our glazes.
It worked in the opposite direction too. One of the last
shows my teacher had at the Pucker Gallery in Boston was held up in
customs and the inspector insisted that an import duty be paid. The
gallery knew the inspector was wrong, but paid the duty so the pots
could be release for the show and then made a claim and got the duty
back later.
It is called civilization. If we all acted like N. Korea,
we really couldn't do international business.
--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
James Freeman on sat 18 dec 10
On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 1:31 PM, Randall Moody wr=
=3D
ote:
> We really haven't known what is art since Duchamp screwed it up for every=
=3D
one.
>
Randall...
I think Raphael screwed it up long before Duchamp, with his saccharine
little angels and babies and cherubs and such. I look at him as the
Thomas Kinkade of his day!
...James (Who is ducking and covering now, lest the art gods smite him
for heresy!)
James Freeman
"...outsider artists, caught in the bog of their own consciousness,
too preciously idiosyncratic to be taken seriously."
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice.=3DA0 I
should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
Tom Gordon on sat 18 dec 10
Now it's all Duchamps fault?
Awww come on he had to do something with that used urinal since the city
dump wasn't taking them that month!
In a message dated 12/18/2010 7:54:51 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
randall.moody@GMAIL.COM writes:
We really haven't known what is art since Duchamp screwed it up for
everyone.
--
Randall in Atlanta
http://wrandallmoody.com
Vince Pitelka on sat 18 dec 10
Randall Moody wrote:
"We really haven't known what is art since Duchamp screwed it up for
everyone."
Hi Randall -
I think a better way to put it is that the conservative academics (referrin=
g
to the art academy) who determined acceptable content and style in the salo=
n
exhibitions thought they knew what art was until Duchamp opened up such a
magnificent world of possibility.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
Lee Love on sun 19 dec 10
On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 8:35 PM, Tom Gordon wrote:
> Now it's all Duchamps fault?
I never thought it was Duchamp's fault. When he did what
he did, it was original. It is the same with someone like Voulkos.
He was making an original statement.
What isn't original are all the folks who copy the innovators without
adding anything new.
Voulkos was an innovator. Folks who copy him are not.
--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
Lee Love on sun 19 dec 10
On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 7:56 PM, James Freeman
wrote:
>
> I think Raphael screwed it up long before Duchamp, with his saccharine
> little angels and babies and cherubs and such. =3DA0I look at him as the
> Thomas Kinkade of his day!
So who did you like from Raphael's time? Michael Angelo? Probably
not, he did angels.
Can you say something amusing about Rembrant?
I guess when you stand on the shoulders of giants, it is easy
to crap on them. ;^)
--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
Larry Kruzan on sun 19 dec 10
-----Original Message-----
I guess when you stand on the shoulders of giants, it is easy
to crap on them. ;^)
Lee,
-----------------------
Now, THAT=3D92S a technique for higher art criticism!!!!! I thought my =3D
drippy
oil pan was being sharp tongued - Lee has humbled me.
Back to my textbooks.
Larry Kruzan
Lost Creek Pottery
www.lostcreekpottery.com
=3DA0=3D20
James Freeman on sun 19 dec 10
On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 1:26 AM, Lee Love wrote:
>
> So who did you like from Raphael's time? Michael Angelo? Probably
> not, he did angels.
>
> Can you say something amusing about Rembrant?
>
> I guess when you stand on the shoulders of giants, it is easy
> to crap on them. ;^)
>
Lee...
I typically do not see any of your posts, having blocked them through
gmail some months ago, and only hear your words when someone happens
to quote a snippet of your sage words in their own post. In this
instance, someone forwarded this one to me, believing that I should
read it.
Can you please tell me what the little ASCII winky-face is supposed to
signify? ;^) Is it intended to mean "I don't really mean the snarky
crap I just said", sort of like a gentle punch in the arm from a
friend who has given one a ribbing, or is it supposed to say "I DO
mean the snarky crap I just said, and I am oh so clever for having
said it"? I know that an ASCII smiley-face after an insult means "I
meant what I said, but I am pretending that it was all in good fun so
I don't look like a jerk", but I just can't figure out your
winky-face.
Finally, though it has been said at least 17 million times (I went
through the archives and counted), you have COMPLETELY missed the
point. It may behoove you to actually read the threads you are
responding to prior to responding. :-)
All the best.
...James
James Freeman
"...outsider artists, caught in the bog of their own consciousness,
too preciously idiosyncratic to be taken seriously."
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice.=3DA0 I
should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
Lee Love on sun 19 dec 10
2010/12/19 Ric Swenson :
>You should do some research before shooting you mouth off..
Very good advice!
> =3DA0Dutch?=3DA0 THEY invented the toilet flusher? The Dutch?
Ric, you asked for the origin (etymology) of the word crap.
crap
"defecate" 1846 (v.), 1898 (n.), from one of a cluster of words
generally applied to things cast off or discarded (e.g. "weeds growing
among corn" (early 15c.), "residue from renderings" (late 15c.),
underworld slang for "money" (18c.), and in Shropshire, "dregs of beer
or ale"), all probably from M.E. crappe "grain that was trodden
underfoot in a barn, chaff" (mid-15c.), from M.Fr. crape "siftings,"
from O.Fr. crappe, from M.L. crappa, crapinum "chaff." Sense of
"rubbish, nonsense" also first recorded 1898. Despite folk etymology
insistence, not from Thomas Crapper (1837-1910) who was, however, a
busy plumber and may have had some minor role in the development of
modern toilets. The name Crapper is a northern form of Cropper
(attested from 1221), an occupational surname, obviously, but the
exact reference is unclear.
--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
Lee Love on sun 19 dec 10
On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 7:56 AM, James Freeman
wrote:
>>
>> =3DA0 Can you say something amusing about Rembrant?
>>
> =3DA0 =3DA0 =3DA0 =3DA0 I guess when you stand on the shoulders of giants=
, it is =3D
easy
> to crap on them. =3DA0;^)
James, ;^) means what is said is said in humor..
--
=3DA0Lee Love in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3DA0"Ta tIr na n-=3DF3g ar chul an tI=3D97tIr dlainn trina ch=3DE9ile"=3D9=
7that is, =3D
"The
land of eternal youth is behind the house, a beautiful land fluent
within itself." -- John O'Donohue
steve graber on sun 19 dec 10
Today=3DE2=3D80=3D99s los angeles times has a =3DE2=3D80=3D9Cnice=3DE2=3D80=
=3D9Darticle about=3D
a guy who uses Panda =3D0Aexcrement to sculpt various works.=3DC2=3DA0 So =
honest=3D
ly, you can truly say his work =3D0Alooks like s#!t and get away with it!=
=3DC2=3D
=3DA0 =3D0A=3D0A=3DC2=3DA0=3D0Ahttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/worl=
d/la-fg-pand=3D
a-art-20101219,0,7681559.story=3D0A=3D0A=3DC2=3DA0=3D0A=3DE2=3D80=3D9CChine=
se sculptor Zhu =3D
Cheng says his replica of Venus de Milo crafted from panda =3D0Apoo was ins=
pi=3D
red by the contrast of the preciousness of pandas and the =3D0Aprodigious a=
mo=3D
unt of waste the creatures produce.=3DE2=3D80=3D9D=3D0A=3DC2=3DA0Steve Grab=
er, Graber's=3D
Pottery, Inc=3D0AClaremont, California USA=3D0AThe Steve Tool - for awesom=
e te=3D
xture on pots! =3D0Awww.graberspottery.com steve@graberspottery.com =3D0A=
=3D0A=3D0A=3D
On Laguna Clay's website=3D0Ahttp://www.lagunaclay.com/blogs/ =3D0A=3D0A=3D=
0A=3D0A---=3D
-- Original Message ----=3D0A> From: Vince Pitelka =3D=
0A> =3D
To: Clayart@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG=3D0A> Sent: Sat, December 18, 2010 7:28:04 PM=
=3D0A=3D
> Subject: Re: "Art" and "Not Art", now it's law!=3D0A> =3D0A> Randall Mood=
y wr=3D
ote:=3D0A> "We really haven't known what is art since Duchamp screwed it up=
f=3D
or=3D0A> everyone."=3D0A> =3D0A> Hi Randall -=3D0A> I think a better way to=
put it =3D
is that the conservative academics (referring=3D0A> to the art academy) who=
d=3D
etermined acceptable content and style in the salon=3D0A> exhibitions thoug=
ht=3D
they knew what art was until Duchamp opened up such a=3D0A> magnificent wo=
rl=3D
d of possibility.=3D0A> - Vince=3D0A> =3D0A> Vince Pitelka=3D0A> Appalachia=
n Center=3D
for Craft=3D0A> Tennessee Tech University=3D0A> vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpite=
lka@=3D
tntech.edu=3D0A> http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka=3D0A> =3D0A=3D0A=3D0A
Lee Love on sun 19 dec 10
On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 4:54 PM, steve graber wrote:
> Today=3D92s los angeles times has a =3D93nice=3D94article about a guy who=
uses =3D
Panda
> excrement to sculpt various works.=3DA0 So honestly, you can truly say hi=
s =3D
work
> looks like s#!t and get away with it!
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-panda-art-20101219,0,76=
=3D
81559.story
Doesn't seem to be original in any way.
--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
Linda white on mon 20 dec 10
Lee,
Where'd you get the etymology for crap? My husband (an editor and
writer) wants to know. He says he's had difficulty finding it.
Linda White
LickHaven Pottery
Lee Love on mon 20 dec 10
I don't have OED. That'd be the best place to look. But I found it here=
=3D
:
http://www.etymonline.com/
When you put etymology in Google, it is the first link that shows up.
I have used it before, very handy! Enjoy!
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=3D3Dcrap
Lee
On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 9:02 AM, Linda white wrote:
> Lee,
>
> Where'd you get the etymology for crap? My husband (an editor and writer)
> wants to know. He says he's had difficulty finding it.
>
--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
James Freeman on mon 20 dec 10
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=3D3Dcrap
...James
James Freeman
"...outsider artists, caught in the bog of their own consciousness,
too preciously idiosyncratic to be taken seriously."
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice.=3DA0 I
should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:02 AM, Linda white wrote:
> Lee,
>
> Where'd you get the etymology for crap? My husband (an editor and
> writer) wants to know. He says he's had difficulty finding it.
>
> Linda White
> LickHaven Pottery
>
Lee Love on mon 20 dec 10
I saw this at the Victoria and Albert in London:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/49/186494953_9f20bc573c_o.jpg
eff Koons. Diamond (Pink), installed in the John Madejski Garden, V&A
South Kensington, London.
--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
Eric Hansen on mon 20 dec 10
Duchamp only made 3 or 4 pieces - how could that be so catastrophic??
- h -
On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 1:31 PM, Randall Moody wr=
ote:
> We really haven't known what is art since Duchamp screwed it up for every=
one.
>
>
> --
> Randall in Atlanta
> http://wrandallmoody.com
>
--
Eric Alan Hansen
Stonehouse Studio Pottery
Alexandria, Virginia
americanpotter.blogspot.com
thesuddenschool.blogspot.com
hansencookbook.blogspot.com
"Simplify, simplify, simplify" - Thoreau
Tom Gordon on tue 21 dec 10
Duchamp may have produced only a few pieces of work however his Nude
Descending a Staircase was the painting which caused me to finally start
"seeing" art. 1969, while working at the then Grant Park Zoo a day off, I=
was
wondering through downtown Atlanta and stepped into a museum for want of
anything better to do, I remember the moment as if it were yesterday. Ama=
zing
how a single piece of work can rock ones world. I am not much of a fan of
the cubist movement nor the Dadaist or Surrealist work. That one painting
though ignited a spark of understanding where I fully saw what the artist
was driving at.
I am curious do other people have such a moment and what was the work?
Tom
In a message dated 12/20/2010 4:28:19 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
eric.hambone.hansen@GMAIL.COM writes:
Duchamp only made 3 or 4 pieces - how could that be so catastrophic??
- h -
On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 1:31 PM, Randall Moody
wrote:
> We really haven't known what is art since Duchamp screwed it up for
everyone.
>
>
> --
> Randall in Atlanta
> http://wrandallmoody.com
>
--
Eric Alan Hansen
Stonehouse Studio Pottery
Alexandria, Virginia
americanpotter.blogspot.com
thesuddenschool.blogspot.com
hansencookbook.blogspot.com
"Simplify, simplify, simplify" - Thoreau
James Freeman on tue 21 dec 10
On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 9:04 AM, Tom Gordon wrote:
> Duchamp may have produced only a few pieces of work however his Nude
> Descending a Staircase was the painting which caused me to finally start
> "seeing" art. 1969, while working at the then Grant Park Zoo a day off,=
=3D
I was
> wondering through downtown Atlanta and stepped into a museum for want of
> anything better to do, I remember the moment as if it were yesterday. A=
=3D
mazing
> how a single piece of work can rock ones world. I am not much of a fan =
=3D
of
> the cubist movement nor the Dadaist or Surrealist work. That one painti=
=3D
ng
> though ignited a spark of understanding where I fully saw what the artis=
=3D
t
> was driving at.
>
> I am curious do other people have such a moment and what was the work?
>
Tom...
I had a similar experience with Van Gogh's Starry Night. I had never
been a fan of Van Gogh's work. Saw lots of reproductions of his
paintings in books and magazines, posters and prints, but it never
really did anything for me. A number of years ago, while spending
some time in Amsterdam, I visited the Van Gogh Museum. I wandered
around, and finally found myself alone in a room with Starry Night.
The painting was just hanging on the wall, nothing else around it, no
glass, no velvet ropes, nothing. I was utterly transfixed. I
understood instantly that Van Gogh's work cannot be reproduced, in the
same way that a photograph of a steak cannot provide nourishment. The
painting sucks you right in, and you find yourself tracing every
whorl, feeling every stab of the brush (brushstroke is not an apt
term). You become part of the story, party to Van Gogh's mental
state. It became clear that these paintings were not impressionism,
not abstractions in any way, but accurate depictions of the world as
it is, experienced by a struggling soul.
I left with a new found understanding and appreciation of the raw, the
elemental, the genuine work of a human being struggling to make a
mark, which appreciation spilled over into music, design, craft, food
and drink, and a million other things. This stuff was REAL, raw
emotion, raw human feeling, and left me utterly cold to the mental
masturbation of intellectually and conceptually based work. I often
say that I am "art impaired", but that is not really a fair
assessment. I think it is more accurately a strong focus on and
preference for what this human being believes to be genuinely human
work and expression.
Enough mushy blather for now. The studio awaits.
All the best.
...James
James Freeman
"...outsider artists, caught in the bog of their own consciousness,
too preciously idiosyncratic to be taken seriously."
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice.=3DA0 I
should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
Lee Love on tue 21 dec 10
On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 8:04 AM, Tom Gordon wrote:
> I am curious do other people have such a moment and what was the =3DA0wor=
k?
Unwrapping my teacher's collection of Sung and Korean Choson pottery.
I was taken by two Korean Pilgrim flasks. I'd seen them in books
and in cases in museums, but I finally got a change to hold them.
--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
Vince Pitelka on tue 21 dec 10
Thinking back, I can't identify a particular primary experience viewing a
work of art that really opened up my eyes to art, but I can mention a few
that helped in that direction.
Who was it that said Marcel Duchamp only did three or four pieces? The
Philadelphia Museum of Art has in excess of 55 pieces of his work in the
Arensberg Collection, plus vast amounts of print documentation, etc., and
other major American museums have examples as well. At the time Duchamp wa=
s
producing work and offending the art world, Paris condemned and shunned his
work while collectors elsewhere were buying it, especially Walter and Louis=
e
Arensberg. In the early 50s the Arensbergs donated their entire collection
of over 1000 works of art (including most of what Marcel Duchamp made), to
the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It had first been promised to UCLA, who
failed to build an appropriate museum within the stipulated time-frame. I
bet they are still kicking themselves for that blunder.
At any rate, I first visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1986 just
after starting graduate school. I had driven down there to help a friend d=
o
the Philadelphia Craft Show at the old Armory. I had seen images of a the
seminal Duchamp pieces in art history class, and an undergrad sculpture
teacher taught us about Duchamp and Man Ray and the Dada Movement, but
nothing could have prepared me for seeing such a collection of his work in
person. It had a powerful impact on me, and opened up my mind to a
far-broader range of possibility in 2-D and 3-D art.
Someone on the list made a disparaging comment about Raphael, and while he
was certainly a very fashionable painter in his time, there is no denying
his genius, and comparing him with Thomas Kinkaid is just plain foolish. I
was certainly impressed by "School of Athens" and other examples of his wor=
k
seen projected on a big screen in art history, but otherwise had not paid
him much attention until I found myself standing in front of one of his man=
y
executions of the Madonna and Child at the Norton Simon in Pasadena. Now, =
I
would not have expected yet ANOTHER Madonna and Child image to affect me so
powerfully. It had nothing at all to do with the subject matter, but rather
with the execution. The image was absolutely ALIVE. It breathed. It
reached out and grabbed me in a visceral way that is very difficult to
describe.
I have to admit to being a sucker for Albert Bierstadt's grand panoramas of
the American West, and I do love standing in front of those amazing images
of Yosemite Valley or the Rocky Mountains. But however powerful they are
now, we can only imagine what they would have been like to someone in the
1860s viewing the painting at the Metropolitan in NYC, with no such thing a=
s
movies, television, or even color photography. However powerful and
visceral our reaction to some of these works, we can only imagine what it
might have been like for those living in an age of so much less media
onslaught.
But regarding images that helped teach me to see, there is one particularly
important experience. In a class on 19th-Century European Art, early in th=
e
semester we received an assignment to go to one of the local art museums
(Smith, Mt. Holyoke, and Amherst Colleges all had excellent museums) and
select a painting or sculpture from the appropriate time frame and from an
artist of whom we had no knowledge at all, and write a paper on the work
based purely on our visual response. I chose a "forest interior" by the
lesser-known Barbizon painter Narcisse Virgil Diaz de la Pena. The work
grabbed me right away as a very well-executed image showing a lot of mood
and atmosphere, but I spent a good hour and a half examining it and taking
notes. I climbed into that painting and explored it, background,
foreground, light and shadow, color, patter, structural composition. It wa=
s
time very well spent. We are not conditioned to do that today, because we
expect to remain passive while the media actively entertains us.
Appreciating paintings and sculpture takes a lot more work than that, and b=
y
extension I guess I would say that active seeing involves a lot more work,
and must be done proactively rather than passively. That may be the most
important condition for learning to "see" art.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
David Martin Hershey on wed 22 dec 10
Hi Tom,
Age 12.
NYC. MOMA.
Picasso: Girl before a Mirror
and Three Musicians.
I saw those, I got it-
and knew right then
that I wanted to be an artist.
And for better, or for worse,
that's what I did...
Best, DMH
David Martin Hershey
DMH Studio + Design
2629 Manhattan Ave #137
Hermosa Beach CA USA
90254-2447 424.241.3809
http://www.dmhstudio.com/
http://www.obamacardgold.com
http://www.winetastingtrolley.com/
On 12/21/2010 6:04 AM, Tom Gordon wrote:
> I am curious do other people have such a moment and what was the work
Johanna San Inocencio on wed 22 dec 10
When I was 15, our class went on a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts =
=3D
Boston. Standing in a room, completely surrounded by Claude Monet's =3D
Water Lilies I was awestruck. These canvases of a still and calm scene, =3D
were completely alive with vibrant waves of colored brushstrokes. I =3D
would walk right up to the canvases and everything was lively color, the =
=3D
I would step back and be enveloped by the serenity.
Another aha moment was viewing Theo Van Doesburg's compositions from =3D
1917 and 1918. I always had difficulty understanding abstract art. =3D
Seeing how he went from a simple drawing of a cow, to Composition VIII =3D
opened my mind. You can see the images on MOMA's site here:
=3D
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=3D3DO%3AAD%3AE%3=
A=3D
6076&page_number=3D3D&template_id=3D3D6&sort_order=3D3D1
Johanna
On Dec 21, 2010, at 8:04 AM, Tom Gordon wrote:
> Duchamp may have produced only a few pieces of work however his Nude
> Descending a Staircase was the painting which caused me to finally =3D
start
> "seeing" art. 1969, while working at the then Grant Park Zoo a day =3D
off, I was
> wondering through downtown Atlanta and stepped into a museum for want =
=3D
of
> anything better to do, I remember the moment as if it were yesterday. =
=3D
Amazing
> how a single piece of work can rock ones world. I am not much of a =3D
fan of
> the cubist movement nor the Dadaist or Surrealist work. That one =3D
painting
> though ignited a spark of understanding where I fully saw what the =3D
artist
> was driving at.
>=3D20
> I am curious do other people have such a moment and what was the =3D
work?
>=3D20
> Tom
>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
> In a message dated 12/20/2010 4:28:19 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> eric.hambone.hansen@GMAIL.COM writes:
>=3D20
> Duchamp only made 3 or 4 pieces - how could that be so catastrophic??
>=3D20
> - h -
>=3D20
> On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 1:31 PM, Randall Moody =3D
> wrote:
>> We really haven't known what is art since Duchamp screwed it up for
> everyone.
>>=3D20
>>=3D20
>> --
>> Randall in Atlanta
>> http://wrandallmoody.com
>>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
>=3D20
> --
> Eric Alan Hansen
> Stonehouse Studio Pottery
> Alexandria, Virginia
> americanpotter.blogspot.com
> thesuddenschool.blogspot.com
> hansencookbook.blogspot.com
> "Simplify, simplify, simplify" - Thoreau
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