Almost Wordless Wednesday: Reds

Red is the heartbeat of the visible world.

"I want a red to be sonorous, to sound like a bell."
— Pierre-Auguste Renoir

"A thimbleful of red is more potent than a bucketful."
— Henri Matisse

"Red is the color of life. It's blood, passion, rage."
— Mary Hogan

 

Related Link:

Renegade Theater's RED Proves Worthy of John Logan's Masterful Play

“But Is It Art?” – Why We’re Still Asking the Same Question Warhol Forced on Us

"From Andy Warhol's Brillo boxes to provocative dung-splattered madonnas, in today's art world many strange, even shocking, things are put on display. This often leads exasperated viewers to exclaim--is this really art?"

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 8, 2012

So begins the description of Cynthia Freeland's 2002 book on art theory at Amazon.com. The title says it all: But Is It Art? An Introduction to Art Theory. Her book is a stimulating read as the author attempts, in layman's terms, to help readers come to grips with how challenging it is to define why this is art and that isn't.

It's a problem that art students wrestle with and the public ignores, until their home town spends a quarter-million dollars on a sculpture that to taxpayers looks like an unhewn 300-ton boulder. 

The author begins with the shock artists. Why there is so much of blood in art today. By today, I mean the contemporary art scene of past few decades. Why would an HIV-positive artist hang rags dripping with blood over an audience that came to his show? Why would an artist make a movie of himself cutting off his penis one inch at a time? How is that artists feel that shock value is a necessary requirement for becoming noticed as an artist? 

Freeland cites John Dewey's 1934 explanation here: “Industry has been mechanized and an artist cannot work mechanically for mass production… “ For artists their work is self-expression. “In order not to cater to the trend of economic forces, they often feel obliged to exaggerate their separateness to the point of eccentricity.” (Art as Experience)

Does this reference to Dewey hold up, though? The community we live in here in Northern Minnesota is primarily service industry jobs. Or medical. Even in the manufacturing realm the majority of employees probably work in accounting and customer service, not production. I really don't think artists are artists as a reaction to mechanization and mass production. In fact, what I see today when I walk through the galleries and art fairs is the incorporation of mass production into the arts like never before with giclee reproductions and other print technologies taking artist's singular expressions and making them available by the hundreds.

As far as the use of blood by artists goes, Freeland notes that historically there has been a lot of blood shed within the context of religious rituals throughout human history. Mayans cut out still-beating hearts, the Greeks and Romans had their bloody rituals, and the roots of Judeo-Christian faith involve the shedding of blood. In fact, if you really stopped to contemplate some of the scenes that took place in the Tabernacle, you might even get ill at the quantities of blood and burnt offerings and the smells. No wonder they burned so much incense.

Freeland points out that when artists use blood it is shocking to us because it has been divorced from its ritual uses and therefore simply become something disturbing. This still doesn't explain why artists would use urine, semen and elephant dung. And in the back of my mind I can't help wondering, "What does your mother think of that?"

But then again, how much of this is really going on in the arts? I have been to countless art fairs, galleries and museums. I have never seen dung or feces displayed or urine or real blood, though at the Steampunk show this spring someone was carrying a vial of what he claimed to be wolf's blood. It fit the context of a role he was playing and most of us knew it wasn't real. And in our red-themed Red Interactive show last year, I heard at least two people comment that they were pleasantly surprised by the absence of blood or violence.

The book does a good job of raising all the right questions though and shows how the "big question" has no easy answer. As she points out Matisse was once described by the critics as a "wild beast" and anyone who knows his work would find this laughable today. Warhol's Brillo boxes and the Pop Art movement received the same brickbats.

Ivan Gaskill's review of Freeland's book at aesthetics-online.org begins by stating just how difficult this kind of undertaking really is, attempting to reach readers who are uninformed about art history and philosophy without addressing them in a condescending way. Despite the book's short-comings I recommend the book to all who are even semi-interested in engaging the arts today, whether artist, collector or just one of the many friends of the arts who simply go to shows to see what's new. It will give you things to think about, and maybe even answer a few questions you've wondered about. And if it raises still more questions, all the better. It will give us something to talk about when I run into you at the next art opening.

* * * 

Throwback Thursday: Creativity Takes Courage

"Creativity takes courage." ~Matisse

Often, one of the hardest things for writers is a blank piece of paper. Much has been written about it, as the mind races around trying to decide what to put down as that all important first sentence.

In a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent Van Gogh wrote that he dislikes seeing a blank canvas, and when he sees one he feels obligated to smear paint on it. And I know exactly what he means.

In painting, before you can really do the work you have to do the prep. Once you get the surface ready (if canvas, with gesso) you still want to paint a neutral undercoat of some kind. At least, this is one approach that is common. It certainly doesn't apply if you are pouring stain onto an unprimed canvas like Louis Morris, but in traditional painting, that background undercoat helps set the tone.

So, I am staring at a box here where I am to write today's blog entry and I don't know where to go with it. Should I jump outside the box and write a string of absurd sentences about colons and dashboards or steering columns and carcinoma? Or do we follow this train we're on to some kind of logical conclusions?

I just deleted one direction this could have gone. Let's head Southeast for a moment. No, wait, maybe West. Or, never mind.

So, I am having an art opening this week on Tuesday evening. One of the pieces is a Tribute to Duchamp who said, "I am interested in ideas, not merely visual products." Thus was born the concept of conceptual art. The Tribute piece is an item I found at a garage sale for a buck, which if I were famous might garner ten thousand. The current price is, "To Highest Bidder."

The irony is that young people, and maybe even older ones, have never heard of Duchamp, or the urinal on display in a Philadelphia gallery (found art). Many don’t even know Magritte, Matisse or the other prominent artists who initially steered the direction of 20th century art away from representationalism.

Another irony: I began my college studies moving in the direction of philosophy (ideas) but found art more appealing because you ended up with a visual product. So Duchamp pushed art in a direction, but pure idea as an end has to return to earth in some form... whether it be paintings or perhaps in acts of service to one's neighbors, community, etc.

Think about it. Then express yourself.

* * * *

The Bee art is here to remind you that there's a 

Bee Friendly Day in Carlton this weekend.

WHY? BEE CAUSE.

A Page of 52 Quotes about Art, Life and Whatever

Circle of Life .(Newman)

This summer I've been doing an inventory of my 11 years of blogging. As regular readers of this blog know, I frequently begin with a quote of some kind, perhaps because I've always enjoyed reading stories and essay that begin with a thought provoking zinger or tone-setting parcel of pith.

What follows are primarily quotes used to begin a blog post or, on a few occasions, a set of quotes that filled in for that day's blog entry. Most of these were from 2009.

* * * *

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."

~Abraham Lincoln

"All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching?"

~Nicholas Johnson

"It’s easy to lie with statistics, and even easier to lie without them."

~Unknown

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

~Napoleon Bonaparte

"A sincere artist is not one who makes a faithful attempt to put on canvas what is in front of him, but one who tries to create something which is, in itself, a living thing."

~William Dobell

"Creativity takes courage."

~Matisse

"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music."

~Angela Monet

"Painting has one foot in architecture and one foot in the dream." 

~Roberto Matta

Tiger by Ellen Sandbeck

"I have never produced anything good except by a long succession of slight efforts."

~Andre Gide

Man: Did Hemingway ever talk to you?

God: Everybody talks to me… sooner or later.

"Hey, do you want to make a deal?"

~-Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone

"The problem with reality is that there’s no background music, so you don’t know whether you’re experiencing a comedy, suspense or a tragedy."

~Unknown

"It is above all by imagination that we achieve perception and compassion and hope."

 ~Ursula Le Guinn

“The sole difference between me and a madman is the fact that I am not mad!”

 ~Salvador Dali

"When a white army battles Indians and wins, it is called a great victory, but if they lose it is called a massacre."

~Chiksika, Shawnee

“Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space.” ~Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

"Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other." ~C.P. Snow

“If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”

~Winston Churchill

Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

~ T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton

Animalia by Shawna Gilmore

"Imagine what a harmonious world it could be if every single person, both young and old shared a little of what he is good at doing."

~Quincy Jo

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

~John Keats

“Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.”

~Thomas Carlyle

"Many lives remain unfulfilled because of a lack of courage in affirming one's inner convictions in spite of all obstacles."

~Paul Tournier

"If a man is worth knowing at all, he is worth knowing well."

~Alexander Smith

"The writer of any first person work must decide two obvious questions: what to put in and what to leave out."

~Annie Dillard

“Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things… I am tempted to think there are no little things.”

~Bruce Barton

Inside the Matrix

"Art... makes life possible."

~Joseph Beuys

"Golf is a good walk spoiled."
~Mark Twain

"She got her good looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon."
~Groucho Marx

"I don't drink; I don't like it--it makes me feel good."
~Oscar Levant

"An optimist is a man who has never had much experience."
~Don Marquis

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."
~Oscar Wilde

"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person."
~Andy Rooney

"You can fool too many of the people too much of the time."
~James Thurber

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."
~John Kenneth Galbraith

"Colors must fit together as pieces in a puzzle or cogs in a wheel."

~Hans Hofmann

"Youth is wasted on the young."

~George Bernard Shaw

"There's always a moment in childhood when a door opens and lets the future in."

~Graham Greene

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."

~H.G. Wells

"Ideas are like cattle. They have to be gathered and herded if you want to keep track of them, otherwise they just wander off and get lost."

~M.L. Bennett

“I am not afraid…I was born to do this.”

~Joan of Arc

“There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.”

~Martha Graham

"You've been given a great gift, George: A chance to see what the world would be like without you. " 

~Clarence (The angel in It's a Wonderful Life)

On Democracy: “The bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people.”

~Oscar Wilde

On Golf: “I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles.”

~G.K. Chesterton

On Love: “A temporary insanity curable by marriage.”

~Ambrose Bierce

On Mankind: “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand.”

~Charles Schultz

On Optimism: “An optimist is a man who has never had much experience.”

~Don Marquis

On Art: "Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable."

~George Bernard Shaw

"Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species."

~W. Somerset Maugham

* * * *

A Visit with Visual Artist Ken Marunowski

Beaner’s Central in West Duluth has a reputation as one of the Twin Ports’ music hot spots. It’s possibly less well-known for the great venue it is for local artists on a monthly basis. January’s featured artist is Kenneth Marunowski of Esko. I've enjoyed his work, and find his insights in this interview both practical and instructive.

EN: You work in a variety of mediums. What are your favorites and why? 
KM: I work primarily in oil paint, painting landscapes mostly, but after a two-week “Drawing Marathon” at the New York Studio School in NYC this past summer, I’ve renewed my interest in charcoal drawing. I enjoy the rich, dark values one can achieve with charcoal, and especially enjoy wiping away what I have drawn with a chamois so that I can obliterate the white of the paper and begin again, always learning from the previous effort. Repetition is a key component to my working process, and charcoal, because it can be wiped away time after time, resulting in a deeper grey surface, is very amenable to my approach. The use of the eraser as a means of mark making is also very interesting to me in that what I take away becomes a positive rather than a negative mark (provided the surface is grey); in other words, I’m drawing in white as well as black. There is an immediacy to charcoal drawing particularly, and to drawing in general, that resonates with me. I’ve been drawing since I was a child, and love continuing the practice.

EN: Tell us about what you do at UMD. What are some of the classes you teach? 
KM: I’m an Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing Studies. I taught at UMD from 2006 – 2010, spent two years living and traveling in France, South Africa and Southeast Asia, and resumed teaching at UMD this past fall. I typically teach two classes: Writing for Social Sciences and Writing for Arts & Letters. My Ph.D., from Kent State University, is in the fields of literacy and rhetoric, so I infuse my writing classes with investigations into the art of persuasion, which is intended to assist students in writing more compelling and convincing arguments. We write various documents throughout the semester, some of which include resumes, cover letters, grants, personal statements, press releases, and short reports. One component we also focus on, likely due to my interest in art, is the visual aspect of a document, asking questions like, “How does a document’s visual appearance affect the intended audience?” or “How can one encourage an individual to read a text based on visual cues?”

EN: Besides being an art teacher, what are some of the other careers your art students might be able to pursue when they graduate? 
KM: I chose the teaching path, although not in an art-related field. One can always work for galleries or non-profits, or seek commissions, for example, in the form of murals (I recently painted one at the Redstar Lounge in the Fitgers Complex). What I feel is most important is to keep your art near no matter what path you choose. Surrounding yourself with like-minded, artistic people with whom you can discuss theory and practice is the key to artistic survival. It’s compelling to consider life as the Bohemian artist, throwing practicality to the wayside and simply living for one’s art, but I tried this for a short while and it was neither comfortable nor lucrative. Does this mean I will never be a “great” artist? I don’t know. Life is always about compromises, and how to integrate one’s art with one’s need to survive is the fundamental dilemma the artist must face.

EN: When did you first realize you wanted to pursue a career in the arts? Were there trigger experiences or did it evolve naturally?
KM: I have always been drawn to art and the life of an artist. I used to draw dinosaurs with my brother-in-law as a kid, and upon learning about the Impressionists and plein air painting in my high school French class, sought to paint the beauty of nature in situ as they did. During my junior year of college back in 1992, I studied at the Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing in Aix-en-Provence, France. This was a monumental experience as I not only learned an incredible amount about painting and drawing, but I also had the opportunity to both walk and paint in the footsteps of masters like Cezanne and van Gogh. I traveled all over Europe that year, visiting all the major museums I possibly could. More recently, I spent three consecutive summers in Castelnau de Montmiral, a quaint 13th Century village in south-central France where I studied at The Painting School of Montmiral, learning the theories and suggested practice of school director, Francis Pratt. A friend and fellow painter who I met at the school, Alan Ansell, and I twice camped and painted in the Mediterranean seaside village of Collioure where Henri Matisse and Andre Derain founded the Fauvist Movement. Inspirational experiences like these have certainly encouraged me to pursue the artistic path.

EN: Who have been your biggest influences as an artist? 
KM: In terms of painting, I’m very drawn to artists like Matisse and Bonnard due to their exceptional use of color, composition, and abstraction. Matisse is well known to have altered paintings time after time until he found satisfaction in them. I like this sense of searching. I need to do more of this! Upon viewing a Matisse painting, I often ask myself, “How did he ever come up with this?” and what I mean by this is the degree of abstraction he achieved. It’s uncanny.

As far as drawing is concerned, I’m very attracted to Rembrandt. Not only does he have this amazing sense of value, but his use of line is extraordinary. He can describe something so well in such a cursory fashion; with a few well-placed, essential lines a horse and carriage, for example, emerges. Rembrandt’s drawings also appear quite spontaneous, as if he did not have to think during the process of execution. This sense of spontaneity is something I aspire to in my own work and, I believe, achieve, after much repetition.

EdNote: Till the end of January you can see Ken's work in person at Beaner's Central. Check it out.

"Creativity takes courage." ~Matisse

One of the hardest things in writing is a blank piece of paper. Much has been written about it, as the mind races around trying to decide what to put down as the all important first sentence.

In a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent Van Gogh wrote that he dislikes seeing a blank canvas, and when he sees one he feels obligated to smear paint on it. And I know exactly what he means.

In painting, before you can really do the work you have to do the prep. Once you get the surface ready (if canvas, with gesso) you still want to paint a neutral undercoat of some kind. At least, this is one approach that is common. It certainly doesn't apply if you are pouring stain onto a canvas like Louis Morris, but in traditional painting, that background undercoat helps set the tone.

So, I am staring at a box here where I am to write today's blog entry and I don't know where to go with it. Should I jump outside the box and write a string of absurd sentences about colons and dashboards or steering columns and carcinoma? Or do we follow this train we're on to some kind of logical conclusions?

I just deleted one direction this could have gone. Let's head southeast for a moment. No, wait, maybe west. Oh, never mind.

So, I am having an art opening this week on Tuesday evening. One of the pieces is a Tribute to Duchamp who said, "I am interested in ideas, not merely visual products." Thus was born the concept of conceptual art. The Tribute piece is an item I found at a garage sale for a buck, which if I were famous might garner ten thousand. The current price is, "To Highest Bidder."

The irony is that young people, and maybe even older ones, have never heard of Duchamp, or the urinal on display in a Philadelphia gallery (found art). They do not know Magritte, Matisse or any of the most prominent artists who initially steered the direction of 20th century art away from representationalism.

Another irony: I began my college studies moving in the direction of philosophy (ideas) but found art more appealing because you ended up with a visual product. So Duchamp pushed art in a direction, but pure idea as an end has to return to earth in some form... whether it be paintings or perhaps in acts of service to one's neighbors, community, etc.

Think about it. Then express yourself.

Hanging Out at the Venue

“The most important tool the artist fashions through constant practice is faith in his ability to produce miracles when they are needed. Pictures must be miraculous.” ~ Mark Rothko

It’s official. My work is now hanging on the walls and in the halls of The Venue @ Mohaupt, in Duluth’s West End. The show is titled First Hand Experiences and for the next couple weeks, till the opening July 21, I will attempt to explain (from time to time here on my blog) some of the sources, stories and meanings behind a few of these paintings and drawings. First off, I will comment on the naming of the show.

Naming can be one of the most enjoyable or challenging parts of any creative endeavor. Several discarded names for the show preceded this one, but when it hit there was a sticktuitive quality which inspired me.

First Hand Experiences not only speaks of the process of creation in which every work is a first hand experience of the artist… but it also points to the interactive first hand experience of the viewer who participates in the piece as he engages its features and forms.

My artistic influences include Dali, Matisse, Duchamp, Picasso, Magritte, Rivers and Rauschenburg among others. The other day I mentioned several personal influences and would like to add to that list Mr. Sebes, my high school art teacher at Bridgewater-Raritan West in New Jersey. During two years of art tutelage I gained exposure to a wide range of creative expression. I also learned a few techniques with regard to my painting. As for my drawing, it developed on its own up in my room after my homework was done.

Possibly my strongest influence at that time was a painting by medieval Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch, a peer of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Bosch’s tryptich The Garden of Earthly Delights had a profound impact on me with its depictions of the Garden of Eden, the earthly delights and of the darkness of Hell. The latter appeared on an early Deep Purple album called Tetragrammaton, a reference to the unpronounceable name of God.

As my imagination entered into the Bosch depictions on this album, they were translated into my own striking pen and ink drawings. What I lacked in skill was made up for in imagination at this time.

There is possibly no greater joy than the act of creation.

As for the show, consider yourself invited!