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Posted on 4/30/2013
By Donald Fox
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Houston’s local PBS station, Channel 8 television, is one of my favorite channels among the two or three hundred that I have access to. Aside from broadcasting amazing shows from BBC, Channel 8 also produces local programming that is outstanding. Houston interviewer Ernie Manouse is among the best interviewers internationally in my opinion. He has talked with an amazing array of actors, directors, musicians and other performers, artists, and celebrities from all over. Currently he is also hosting a weekly program called Arts InSight –spelled exactly as I’ve written it here, for this spelling suggests multiple meanings: one is that the program has the arts in its sights, it also illuminates insights into various arts from the point of view of artists and performers, and it serves to give insight into a broader art world beyond the bounds of Houston. I love this type of programming because many discoveries are made for the benefit of the viewing audience. One could spend hours on the internet surfing around and still not find many of the interesting people and events that show up in this program.
Recently, the show highlighted the Blue Trees Project that I participated in several weeks ago, the brainchild of Australian artist Konstantin Dimopolous. The same program illustrated fabric water lilies made from insulate and lighted by solar powered bulbs. The floating sculptures (that are actually anchored to the bottom) were created by Houston artist Libbie Masterson for the Hermann Park reflecting pool. Also presented was trumpet player and composer David Perrico who heads an eighteen piece band that plays in Las Vegas doing re-orchestrated covers of pop and rock music along with original compositions. Rounding out the program were segments on an immigrant Chinese landscape oil painter who now lives outside Sacramento and an alternative fashion model with a particularly Gothic flair.
Art is multifaceted in far more ways than most people imagine. The blending of painting and performing and public and private art have created far more categories than the traditional arenas of painting, sculpture, music, dance, and theater. Many artists today are also multi-talented and express themselves in varieties of ways. It is both refreshing and exciting to be able to view the range of artistic activity as presented in a program like Arts InSight.
Posted on 4/29/2013
By Donald Fox
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Looking at almost any period of art history, one can uncover intrigue and jealousy along with magnificent expressions of creative vision. Many of the most remarkable artworks can be and are appreciated for themselves alone and may even be compared to works from other times and places. There is nothing wrong with this imagistic comparison, for we can discover many interesting similarities as well as differences among artists from a single culture along with artists from very different cultures. We begin to understand humanity as it propagates throughout the world well before it was easy to move about from place to place as it is today.
When we begin to look beneath the veneer of art, however, we sense more fully the human dimension as it played out within one society or another and the amazing similarity that often occurs in countries as diverse as England or China or Spain. Personally, I’ve always found it interesting to come across statements about art, particularly painting, that have a sort of resonance with my own ideas. It doesn’t matter where they may have originated except within the context of that particular time or place. Often, though, just as is the case with paintings, written ideas may say much more than the writer (or painter) intended in the moment of composition. There is the idea of universality at work that elevates some artistic expression above others.
The Victorian critic, writer, philosopher, and aesthetician John Ruskin wrote in his The Stones of Venice, “The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.” Ruskin, of course, was generally a great supporter of painters even if this is the same man who later had an infamous public feud with James McNeill Whistler that resulted in a libel suit brought by Whistler. Ruskin had accused Whistler of “flinging a pot of paint” in the face of the public with his Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket. Though Whistler won the judgment, he was bankrupted by the court costs. If one reads more of Ruskin’s writing on art, one will soon discover a fairly conservative mindset devoted to the religious expressions of Renaissance artists but not their more humanistic side. He supported the Pre-Raphaelites, notwithstanding Millais stealing away Ruskin’s wife. These little intrigues add a dash of different color (or spice) to Ruskin’s idea about those who love color.
Later in his life, Ruskin greatly modified his evangelical beliefs and increasingly wrote about capitalism and industrialization in amazingly prescient terms with words that would ring true today. He impressed and influenced other giants of literature and social criticism like Tolstoy, Proust, and Mahatma Gandhi. Even today some environmentalists use Ruskin as an early proponent of respect for the earth and environmentalism. Though he may have overstepped the boundaries of criticism from time to time and may have expressed his thoughts occasionally in pedantic terms, the breadth of his knowledge is staggering and his impact on English art in particular and European art generally in the 19th century is quite profound.
Posted on 4/28/2013 4:44:44 PM
By Donald Fox
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Suffering for one’s art is a long-standing cliché and one of the myths that tends to shroud clear understanding of creative individuals. A number of associated ideas illustrates that the concepts of suffering and sacrifice are deeply entrenched in the cultural mindset and probably within the individual psyche as well. We speak of “paying one’s dues” meaning that without some sort of entry fee, usually in the form of experience and learning, one is not welcome at the creative table, at least at a certain level. How much experience and learning are required is a bit nebulous, but often there are arbiters of taste who are only happy to serve as ticket takers. An alternate phrasing is “paying the price of success.” This one often has negative connotations and may even suggest some Faustian bargain on the darker side.
The idea of giving up or sacrificing some normal things like meaningful relationships or family or perhaps even health reflects the view of the creative artist as outsider, the misfit. If this is true, the artist isn’t really sacrificing since he or she didn’t mesh with the social order in the first place. It is the lot of the artist to be ostracized in this way. This point of view, however, holds no more credence than any other spurious myth about artists. Artists are not always, and maybe even rarely, the bohemian outliers taking their dreams on the road and living perpetual lives of adolescent rebellion. Far from it – even the radical artists of past eras were enmeshed in their societies. They just objected to some of the current ideas about what art should be, and the proceeded to create according to their inner wisdom.
Poet and writer Carolyn Forché wrote, “no one is a poet because she is a miserable drunk. No one is a great poet because he has had a nervous breakdown. Suffering, however, can be experienced as a curse or a blessing; the luckiest is the one who can experience it as a blessing.” I would add that suffering is not a requirement for creating art. All one needs is intention. Everything else will follow.
Posted on 4/27/2013 7:04:44 PM
By Donald Fox
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Back in the fifties there was an advertising phrase often heard on television, “better living through chemistry,” that was the slogan of DuPont company. Since that time much more has been learned about the chemistry of the human body, in particular the electrochemical processes that keep the body alive and fully functioning. Many of the experiences we have that we deem pleasurable can be explained largely by the release of endorphins in the brain. The “runner’s high” and other forms of peak experiences could be reduced to a simple chemical response by the body and the mind. We could even say that our interpretations, our thoughts about these experiences are themselves only electrochemical impulses in reaction to the given stimulus. However, this does not explain the content of the thought nor that one person may conclude something quite different from another even though both are experiencing essentially the same kind of chemical reaction.
Oriental medicine has created a very different model based on the flow of intrinsic energy, chi in Chinese or ki in Japanese. This life energy is essentially generic and is shared by all living things, plant and animal. Blockages in the flow of chi disrupt the energy field of the body and create disharmony or illness. One might argue also that there is a very strong cultural belief associated with acupuncture and acupressure techniques so that the stimulation of particular energy points by needles or specific pressure will create the intended result of releasing blockages and allowing the chi to flow freely, which enables the body to heal itself as it returns to a state of balance. It could be argued that the mind – thinking and focus and belief – contribute greatly to this process. Nevertheless, it is quite remarkable that some types of surgery that in America are done with anesthesia in China are done only using acupuncture needles to block sensations of pain.
A radio is specifically designed to receive and make audible frequency of sounds known as radio waves. It does not pick up or translate light waves, only radio waves. The radio can read frequencies within a particular range of audible sound. The receiver receives what has been transmitted, but it does not originate transmission unless it is also a specific type of broadcaster.
Similarly, the body receives input from the world around it in the form of light waves, sound waves, pressure from touch, temperature, or physical motion of the body, These sensations, through electrochemical processes, are translated into nerve impulses and then interpreted through the body’s sensing mechanisms including the brain. Sensations become perceptions (what we understand as hot or cold or red or green) by this process involving the brain and our sense of understanding that we call the mind. Many sensations may not rise to the level of perception without conscious awareness. Since we so often engage with focused conscious awareness, sensations of little relevance tend to stay below the threshold of awareness. We may not be aware of our feet touching the floor or our legs pressing against a seat when we are actively engaged with reading or some other mental process.
Painters have trained themselves to become acutely aware of visual stimuli. They notice nuances of color, light, shape, position, size, and other factors that are useful in making a composition. They may also be aware of temperature, humidity, and factors that are not directly represented in a painting like a rock or tree or flower might be, but these other sensations may have an effect on general lighting conditions, which in turn affects color and how other facets are experienced. Much of this is part of what may be termed atmosphere and that in turn may help to create mood when appropriately represented.
This reminds me of the comment once made about Claude Monet that he was “only an eye, but what an eye.” The implication was that his paintings may have lacked emotional content their focus instead being on nuances of color interaction. I prefer to read this as a compliment to Monet’s powers of observation, for I think that most people respond both emotionally and intellectually to his paintings.
Whatever our sensations and perceptions might be and however mechanically (or chemically) we may describe the processes behind them, we do respond in a variety of complex emotional and even spiritual ways to many different kinds of stimuli both natural and human made. That we can think deeply about these experiences is one of the most amazing of our abilities. That we can communicate these responses to each other is also quite remarkable. And, that we can create, through art and other forms of expression, objects or ideas or experiences that others may respond to however they may choose is more remarkable still.
Posted on 4/26/2013 8:18:43 PM
By Donald Fox
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Curiosity
Learning proceeds partly from the desire to know and the desire to be able to do. Much learning also comes out of play when there may be no conscious desire like young animals frolicking together and learning stalking and pouncing skills. As a kid, I often engaged in imaginary behavior that mimicked what I thought was adult behavior. It’s not unusual at all for young boys in particular, although I knew some girls who did this too, to play war games. This I did some of, but I also played sports, just in the neighborhood, not as part of a team. There were neighborhood boys who did play on teams at school; in fact many of them played all sports. As a result they tended to get good fairly quickly, and playing with them was much more challenging yet I could also learn from their skills and strategies. My sports play became much better as a consequence, and I was particularly good at pitching in softball. This I did do intramurally and was quite accomplished by the time I took a college PE class.
Sports were not of much interest to me other than as a pastime. I was much more interested in painting, drawing, building things, and learning how things worked by taking them apart and putting them back together. I read a lot and had the desire to know about history and how things came about. I created a lot of games and toys of various kinds and enjoyed all kinds of imaginative play. My sense of curiosity was a great blessing although my comfort level in social situations was a bit on the low side. Learning this side of human behavior has been a much more arduous process for me, and though I have learned finally to do many kinds of social tasks well enough, I still do not feel particularly comfortable in some situations. This is of ongoing interest to me as a writer, for I am curious how easy social interaction seems for some people while others find difficulty. I know about introverts and extraverts and generally lean towards the former on preference tests. I count this as a strength, however, for it enables me to be imaginative and creative in solitary and public situations.
Human personality and personal expression are endlessly fascinating. The arts show amazing range and variety in creativity, ingenuity, originality, insight, understanding, and expressive power. I am grateful that my own experience of creative expression has enabled me to understand more deeply the creative expressions of others.
Posted on 4/25/2013
By Donald Fox
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In the sciences, ideas are tested for their efficacy and truth. Sets of data will support a hypothesis and successful testing may breed a new theory or perhaps something accepted as natural law. There are aspects of art that may be tested and may develop from experimentation similar to what occurs in science – color theory is one example and improvement in pigments is another. Much of art, though, is far more personal and often related to intense feeling that supersedes logic and rationality. We are often using subjective judgment to make assessments, an activity that gives strong left-brained people heartburn. Even so, many would agree that certain things or experiences are beautiful or good or just feel right.
Scientists often disagree about factual information that might be interpreted one way or another, not so much because there is ambiguity but more from a clash of mindset – what looks one way to some looks very different to others. As physicists look deeper into the nature of subatomic particles, for example, they begin to see a world that doesn’t always follow strict guidelines. Light can be both a particle and a wave. Space is filled with elusive dark matter. Black holes bend the space around them.
Almost thirty-five years ago a book entitled The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav made the connection between ancient spiritual understanding and modern physics that is revealing connection between everything (we are all one) and the uncertainty that becomes more evident as scientists discover more about the subatomic world. Theories have become more outrageous since that time – string theory, multiverses, etc. – and still many people desire to cling to a black and white worldview that is simple and clear and concise. Perhaps there is reason here why I love art so much. It is always changing and challenging in its own right how we may experience the world in any given moment. Filling a room with geometric abstraction, action painting, photorealism, impressionism, and conceptual art is nearly as exciting as conceiving of the chair I’m sitting in traveling through space at thousands of miles per hour while also spinning around a global axis and vibrating so fast with particles that just can’t stand still and that create a substance strong enough and solid enough to hold me up from the floor.
Posted on 4/24/2013
By Donald Fox
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Artists are often at the mercy of public misperception more so perhaps than other public figures. There are many myths about artists that just won’t go away: all artists are starving artists; artists are morally challenged; artists tend to be emotionally unstable; artists are not logical and also undependable; artists are given to abuse drugs and alcohol; artists are unfaithful in relationships if not outright promiscuous. The truth is that any of these traits could be applied to politicians, business people, or the clergy just as much as to artists. However, because artists are also seen as carefree and on the fringe of society rather than at its core, they are perceived as liberal-minded and free-spirited – and other myths that dog their heels.
Granted there have been specific artists who have created their own myths as part of their marketing of themselves and their art to the world. Caravaggio, who was something of a roustabout, constantly creating scandal and upset until he died at a far too early age, gives great leverage to the romantic mythos of the artist run amuck. On the other hand, Peter Paul Rubens, a devout Catholic, moved in a world of princes and kings, was sent on diplomatic missions, and was knighted by both the King of England and the King of Spain. He lived an exemplary life. Most everyone knows something of the tragic story of Vincent Van Gogh and his premature death from suicide or his friend Paul Gauguin’s irresponsible abandonment of family to run off to the South Seas. Around the same time, however, the much simpler, dedicated lifestyles (to family and to art) of both Camille Pissarro and Paul Cezanne made few waves except, perhaps, among art critics who did not understand their work.
We could dip into almost any period of art and pull out examples on either side of this mythical divide, those that might be poster boys or girls for the romantic version or those that represent the astute professional like the Carracci brothers who were instrumental in forming the first art academy and thus creating a new tradition. I would expect that even stalwart conservative types like Cezanne still felt some romantic twinges from time to time – his various bathers pictures give some evidence of that. Probably even the most profligate soul also has moments of sobriety when considering how to pay the rent or to meet some other professional obligation. As an artist friend of mine used to frequently say, “Art’s a tough racket.” It’s certainly enough, personalities being what they may, to jostle anyone with an occasional mood swing.
Posted on 4/23/2013
By Donald Fox
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Recent dramatic events in this country have called forth a variety of responses from many different people. When one’s view of the world is challenged, when unexpected events occur that seem beyond one’s control, or when there is abrupt and complete disruption, very often the response is shock, denial, indignation, anger, and, inevitably, blame. Especially when issues are highly emotionally charged – the death and injury of innocents, for example – emotion often supersedes logic. Many find core beliefs challenged, or they find core beliefs strengthened. Few, however, are unaffected. The intention here is not to be political or to set forth social criticism; neither is it to belittle in any way tragic events of any kind. I do think, though, about how sometimes it becomes important to have a shift in perspective in order to assess and understand something that is challenging for whatever reason.
Artists, as human beings, struggle as much as anyone in the work that they do. Some might look from the outside and think how wonderful to just paint and create whenever one feels like it. How wonderful not to be tied to a regular job or to have to kowtow to an ornery boss or authority figure. What they don’t see is the inner struggle that often accompanies that urge to create. They don’t notice the frustration that attends not being able to express exactly what is felt. Nor do they sense the difficulty that comes when there is plenty of desire to create but nothing of consequence to say, or so it seems – what is commonly known as writer’s block.
These are the times when artists need a shift in perspective to get out of a creative rut or move past a creative block. These tend not to be dramatic situations that occur all at once; they usually develop and unfold slowly. The artist may not even be aware of the impending change until work simply comes to a halt. It can feel like whatever is attempted is hollow and lifeless. Or the artist may find him or herself bored and uninspired by the work at hand.
The experienced creative person will know that a change in perspective is needed. The motivation to make this change has to come from within, and experience frequently suggests that the artist look inside for the essence of belief and commitment. From this may come experimentation with new media, with new forms of expression (painting opposite-handed, for instance), and whatever the artist can dream up to encourage the necessary change. Unlike the drama that may occur in life, however, that shift of perspective for the artist may be a subtle one. It may come from insight that gives a deeper appreciation and understanding of the painting process. It could be as simple as a shaft of light reflecting a color not noticed before but creates that aha moment for the attentive painter. Big or small the occasional shift of perspective can help the artist keep work fresh and progressive.
Posted on 4/22/2013
By Donald Fox
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In film, especially some of the big budget films that tackle grand themes, after the theatrical release runs its course and the movie goes to DVD, sometimes there is what is called the director’s cut. Previously cut scenes removed to shorten the theatrical run time or to speed up the pace of the film (or for some other purpose), may be reinserted in the longer version. Sometimes this works and makes the film more interesting and sometimes not. At least the director has the satisfaction of having a film version that is more in line with his or her original concept before the studio stepped in usually with financial concerns – mainly, can they recoup their expenses with a more theater-friendly experience?
One of my favorite science fiction films, Blade Runner, was excellent in its theatrical version, and I was a bit disappointed with the director’s cut. In my judgment, not much of substance was added from the cutting room floor. Another science fiction classic, based on Stanislaw Lem’s novel Solaris, was initially released as a Russian film that closely followed the literary storyline but spends interminably long scenes of the lead character riding in a car perhaps to show that he is suspended between realities and having exhausted his options just isn’t getting anywhere. The film ends with enigmatic and surreal images of him in his apartment in which it is raining inside instead of outside, and which is actually an imaginary space created by the sentient planet Solaris from which most of the plot twists have been projected into the minds of the various characters throughout the story. The American version with George Clooney is not bad and is more tightly constructed cinematically but doesn’t quite have the same emotional power of the Russian version in spite of its flaws.
Painters usually don’t have the budget problems of film makers, certainly not on the same scale, and they don’t have to be accountable to investors. Still, painters always have the option to do a larger version of a painting, or in other cases, a smaller one, or to make whatever changes they may desire. The choice is not financial but because the piece may actually work better as a larger (or smaller) painting. Also, in general painters are not beholden to another person or committee that might have some degree of oversight. One exception, of course, might be commissioned pieces where the client would desire certain input. I can imagine instances where the painter might do a second version the way he thinks it should have been done originally. Historically there are examples of commissioned works where the painter refused to make changes or to do a work according to specific guidelines. In a sense the painter was creating a director’s cut either before or after the fact.
Artistic integrity is a big issue for some artists but not so much for others. The latter may simply be thinking in terms of commercial product – you’re paying for the work, so I’ll give you whatever you want. This is a perfectly legitimate way of doing business. Certainly every artist has to decide where to draw that proverbial line in the sand if he feels it is necessary to do so at all.
Posted on 4/21/2013 4:35:03 PM
By Donald Fox
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I think a lot about creativity and not simply from an artistic perspective. Creativity is as endlessly fascinating as there are examples to illustrate its manifestation in the world. All we have to do is look back in time to the ancient cave paintings from tens of thousands of years ago to see some of the earliest examples of creativity that have survived into present time. We could take a tour coming forward in time like art appreciation and art history courses do and see the development of certain types of creative expression, particularly sculpture and architecture and literature, for unfortunately, much of early painting no longer exists. There is literary reference to some of the ancient painters but none of their works have survived for us to be able to appreciate for ourselves. We can only know something about them from what was said by their contemporaries. Many of the monuments of the past are different today than they were in ancient times, and again we can only imagine from records that have survived what these expressions may have been like at their births.
Today we have unprecedented access to the most incredible variety of creative expressions that have ever been known to exist at any one time. We have the magnificent tool of the internet and its voluminous library of information that can give us within the space of a few minutes the broadest possible glimpse of creativity in action around the globe. Whether we use websites, personal or institutional, or the video library of YouTube, we can see an amazing array of creative expression. Personally, I don’t spend a lot of time searching these sites – I should say surfing these sites – when I look for something it is usually something specific. Occasionally, though, I do stumble across an interesting new item on my way to something else. Especially on YouTube I add this to my playlist. Here are a few links to some very interesting and sometimes challenging forms of creative expression. They are randomly selected and included for variety although all are quite creative in their own right.
The Iroshnikov Brothers express their creativity in a unique blend of gymnastic artistry that takes on the flavor of balletic movement. This is one of many clips available on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewYa-GneTn4
The late Carl Sagan was one of the chief scientists behind the Voyager project which sent probes into deep space partly to explore for as long as possible areas where no human had ever ventured except through the use of telescopes and partly to send a message from Earth to any other intelligent species that might encounter the probe sometime in the distant future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmMUuR--Qvo
Young Alex Honnold is a free climber, a person that climbs cliff faces and mountains without the aid of ropes or other tools. It is just his own skill and mental fortitude that propels him like a real-life spider man up the sides of sheer cliffs. One false move and he would plunge to his death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leCAy1v1fnI
Painter Larry Seiler has created an interesting video where he makes a small painting using alla prima technique, basically all-at-once or what some call wet into wet, in which he actually counts the brushstrokes and makes every single brushstroke count in developing the picture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8ZeSdC5xcs
Lastly, my friend concert pianist Sally Christian plays a piano prelude by Rachmaninoff, Prelude Opus 32 Number 1. The range of fingering and subsequent emotional expression from pianist through the instrument is both amazing and inspiring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWT2DyS7Ov0&list=PLC3FAAC60C326A2E4
There are dozens more possibilities that could be given by way of example, but the diversity of these few illustrates that human creative expression encompasses what may well be infinite possibility. If it truly is infinite, how would we ever know anyway? It doesn’t really matter because our options for enjoyment and learning are inexhaustible, infinite or not.
Posted on 4/20/2013 6:51:05 PM
By Donald Fox
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Change of seasons is an interesting process which may vary depending on where one lives. In Houston, we generally have a light winter, rarely any snow although we frequently have more than out share of rain. Many of the deciduous trees don’t even lose their leaves until new spring growth forces the older leaves to fall away. We can go from dark, dull green to bright, yellow green within a few weeks. Flowers, of course, are different and with these we’ll see the blue-purple bluebonnets, the red and yellow Indian paintbrush, and the pink and fuchsia primroses covering large fields in springtime provided the winter has been wet enough.
The color palettes of the seasons are worthwhile noticing for their richness and variety. Winter is not the least of these nor is it depressing as some find it. I would call it subdued and subtle even as it too has great variety depending on geographical location. I’ve experienced winters on three American coasts and the northern border, and though parts of the north can be quite brutal in lengthy winter storms, still there is a pristine beauty on display if one can endure the cold long enough to enjoy it. I’ve also been to Scandinavia and the higher European latitudes in winter and have appreciated the subdued light of not long lingering days with the sun’s low arc across the wintry sky. Granted if I had to live there for extended periods of time, I might feel differently as I along with many others would feel the effects of seasonal affective disorder.
Sunrise and sunset can be dramatic any time of year, and it is available any day regardless of weather. Even less noticeable on overcast days, these two time periods nonetheless have a quiet dignity and reserve. I love all the seasons and perhaps favor the transition periods when the colors begin to merge the old and the new, especially winter to spring, for here often the bright admixture of returning life is both pleasurable and healing.
Posted on 4/19/2013 7:10:16 PM
By Donald Fox
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We live in a cluttered world. Even in a city, which often has some sort of master plan behind its layout there accumulates a range of visual and physical interruptions to space. Signs, billboards, informational and directional and advertising notices, some permanent and some temporary, graffiti and detritus, seasonal wear and tear – all contribute to a cacophony that some term visual blight. In business parks filled with glass boxes reflecting sky and landscaped trees lawn maintenance crews assiduously trim and mow, blow leaves from the sidewalks and curbs into the street where they are blown back the other way by the wind currents from passing cars. There is a continuous shifting of visual elements partly natural and partly artificial, some of it random and some of it consciously chosen.
For most of art’s history, artistic creation has been a conscious choice, crafted design with specific intentions, themes, and ideas expressed to make a certain effect or impact upon the world. Generally, this is done as a permanent statement and there may be ideas of immortality associated with the production; certainly there is an awareness of longevity. In modern times some artists have eschewed this philosophy of permanence by choosing materials with a short shelf-life, so to speak, or by making the process, the performance, as the center of the statement. Once the process is complete, essentially the art is over. Part of the thinking correlates with the transient nature of life itself, so, in essence, art imitates life as it is born, lives its span, and then dies. Whatever lives on is like a memory, and often is a documentary of the actual act that was the art. What’s left is residue.
In many ways, art deals with irony whether intentionally or not, for even the most carefully created piece of art – painting, sculpture, ceramic, or architecture – at some point will require intervention in order to save it from deterioration or complete destruction. Once restored – another illusion of permanence, for the thing is now altered from its original self even if subtly so – it may be perceived as renewed, but it can never truly be seen as it originally was.
As humans age and pass through various stages of life, we often reminisce about earlier times, sometimes wistfully, for even though we remember, those memories themselves are alterations of past experience. We may think of art as a way of gaining some sense of permanence. We marvel at accomplishments from the past and give them pedestals of dignity and reverence. We see the past and the future as a continuum, and the art of the past is now living its own future time in our present. The ghost images of past players seem so alive and vital in their immortalized form. Through film, something totally unknown to the ancients, we can watch late entertainers play out their stories again and again with always the same choices, the same actions, and the same outcomes. That expression has become an endless loop that continues as long as someone chooses to watch. We accept this and praise it just as we repeatedly read stories we appreciate or gaze at paintings we admire. It is almost like looking into the mirror to always see the same face except the mirror reflects only what is there in front of it. That face will change both physically and emotionally. The mirror cannot predict what the face will see or how it can alter its perception of itself. Very often art is the mirror.
Posted on 4/18/2013
By Donald Fox
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At work today I’m wearing one of my favorite ties, a brightly multi-colored amalgam of irregular horizontal stripes based on a quilt design from the ladies of Gee’s Bend in Alabama. Several generations of women have created quilts that have developed an international reputation for their abstract artistry. In the past eight years or so the Museum of Fine Arts Houston has held two exhibitions of quilts from Gee’s Bend, both of which were extremely popular. That’s easy to understand because the quilts are quite stunning in color, concept, and design. Many are as compelling as any modern abstraction, and the quilts easily read as large scale paintings.
Museum shows that highlight unusual artistic expressions like the Gee’s Bend quilts or work by folk artists that create works that are seen by many to rival the work of professional artists give a much broader perspective on human artistic creativity. I do know some artists, however, who feel annoyed with this type exhibit for they feel slighted and miffed to give up their potential space for the work of uneducated people who don’t know a Picasso from a Vermeer. This is when personal and cultural bias pops up and illustrates that education may not affect prejudice though it would logically seem that it would. Being critical from an academic or educated perspective is one thing, but being critical from a sense of personal pique is something else. In general museums are places that promote cultural understanding, but as the saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water…” In any case, I love my tie and always think fondly of the community that helped create it. Also, it reminds me of the best qualities of my Southern roots.
Posted on 4/17/2013 7:01:08 PM
By Donald Fox
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This morning in my painting class I did a demonstration for my students of how I sometimes begin a painting. We were indoors and I worked from a photo source, but I painted as though I were outdoors actually working from a landscape. That is, I painted rapidly to establish large areas of color and in particular important areas of light and dark. Since I was painting on a prepared Masonite panel that had been loosely covered with burnt sienna, a nice warm under painting for landscapes with lots of greens and yellows, the paint would go onto this kind of ground with a characteristic stroke on the hard surface that is different from the flexible canvas surface. Also, because I favor bristle brushes over sable, a more delicate touch is required to not dig right through the paint especially when adding color wet into wet. I explained how varying the pressure and the angle of the brush along with how heavily the brush might be loaded could create quite different effects, from heavy, broad swaths of color to light, delicate lines or spots.
It is evident very quickly when explaining how something is done that so many variables come into play that it is nearly impossible to describe everything that is happening in any given moment. Hundreds of decisions are made – or more properly, felt – by the painter as a painting progresses. Constant vigilance is important for the painter to maintain awareness and connection with the developing image. Every addition alters the relationship of the parts already in place. I like to think of this process as a dialog that is happening between the painting and the painter. I also tend to think as much as possible in terms of color spots rather than whatever object may emerge from the interaction of colors and values.
I began with only a few lines to locate a horizon crossed by several verticals that placed other elements in their relative positions. No attempt at drawing was made nor was there any attempt to make any part actually look like something identifiable. I wanted to illustrate how an image can emerge from the positioning of lights and darks and the gradual adjustment of size and shape. For a time the picture appears fairly abstract, much like those unclear images used by Gestalt psychologists that may be read by some people as a cow or a Dalmatian or some other object yet seems to most like an abstract blur until the mind sorts out the object from its ground. With fairly rapid application of color over broad areas, however, the design of a landscape begins to emerge.
My goal was not to demonstrate how quickly I could paint, but partly it was to rapidly establish the general design of the composition. After about ten minutes the 12 by 16 surface was beginning to have a landscape feel with light and shadow already in place so the sense of illumination was also beginning to emerge. As I worked more variations of lights and darks, the image grew even stronger. Those at a distance from the painting remarked that it seemed to magically come to life. Their expectation had been to see me draw the image first and then paint the various parts. When I took a short break and they could examine the work more closely, others noted that up close the image dissolved and appeared more abstract. I watched them move up and step away numerous times to find the optimal viewing distance.
Someone can explain a process carefully step by step and still an audience may not comprehend. Many have to walk through the process themselves and actually do the steps before grasping the overall meaning. Even then the nuances of what is happening may not be understood. Today, however, several students made the connection between what I frequently talk about in painting – light-dark contrast, colored shapes, the importance of position – and how that actually works to make the image. Now it is their turn to practice doing in order to integrate to concepts with their actions.
Posted on 4/16/2013
By Donald Fox
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I’m teaching an introductory psychology course next quarter, and as I’m reviewing a variety of material, I’m finding many fascinating facts and ideas pretty nearly all of which relate to art in some way. With respect to the brain and the mind, the most compelling concept for me has always been the imagination. All of the senses are important and wonderful gifts that we share, but one can lose access to any one of these including that most precious one for painters, sight, and still have the ability to travel to the most remarkable places, think the most far reaching thoughts, and experience life as fully as desired. Einstein once said that “imagination encircles the world.” It is not limited as is knowledge.
There have been great imaginary leaps during the history of mankind. The early toolmakers envisioned from necessity how to fashion what to us now seem crude implements, but for them that was a huge imaginary accomplishment. How did the first makers of bronze learn to create an amalgam of metals into one that would define an age of growth and creative exploration? At every step in our historical development each new expression has been the result of ingenuity wed to insight or insight wed to ingenuity, and what is insight but an exercise of the imagination? As Einstein and others have suggested, knowledge may accumulate over time, but what propels knowledge forward are imaginative insights.
Through the centuries art and technology have evolved on a parallel track sometimes one influencing the other. Artists have themselves created innovations in order to make their creations. Leonardo is a prime example of the artist innovator, but many artists prior to modern times crafted their own tools to suit their needs. It is as though the great visionaries created an imaginary void that pulled creative energy into the formlessness and extruded manifested creations out the other side.
It is good that imagination knows no bounds and that it is not relegated to any one arena. Science, the arts, technology, medicine, business, and education all have grown through imaginative leaps that like rising tides have raised all boats.
Posted on 4/15/2013
By Donald Fox
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The 1984 novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Czech writer Milan Kundera is as much a philosophical work as a narrative one. Kundera says, “Culture is perishing in overproduction, in an avalanche of words, in the madness of quantity.” Aside from the big brotherish connection with the date of publication, the author raises some interesting concerns. When I was in high school, I was known for my cynicism, but with age and experience I mellowed into something of an idealist. I firmly believe in the right of self-expression, particularly on the creative side, and feel that the latter has contributed greatly to what is generally good in this world. There are times, though, when urban sprawl, uncollected trash along the sides of roads, or the shrill voices of global warming challenge my optimism.
Back in the sixties, when the first blooming of ecological thinking, self-sustenance, and the human potential movement collided with big business and big oil, a popular image appeared in many journals that were offshoots of the Whole Earth Catalog – that of juxtaposing satellite views of cities at night with images of human cancer cells. The similarities were quite startling and gave many pause as to what we were doing to the planet in our continuance of the 19th century mindset of “Go West, young man.” Never mind that resources might not sustain us all in the manner to which we would like to become accustomed. Now, some fifty years later, we are still doing what we did then except this time there are more of us wanting more of the same. China and India are but harbingers of continued recklessness, and there are many third world countries that want their shot as well. Cognitive dissonance seems to be working at an all-time high.
Chinese photographer Yao Lu covers large mounds of trash with construction netting and forms traditional-looking landscapes by adding a few artificial elements to complete the photographic illusion. Chris Jordan combines a variety of charged images to create disturbing social commentary in large-scale photographs that in themselves are quite beautiful. The underlying shocking themes of self-destruction create a very disjointed experience for the viewer. We can see the beauty in the flower just as we can see beauty in the smashed bug on the windshield (usually when we don’t directly recognize it for what it is). There are beautiful swirls of color in the iridescent shimmer of oil floating on water. If every artist were to cease production today, would there be a positive impact on the environment? Do we need more art, more haute couture, more cars, and more consumption? What do we selectively eliminate to address our “madness of quantity”?
Posted on 4/14/2013 2:54:09 PM
By Donald Fox
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The study of art can be a formal discipline that may occur in a class or series of classes as part of a standard curriculum in high school or college. It can also be less formal in a painting or drawing class with an instructor, what typically might be called adult education, usually a non-credit course that may be for a limited time frame or ongoing. Someone could create his or her own course of study by reading, researching, attending workshops or seminars or meeting with a support group of like-minded individuals. However the study of art is approached, if one wants to learn effectively, it would be important to be consistent, dedicated, and as thorough as possible in order to learn as much as possible. The goal would be to learn about history, influential artists, time periods, and art movements, and, of course, to develop one’s own skills in whatever area of creative expression is of personal interest. This latter part takes lots of applied practice.
Art can affect us intellectually, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually in an incredible variety of ways. To understand something of how we are affected and to be able to use the tools of art in our own art making so that we may most effectively touch others with the art that we ourselves make, our study should help us interpret our responses to the work of others and then apply our learning to our own creations. This is a lifelong process but one that is filled with many great rewards. How we each follow this path is up to individual choice. One could become a Sunday painter who indulges simply for pleasure or past-time. The process of painting is enjoyable, calming, and gives one a sense of satisfaction in having created something new. One could become a professional artist that explores one or more areas of painting with dedication and diligence. The striving here is more intense and requires a very high level of expertise that is often developed through strict and disciplined study. There could be many levels in between, and any of them, as with any other endeavor, would be up to the individual according to personal goals.
Goals are important, and the clearer the goal in one’s mind, the faster the goal can be accomplished. There is no right or wrong about goals for these are individual choices, but it is important to understand what the goal is so that a plan of action may be appropriate and on target. Most coaches that work with people to help them achieve personal goals usually advise that a goal is positively stated. It is expressed as a clear thought using action verbs in a complete sentence. The goal is given a specific time frame. The goal should also be measurable. By following these suggestions, one can track progress over time. This also allows for adjustment whenever necessary to keep on track and to keep moving forward. Any originally stated goal may be altered at any time to make it more focused or more specific to the moment. Businesses do this all the time as do sports teams and individual players. A business, for example, may have both short and long term goals. As short term goals are achieved, these accomplishments will affect the long term goals, and those goals may be adjusted however necessary.
Learning, whether we realize it or not, is a goal-oriented process. Part of that is set up for us in the structure of the school system and the presentation of the information we’re supposed to learn. We have to meet certain predetermined goals in order to advance. Hopefully, somewhere along the way we begin to absorb this process as well as specific information, and we learn how to learn. Art is no different than anything else in this regard. It requires the development of skills which eventually are utilized to achieve the goals of the individual artist.
Posted on 4/13/2013 8:27:42 PM
By Donald Fox
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After a long, difficult day yesterday completing taxes, my wife and I rewarded ourselves with a trip to the country today. It wasn’t intended as a painting day but a day to be together and see some good friends. We visited our friend Dorothy and her daughter Carole who live near Waller, Texas on a family homestead. Dorothy is 97 years old and a former painting student of mine. She and Carole took us on a drive to find patches of wildflowers, somewhat sparse this year because of last year’s drought conditions throughout the state. Still, on some back roads we found acres of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush, two of the most popular flowers this time of year. One field in particular was as spectacular as any I have seen in the past. Recent heavy rains did the trick in this area at least. Another striking field was covered with primroses unlike any that I had seen before. Truly beautiful.
We wound through the countryside and finally emerged on Highway 6 headed back towards Navasota where we planned to stop for lunch. A few miles ahead, cars had pulled off the road and lined up for at least a quarter mile. Carole slowed down expecting to see a lush field of flowers. What we saw were small groups of people exploring a field of wasted bluebonnets, mostly shriveled, with only a few scattered ones holding their unique bluish purple coloring. Not five miles from there off the main highway lay the abundant field of flowers that we had visited earlier. How sad to not be more venturesome and leave the main road in search of the treasure everyone was seeking.
Our choice for lunch turned into a mixed blessing. After a lengthy wait, we were told that the baked potatoes two of us had ordered were no longer available. Odd that they wouldn’t have been able to tell that when we first ordered. Somebody was not communicating clearly among the staff. An additional wait for us two while the others ate and we finally were served an unremarkable meal. At the end our waitress told us our lunch was on the house because we had had to wait so long and couldn’t get what we wanted. I thought of the Groucho Marx joke about two elderly women having dined out; one says, “The food was terrible there,” and the other says immediately, “Yes, and the portions were so small!”
We, on the other hand, had the pleasure of returning to Dorothy’s house for homemade Texas pecan pie. In spite of delays getting out of Houston, delays at lunch, and delays in traffic coming home, we had a great day in the country with friends. The good will usually outweigh the bad when you’re able to go with the flow and enjoy the moment.
Posted on 4/12/2013 11:08:06 PM
By Donald Fox
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There is much in the history of art that deals with the big themes of life experience: love, spirituality, family, beauty, survival, war, and death among others. Often in the past artists were dictated the subject and scope of the work to be created. Personal expression was not much considered. In today’s world, the majority of artists think of personal expression over most other considerations. Yet the practical demands of everyday life require adaptation for survival. Many elect other endeavors to meet those needs and place their creative expression aside or channel it into areas more practical and less known for aesthetic pleasure. I see many students that have come to personal expression late in life because that part of themselves has been sacrificed or at least put on hold in order to meet other obligations.
One of these was my late student Jean Vandergrift. She passed on recently in her mid-eighties after a very full life experience of family, a long nursing career as both caregiver to patients and teacher to a younger generation of nurses. Even after she retired and began to explore her creative impulses, she returned to teaching part-time well into her seventies. As an art student she was insistently inquisitive, excited, and joyous in her sharing with others. She had a large circle of friends with whom she shared her newly discovered passion for art and frequently brought them to my classes and exhibitions. She became very active in a local art league after she moved to a southwestern part of the city, and though distance and failing health took her from attending my classes, she continued to create art with great enthusiasm. This stayed with her until the very end.
My wife and I, my other students, her many friends, and all those whose lives she touched are richer for having known her. We’ll miss you, Jean, and we thank you for all that you have given us.
Posted on 4/11/2013
By Donald Fox
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Every spring my wife and I visit one of my former painting students who lives in the country north west of Houston. She is ninety-seven now and still lives alone although her daughter and husband have built a house right behind hers and her son and his family live just across the pasture. We take trips to view the wildflowers, photograph and paint them, usually stop for lunch at a colorful restaurant that serves good country cooking, and then go back to Dorothy’s for dessert, some of her delicious pecan pie (the best in the state in my opinion).
Dark Horse is from a recent trip. Although this is not far west enough to be in the Texas hill country, the landscape does have gently rolling hills, and in good years the wildflowers are amazingly abundant in the springtime. This year the crop is not so good because of earlier drought conditions. Even without many flowers, though, the countryside is lush and gorgeous this time of year and the contrast with city life in Houston is palpable. From either of the main westward highways, I-10 or 290, there are lots of pastoral scenes to be seen interspersed with sections of forests. The most interesting views of the country, however, are on some of the farm to market roads that wander back and forth through the southeastern Texas landscape. Dorothy’s homestead is set well back from one of these small country roads. It’s always easy to imagine an earlier, more peaceful time in Texas history when we visit there, and it’s a great respite from the hectic pace of city life.
Posted on 4/10/2013
By Donald Fox
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When I left home for work today the wind had picked up and was starting to shift from the south to the north. South winds bring moisture from the Gulf to my area and usually increase humidity and temperature. Northerly winds often carry cooler air from Canada into the south. The radio weather report said the temperature had dropped twenty-four degrees since the front had passed through at Intercontinental Airport. That’s about twelve miles north of where I was at the time. It reminded me of the old saying that if you don’t like Houston’s weather just hang around for five minutes.
Nature is in constant motion as is pretty much everything else in the universe. We sometimes get so stuck in our myopic vision of ourselves, our challenges, our concerns, that we forget simple concepts of growth and change. If an artist gets too much into production mode, he or she can miss the important activity that is happening in the moment on the canvas as it develops into a work of art. Each painting has its own momentum, its uniqueness in the grand scheme of oeuvre that is developing over time. I don’t call my paintings my children or my babies, but they are my creations and I do tend to favor some over others.
The works that capture my attention are the ones that either move smoothly from beginning to end, those that I experience being in the zone, so to speak, while creating them, or those which cause me problems and a bit of struggle in their coming to life. With the former, I feel a sense of alignment of energies – thought, inspiration, action, and process. I move forward without hesitation, and then afterward I can learn from what I have done as I see intricacies of which I was not aware in the process of making. I feel a sense of accomplishment not only from the completed work but also from the knowledge that this particular work represents many years of preparation to be able to perform at a high level of achievement.
The second group over which I may expend more energy in doing and redoing, long periods of study to resolve issues, or periods of inactivity where I have to do something else to get the issues out of my mind are more problematic. Yet these paintings can sometimes lead to a steeper learning curve for they not only tax physical skills but also require more critical thinking, which is where the real learning takes place. Perhaps these are not unlike the problem children that eventually grow into well-adjusted, healthy and responsible adults.
There is a larger process at work in the creation of art that extends well beyond the single piece. It takes patience to reap the benefits of this development. Like the weather the changes can be abrupt and quick to manifest or it can be more seasonal with gradual change that extends over a much longer time frame. The fluctuating increments may not be noticed so much day to day. It is only from the longer view that change can be appreciated.
Posted on 4/9/2013
By Donald Fox
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Maria Schalcken
Sexism has a long history in the arts as in other areas of human endeavor. If one accepts the creation myth according to the Bible, then sexism has very old roots indeed. Not all creation myths are so patriarchal, and by the time of the ancient Greeks the female gods gave and took as well as the male ones. Though there is mention of women artists in ancient Greek literature, few are mentioned by name, and it is not until into the seventeenth century that women begin to build strong reputations as artists, particularly in Holland and Italy. Given the repressive nature of social structures in much of the ancient world and through the Middle Ages and even beyond the Renaissance, artistic recognition may well have been the least of women’s worries. Women leaders were few compared to men, but those few left lasting marks.
Personally I don’t think much from a male-female point of view, and some women may criticize me for that because I inhabit the male side and thus my view would always be male dominant by default. What I mean is that it makes no difference to me that an artist is of any particular gender or creed or color. If the work itself is about these concerns, then the work has to stand on its own merit as an expression of its kind as would any other work of art be considered for its style or subject. Having said that, and thinking about the recent passing of two notable women, Margaret Thatcher and Annette Funicello, I’ll say that several of my favorite artists are women (Eva Gonzalez, Berthe Morisot, and Helen Frankenthaler, among others). Thatcher, though obviously not an artist, I admired for her tenacity and bravado but not her politics. Annette Funicello is only a few years older than I am, and so she has been a generational figure for quite some time in spite of her withdrawal from the limelight. In many ways we share the same history. Women of my generation and those following stand on the shoulders of many great women.
The art world today may well be male dominant still. I don’t follow that line of thinking personally. I don’t doubt, however, that there are more women creating art now than ever before in history, and for that the whole world should be grateful.
Posted on 4/8/2013
By Donald Fox
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A scientist observes a phenomenon closely and collects as much relevant data as possible to explain as much as possible about the phenomenon in question. The goal may be to learn more about its being, its function, or its place among other things either similar or dissimilar. The scientist may have to interpret data in order to understand its significance, and this may take long periods of observation over extended periods of time. In short, there may be huge amounts of data to process. Similarly, the artist observes in order to gather information for the purpose of making a painting or sculpture or some form of art. The artist is not necessarily interest in all aspects of the thing observed, usually just the visual characteristics. Still, the artist’s observations and notations may be very accurate. The English painter John Constable, for example, and early proponent of plein air painting in England, became known for his outdoor landscape studies. It is said that meteorologists can tell the weather of the time by looking at Constable’s studies.
The goal of the artist, however, may not always be to make a painting true to life. Art is far more subjective than science, and its purposes range widely depending on the skill, experience, and mindset of the artist. There is a level of understanding, however, that is just as important to the artist as to the scientist with regard to natural phenomena and the influence exerted on our lives. Art tells its subjective truth as dutifully as science tells its objective truth. Today the two traditions often intersect as some artists employ scientific techniques in their art and some scientists exercise artistic imagination to possibly explain the intricacies and paradoxes of the universe. The amazing photographic work of Ansel Adams could not have existed without the prior work of scientists that developed lenses or those that refined manufacturing techniques making possible delicate and intricate cameras and sophisticated film. We are indebted to scientists and artists for the complex vision of the world and the universe from which we view today.
Posted on 4/7/2013 2:32:55 PM
By Donald Fox
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A lot has been said about art being a non-necessity or non-essential item. In tough economic times, people save their money or divert it to the most important items for basic survival. When I was in graduate school in the mid-seventies, the university I attended had a full-sized foundry for the sculpture department and a large ceramics department that included a giant walk-in kiln shaped like a concrete tepee. It was very modern and capacious but took a lot of energy to operate. I took a course in casting and mold-making that included a lot of work in the foundry. It was great, hot, dirty, fun work. I developed skills that I have used many times since on art and other projects. Unfortunately, the next year the gas crunch hit and the foundry was shut down at least for the next two years I was there, and I’m pretty certain for several years beyond that. Cut-backs hit all departments but essentially decimated the sculpture department and severely limited the ceramics department. Students, however, continued to make art.
Nearly every household has to make choices in difficult times. I remember many stories my parents told about growing up during the depression years and then starting their marriage during the years of the Second World War. My mother lived with relatives while my dad was overseas. She and others lived using ration stamps to buy essential goods. Many basic items were in short supply because so much was poured into the war effort. During this time in Europe – in fact during the First and Second World Wars – some of the most innovative art of the twentieth century was created and that led to a boom of artistic creativity in post-war America during the late forties and into the fifties.
Is it ironic that innovation comes out of difficulty? Is it odd that artists continue to create when they can’t sell their paintings or sometimes have to use their paintings to barter for food and shelter?
The history of art focuses on the big names that more often than not were the elite amongst their peers. They were given the big commissions, served in the royal courts, or were feted by the aristocracy. Their patrons were not particularly affected by economic hardship that afflicted the majority. The art market, such as it was, was quite small compared to what is seen today even in these stressful times. The first inklings of a modern type market began to emerge in 17th century Flanders with the growth of a wealthy middle class of merchants. But even in those good times, some artists struggled. Jan Vermeer never became particularly successful though his work is highly esteemed today. Rembrandt gained fame and fortune only to lose it, and late in his life he had been forgotten by many. The bohemian concept of the artist developed in the 19th century and that prevailed as the romantic idea of the artist well into the 20th century. The myth of the starving artist, the lone dedicated, socially inept, perhaps drug or alcohol compromised erratic genius, is one that has been hard to shake.
Today, in spite of challenges in the marketplace, there is a huge surge in creative expression. The internet has virtually shown what has probably been true for several generations, that there is a massive number of artists worldwide willing to do whatever it takes to create their work and present it to the world. The breadth of the work, stylistically and aesthetically, is quite staggering. Unlike in the past when there was a large traditional faction and relatively few newcomers considered iconoclasts and experimenters, art today is quite literally all over the map. This speaks volumes about the creative impulse, and I take it to be a very positive sign in a world that sometimes is a bit too gloomy.
Posted on 4/6/2013 6:03:18 PM
By Donald Fox
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Most of us have probably had the experience of talking with family members later in life and hearing or telling a story about an early family occurrence. Inevitably someone says, “That’s not what happened,” or, “That’s not what I remember.” Then we get to hear the same story from a different perspective and very often with a different outcome. Was one person’s memory accurate and the other faulty? Does the real truth lie somewhere in between because both individuals remember inaccurately? Many of the facts of the shared experience are the same, so the likelihood is that the event affected each individual differently. It is the response of the individual and his or her decisions based on the response that has colored the overall perception of the event and then the memory of it.
Art is often based on personal experience. Events and characters in a story may be based on real life people and events, but the details and maybe even the outcome are fictionalized. Even biographical stories that are supposed to be true can be based on the reported memories of one or more people, and the biographer has to craft a retelling that is both credible and satisfactory to the parties involved. We would expect truth in biography or autobiography but be forgiving (and maybe curious about the real truth) behind some fiction.
Memory can take us to interesting places, seem totally truthful and very real, for that is what we remember. Yet there can be disappointment upon returning to a favorite childhood place or learning from a good friend that what we remember is not what they remember. Art, though, is crafted for its own experience. There is purpose and intention behind the vision, the place, the story, or whatever form is created. The painting may be based on memory as may the story, but what is presented to the audience is now present time reality to be ingested and appreciated for all the levels of experience it may engender. A good story is a good story. A powerful image is a powerful image. It may not be necessary to know that either deviates from the truth by so many degrees. Or, does that affect our (the audience) experience of the work to know that it is truth, half-truth, or total fiction?
Part of the discussion of art from a critical standpoint has to do with the context of the work: the time in which it is created, the personal history of the artist, the relationship between a single work and other work by the artist, and the artist’s intention in creating the work. Critics judge the value of the work by considering these aspects along with an appreciation and analysis of the work itself. The general audience will respond more directly to the work although an educated audience will also consider context as part of the appreciation.
Memories can change as time goes by, details are forgotten, or interpretations become re-interpretations. An artwork generally doesn’t change much (unless it is damaged in some way), but our response to it can certainly change for a wide variety of reasons: we gain insight, we learn more, or we grow as individuals, among other possibilities. So it would seem that art might be the constant, and we as observers are susceptible to change even though we tend to think of ourselves as the constant within our own experience. We may be the thinker and the perceiver, yet we do alter our thoughts and perceptions, sometimes consciously and sometimes not. On one level, art is both thought and experience made concrete. As we experience art, we may be changed by it just as we may be changed by our own experiences and our memories of them. Perhaps it is wise to allow for change in past and present experience as well as in the art that we encounter.
Posted on 4/5/2013 8:26:05 PM
By Donald Fox
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One of the enjoyable aspects of being involved with the creation of art is the flexing of the imagination. Athletes train, practice, and exercise to keep themselves fit both mentally and physically so that when needed their bodies and minds can react and perform well within the game. Similarly, artists perform various training rituals, which might include drawing regularly, making color studies, playing with new materials, looking with awareness, or simply imagining various art projects that more than likely are never materialized. These are all exercises for the mind and the imagination.
Often I dream about making art, and the paintings of the dream world are usually quite different from those that I make on a regular basis. A few times I followed the impulse to recreate some of those images, and the results have been satisfactory but in general remain directions I would not want to pursue for any length of time. Some of these dream works I’ve created imaginary personae for and have toyed with the idea of making a show by fictional artists. I’d create all of the artwork including backgrounds for each of the fictional artists represented. The entire show would be the art project. Each artist would have a unique personality and back story that, hopefully, would be compatible with the work itself. That would be the challenge.
Flexing the imagination is just one way that an artist can keep him or herself in the creative flow. Sometimes there may also be unexpected discoveries that do end up leading in new directions. This we usually call inspiration, but it is called forth by the mind that is ready to receive the message.
Posted on 4/4/2013
By Donald Fox
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Creativity is a state of mind that may also be associated with feeling and emotion. We do generally talk about creative thinkers, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard either creative feelers or creative emoters. Still, artists like athletes can be in the zone as they are being creative, meaning that everything – thought, feeling, emotion, action – is in sync and the various senses are working together as a unified whole. There is total focus on what is happening in the moment, and there may be feelings of high energy, a sense of well-being and excitement. The phrase has been used most to describe an athlete’s performance as in a “... special place where performance is exceptional and consistent, automatic and flowing. An athlete is able to ignore all the pressures and let his or her body deliver the performance that has been learned so well. Competition is fun and exciting” (Murphy, 1996). Artists may not think so much about competition, but we could easily substitute the word performance and apply the idea universally.
There is a deep sense of pleasure and very strong satisfaction when in this heightened state of creativity. One feels intuitively that current actions are right and effective without having to reason through what to do next although I think that the reasoning process itself can sometimes be part of being in the zone as well. It’s kind of like working through a problem step by step, each step consistently leading to the next, and at the end arriving at the appropriate answer without additional deliberation or hesitation. You know that what has transpired is correct. When reason flows in that manner, it could also be considered being in the zone.
With art, I also think that viewers can be shifted into the zone by particular works of art. Standing before a magnificent painting where every part is perfectly placed and realized, where each color and brushstroke contribute to the harmony of the piece, the viewer senses that and is transformed by it. He or she can feel the same kinds of emotions and energy that the athlete executing the perfect play or the artist completing that perfect artwork may feel as they perform in their heightened state of awareness. The viewer can be elevated to that same level of experience just through the act of contemplation.
The similarities that exist between those involved in very different areas of endeavor and their experience of high achievement referred to as being in the zone suggests that as humans we share much more inwardly than we perceive outwardly. Commercialization and other economic and/or social issues tend to skew our understanding sometimes and tend to draw us apart. If, however, we consider what many forms of human endeavor can achieve, i.e. those peak experiences, then perhaps through art or sport or appreciation of either (or both), we can be reminded that we are but part of the same larger whole.
Murphy, Shane. The Achievement Zone: an Eight-step Guide to Peak Performance. New York: Berkley, 1996.
Posted on 4/3/2013
By Donald Fox
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If someone chooses to, he or she can go online and search on Youtube for instructional videos about how to make a painting. There are huge numbers of these available that demonstrate about a dozen different approaches and then variations on those that extend the possibilities to thousands. As a teacher and a painter, I don’t recommend one particular approach over another, but I do think it important that a young painter develop some sort of systematic approach that ultimately reflects the personality and goals of the individual. The great German color teacher Johannes Itten who taught at the Bauhaus strongly believed in intuitive use of color. He claimed that everyone has an innate preference for a particular color palette that matches the individual personality. An acute observer, he could easily tell when students were faking it with their color, and he would assist them with finding the key to their own specific color choices. This generally freed their creativity and boosted their work effectiveness.
I do agree that we as individuals are often drawn to certain colors, but I also believe that we can learn to wield color in many different harmonious ways. We don’t only have to paint with the colors of spring. There are many moods to life, and colors can be effectively chosen to represent those moods. Likewise, the approach to any given painting may have more to do with the subject at hand and one’s response to that subject rather than just making the subject according to a predetermined set of steps that never changes. Painters are explorers and not robots. Making a painting is a process of discovery instead of simply going through the motions to get to the finished product.
Having said that, though, I think it is true that over time and with much practice, an artist develops a streamlining and sometimes shortening of the process. But what works well for one painter may not be right for another. This is where the student has to take a suggested method and make it his or her own. In high school writing classes, a lot of emphasis is placed on the five paragraph essay. Many students come away with the understanding that this is how it is always done. They fail to grasp that the pattern is simply a model. Some essays might be better with twenty paragraphs. Some essays might be better as a single paragraph.
We’re talking, of course, about the process of making a painting and not the size of it or its expanse. For myself, I’ve found that concentrating on light and dark contrasts right from the beginning works the best. I don’t need or desire to have a careful drawing, which I then dutifully color in. I want to find and mold the shapes as I go according to how each is revealed as it contrasts with its surroundings. I may observe various greens or blues or purples in certain areas that are held in specific relation to each other by their size, their shape, and their position within the space. This is what I am painting, and I strive to capture that early on. The rest is a process of adjustment of both color and value. The image emerges from this interplay among contrasts.
How I choose to see and paint images, however, may be too daunting for beginners. I can demonstrate what I do, but they usually desire more structure. They feel they need lines and shapes first, and into that they add their color. That’s okay too as long as the lines and shapes don’t restrict the developing artist’s vision. It can take a long time and many paintings before a student feels comfortable with how a painting begins much less how it proceeds to its conclusion. Learn the tools and consider the goals. How can the subject best be approached to achieve the desired outcome? Whatever the process, always pay attention to lights and darks, for these more often than not will make or break the painting.
Posted on 4/2/2013
By Donald Fox
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Pieter Breugel, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
Today is the second day of National Poetry Month, an annual event since 1996 that was initially created by the Academy of American Poets. An article in yesterday’s Star section of the Houston Chronicle mentions several relevant local events this month. Below are links to the Academy of American Poets website and a current article from the Huffington Post. Poetry is perhaps the oldest form of literature as well as the root of all pop culture music. Many ancient religious texts are written in poetic form. Poetry’s influence is pervasive in our culture and reminds us of the natural rhythms of language as well as the incredible power with which language can communicate ideas and feelings.
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lundberg/national-poetry-month_b_2964168.html
There are many poets worldwide whose work we can read in translation if not in the original language. A good translator can recreate the rhythms and feel of the poet’s language for those who can’t read the original text. This is not uncommon in literature, for without translations the work of many writers would be less well known. Painting, of course, does not have this issue since images are the same regardless of the language that the painter speaks. What may be different though is the cultural nuance, the contextual meanings that need to be translated by someone for the average viewer to be able to more deeply understand the visual work.
All arts make requirements on the audience. In the theatrical arts and in film, audience members must suspend their disbelief in order to more fully appreciate a work. Patrons of the visual arts understand more when there is at least basic knowledge of design principles and metaphorical language. Particular painters, like poets and other writes, develop a visual vocabulary that is unique to their work, and as viewers become more familiar with that vocabulary, the works begin to yield more of their secrets and depth.
My favorite poets are those that use a lot of imagery in their work, poets like T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Mary Oliver, or Billy Collins. Some of these poets have written poems based on other works of art, ekphrastic poems, like William Carlos Williams’ poem based on Breughel’s famous painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. Several brief critical remarks about the poem may be found here: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/williams/icarus.htm
And the poem itself may be found here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15828
Posted on 4/1/2013
By Donald Fox
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A current solo exhibition by American painter Alex Katz is curiously being held at Haus Konstruktiv in Zürich, Switzerland. This museum is dedicated to concrete, constructivist, and conceptual art, so it seems very odd to consider an artist that many think of as a Pop artist and figurative artist being singled out for such an honor. The Huffington Post has a brief article about the show accompanied by a video on which curator Dorothea Strauss explains her reasoning behind including Katz’s work in this venue. Her explanation is an interesting commentary on the idea of abstraction verses object, and we could say on the dialogue between abstraction and realism.
She raises a very important question – at what point does an abstraction become an object, or, when is the object seen as an abstraction? I would expect that many painters that paint realistically understand that everything about a painting is an abstraction. We can create illusions of things, but we cannot create real things. We use marks and shapes and colors, all of which are abstractions, to signify whatever is being represented. In a sense, this much understanding should break down the gap between realism and abstraction, for it is more one of intention rather than result. What I mean is that both kinds of painting are expressions of ideas and feelings that are made concrete in the form of painted images. One happens to picture something recognizable and the other doesn’t (except to be recognized as a painting). The realistic painter intends to make a painting that looks like something and the abstract painter intends to make a painting that only looks like itself. Of course there could be shadings in between: expressive works that have elements of realism, abstract works that are based on observed reality, and so on.
Ms. Strauss concludes that we really should not try to box art in so much. Yes, we use labels and descriptions, but if we think we know an artwork because it is realistic or abstract or constructivist, we are not really seeing the work, only our idea of it. This is a powerful concept worth meditating on for a long time. Below is a link to the Post article and the video.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vernissagetv/alex-katz-landscapes-exhi_b_2990918.html?ref=topbar
