Kim’s
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(group member since Oct 09, 2008)
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Hi Brianna, Welcome! Great to have on board. I'll see if I can find something that fits your categories. In the meantime, feel free to jump into the latest discussion or suggest a read! I agree, btw, I am an avid reader and art critic. Reading inspires me to write more, as does seeing great shows. I enjoy doing a deep dive and am currently right in the middle of one now.
Looking forward to your input!
Hi Dan, Great! Yes, I agree, it's a great quote. I'll pick it back up. I stopped since there was lack of interest. I'll post about it this weekend. Let me know if you've gotten further. It's fascinating to me as well. A different time and sensibility...
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," quoth Juliette. And so it is fitting to say, “Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means...”― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
What does Beauty mean? Or, rather, what does Beauty mean to the Medieval mind? If a rose is the symbol of Beauty then it must be a "reflection of the transcendent world" as it belongs to Nature. The Medieval mind, however is complex because at the same time that Beauty is spiritual it is also experiential, a duality that is in itself a beautiful thing, at least in my mind, because it imbues in Nature an element of the sublime, which as a landscape painter, I have experienced on an early morning facing east to catch the first golden rays of morning.
To say it's been awhile would be a gross exaggeration. I'm determined to get back to the fundamentals...my love of reading and talking about art. Anyone game? Whether or not, I shall begin. “Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
It's been a minute. I moved to NYC, got my MFA, became an art writer, painter, curator and now teacher as well. It's a crazy life but it keeps me off the streets. Meanwhile, I've amassed more books about art than I can shake a stick at. I read them, I include them in writing but what I'm really interested in is having a dialogue about them. I'd love to reignite this forum and share what I have as well as hear your thoughts and selections. Is there interest out there in the ether to reopen this conversation? Lmk and perhaps we can pick up where we left off with Cole or start something new. Also, if there are any NYC members, we can make some of this IRL and use this platform as an extension.In vain have you
acquired knowledge
if you have not
imparted it to others.
Deuteronomy Rabbah
(c.900, commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy)
Sartre is extremely eloquent and clear discussing the complex nature of making art. The section on Tintoretto could easily be a description of today's art world. Artist's scrambling and sweating to get their art made and seen, the role of the public and their influence on the artist. It's all there. Has anyone read this? How do you see his descriptions in relationship to contemporary art making?
I've opened up a Pinterest account just for the purpose of adding art references for this group. If you want to add to a page, just send me your e-mail and I'll add you as someone who can post. FYI, a good way of getting nice images for the group is to go to Google images and choose Size and then Large under the Search Tools.
This book opens with a excerpt from Paul Signac (1863-1935), a French Neo-Impressionist painter who developed Pointillism (also known as Divisionism), a system of applying colors in dots that the eye interprets (from a distance) as a unified color field, along with Seurat. I've opened up a Pinterest account just for the purpose of adding art references for this group. If you want to add to the page, just send me your e-mail and I'll add you as someone who can post. Here's one by Signac that I particularly enjoy, titled "Place de Lices" (1893). It reminds me of another painter I like a lot from the Nabis, Maurice Denis. I posted his painting "Jacob's Battle with the Angel" here: http://www.pinterest.com/kap_kapow/na.... It also reminds me of Van Gogh's "Orchard in Blossom 4": http://www.pinterest.com/kap_kapow/po...
What do you think of Signac's work? Love him? Hate him? Wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers?
Sooo... I could pick this up again if anyone wants to join in. Apparently, I left you hanging, Todd, sorry about that. I wonder what the outcome was indeed for the hidden Leonardo. Will have to look into that. I hate to leave ends untied, and yet here it is 2014, four years later... I have had the benefit of seeing some of Cole's work recently at The Met. If anyone would like to meet up there sometime and talk about his work, I'd be happy to set it up. I love his skies and the contrast with the landscape, but I keep finding the little figures he adds a bit kitsch.
Well, hello there, friends and neighbors, It's been a while, in fact years, literally. How that happens, I can't explain. I'm not going to begin to try to explain the convolutions of that particular maze, but I will say that before 2014 ends, I would like to get things rolling here again.
Here's the deal, books that have not been finished can go on being read and discussed (no doubt some of you have finished some we left off on). I will comment on what I am reading (art-wise) and with some luck you will want to read the same thing too and we can have a conversation. I'll do my best to keep up with your books too. You don't have to have read the book to be part of the discussion.
You are welcome to suggest books which can be discussed by those who want to read that book, staying within the parameters of the group, meaning it has to be about art. That's about it. Suggestions? I want to keep this as open as possible.
Cheers, Kim
Thanks, Odette! I look forward to seeing you too! Well, I've given it time. No closing. Everyone, good luck with all your endeavors!Cheers, Kim
Whoopee! Just before leaving The Netherlands I have finished this book! I've underlined and written comments in it so I can get back to you guys with some thoughts on it. (After the move.) Has anyone else here finished? Overall impressions? I was thinking (spoiler alert) that it would end with his (now disputed) suicide and actually I love how they chose to finish it because it reads somehow like a book and not just his letters. There is a beginning and an end if you will, but I suppose that is life too. I don't know what I think about these new theories, that he had epilepsy, that someone else killed him. Ok, it does sound like he was having fits later in life, but is that epilepsy or was it brought on by his previous intake of the green fairy? And he talks many times about how his sex life no longer interests him so how can the premise that he was flirting with girls of some reckless teenagers/young adults who killed him. My father-in-law finds it very fishy, saying that it is just people from the town making up stories to make themselves feel important. Perhaps. He certainly seemed unhappy with life at the end. Whether he was capable of killing himself, who knows. But maybe yes as he felt such a burden to his brother. Or maybe it was during one of his fits. He claimed to not remember parts of some of his fits.
In any case, he was very intense and I guess that is why it took me so long to get through this book. I was at times annoyed with him, but still the whole time admired his passion for painting. Nothing stopped him, not even mental and physical illness, from getting back to his painting. Being in the middle of moving myself and struggling just to sketch once in a while amid the madness (pun intended) I find that incredibly admirable. To have that level of focus, that even amid his own self-caused chaos he felt the drive to paint and succeeded in doing so, is something I'm willing to stand in ovation of. Bravo.
Taking a moment in this holiday season to wish you all the best. Life here is a bit crazy as we are preparing for a pending move to NYC at the end of January, but I'm looking forward to every new challenge! Nearing the finish of Dear Theo and hope to discuss that with you all some more in 2012. I will try and do better in the new year, after the move to get things rolling on this group. It's a pity to let it falter into oblivion. To all those that have joined in the interim, i apologize for being so lax. Of course, as always, I am happy to hear your suggestions to improve. In the meantime, be of good cheer, and may you get back all that you give. See you on the other side of the pond!
I do think intuition plays a large part in art. Understanding what lies beneath the obvious. The trick is to portray that vision so that others can see the same thing.
I've just come across one of my favorite quotes and wondered what you guys might think of it, " "The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things but their inward significance, and this, and not the external manner and detail, is true reality." Aristotle
As usual, I've been absent. Working on paintings, a web site, an upcoming exhibit and a possible move have all kept my life quite hectic. But I'm still reading about art and checking it out too. Hope you are doing the same. To that end, I've created this new folder for those who want to make announcements, of their own shows and other shows of interest, plus art events or happenings. Gina, this one is for you:
George Caleb Bingham (1811–1879), "The Jolly Flatboatmen," 1877–78.
Oil on canvas, 66,2 x 92,4 cm.*
New exhibitions in
September 2011:
Samurai, Stars of the Stage and
Beautiful Women
World Class. The Düsseldorf School of Painting 1819–1918
Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast
Ehrenhof 4-5
40479 Düsseldorf/Germany
T 0049/211/8990200
F 0049/211/8929307
info@smkp.de
www.smkp.de
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10 September 2011–15 January 2012
SAMURAI, STARS OF THE STAGE AND BEAUTIFUL WOMEN.
Japanese colour woodblock prints by Kunisada and Kuniyoshi
The exhibition is organised under the patronage of the Japanese Consulate General in Düsseldorf.
The exhibition presents a selection of some 80 prints of the artists who competed with each other for the favour of the public during their lifetimes. The Collection consists in a large donation of Japanese colour woodblock prints (ukiyo-e), especially 220 works by Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865) and Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861) alone.
Kuniyoshi's ink and brush drawings, which are similarly part of the prints and drawings collection, will now be shown to a broader public for the first time. The subject repertoire of the exhibited works includes pictures of beautiful women, famous actors from the traditional Kabuki Theatre, theatre scenes and portrayals of heroes by the two colour woodblock print masters who were both very popular in the 19th century. A few of Kuniyoshi's beloved whimsical and feline pictures will also be shown.
If you make it there, let us know!
Feel free to post everyone. And if you see a show that makes your eyes pop, let us know your thoughts!
Cheers, Kim
Hey Karin, thanks for posting your site too! How interesting that you and Laura are both doing textural, abstract work and are yet so different. This is what I love about art, that it is all up to personal interpretation. Totally cool that you are using mixed mediums of sound and painting. If there is something coming up in The Netherlands, could you let me know? I'd love to come check it out. BTW, I couldn't access your portfolio but I did enjoy seeing what could be seen otherwise. If there's somewhere we can see more please feel free to post it!
Hey Laura, thanks for sharing your work and your story! I love the texture in your work. It has a very zen quality that appeals to me. And you're a writer too, well more power to you! Anyway, money pays the bills but it doesn't necessarily fill one's heart with joy, so kudos to you for following your dreams. Your url is hilarious. ;0) I've always said that art is like meditation and here you are combining the two. Way cool that your drawing is your meditation. I think we all need this kind of outlet, just let the mind wander and find where it will go, where it will go....
Looking forward to hearing more from you and your process!
I confess, I have picked up yet another art book without finishing the others. What can I say, my creative interests are running all over the place. I've decided that is ok. Whatever I get from what I'm reading is good and doesn't have to be linear. So, I'm reading this book, Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch and loving it. What I keep coming back to is this idea of trusting your intuition. There as so many books out there to learn technique, but so few that teach you to improvise with those techniques. His frame of reference is playing the fiddle, ahem... violin. ;0) Nonetheless I think he makes many good points for all creative mediums. I've been underlining and writing in this book about the ideas he discusses so stay tuned for more and feel free to jump in anytime. See you around!
Heather, just wanted to say that I was painting the other day and that quote just floated into my head and felt even more true than the first time I read it. I even laughed out loud.
