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Posted on 2/1/2017
By Donald Fox
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There are many different theories about dreams some of which suggest links to memory (that we dream utilizing fragments of memories from the preceding day or sometimes incorporate memories of people or places previously encountered) and sometimes links to creativity (visual artists may dream about making art or musicians about making music – often these works are not ones experienced in waking life). Personally, I think that my own dreams are actively creative. I tend to remember many dreams and sometimes write them down as I remember them. Only on a few occasions have I actually attempted to reproduce a dreamed art work in waking life, but the ideas from those dream images I do often explore either in paintings or drawings.
However dreams come about, they do seem quite creative, and many of mine are very detailed, highly structured narratives that are reasonably sensible though sometimes these will also include fantastical parts that obviously are not rooted in reality. Other dreams may simply be complete fantasy and may lack any coherent thread. Certainly dreams are often symbolic, and I can interpret them to contain elements that represent aspects of my life, current concerns or challenges, or current emotional situations. I don’t tend to think of dreams as being literal or necessarily correlating to waking life on a regular basis, but I do take dreams to be an expansion of whatever experiences, thoughts, daydreams or other fantasies I may experience during waking life. Whatever goes on within my mind in a waking or a dream state is of interest even when it may seem nonsensical. My mind is clearly creating something, and just as I edit daily experience, I can edit those dreams or associate them with some larger context of perception.
The dream world is not experienced as directly as the waking world, but in some ways the dream world is more malleable and flexible. I am the controller of that dream state whether it may seem so in the moment of dreaming or not. I may directly perceive and experience what is in the waking world, but I cannot always control it. Even so, creative insight is often found in both the dream and waking worlds. I’m tempted to say that a painting is a dream that is frozen in time. Somewhat like a photograph can be thought of as a frozen picture of reality to be perused from that singular vantage point and then associated with whatever thoughts or insights come in response to it, a painting slowly freezes the thoughts and emotions from which it is built into a physical two-dimensional pictogram of those experiences. It may invite the viewer to contemplate its mysteries and to imaginatively consider its possibilities. One can easily (in my view) slip into a dream state, an altered state, while contemplating a painting and do so with eyes wide open.
Posted on 1/31/2017
By Donald Fox
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Humans have a need it seems to impose order onto experience. Likely we are influenced by natural order, the rhythms of days and the seasons, the internal rhythms of breath and heartbeat and the pulsing of blood throughout our bodies, plus our need to replenish ourselves with food (energy) and rest. We hear the audible rhythms of the world and grow into the rhythms of whatever language or languages we learn to speak. We observe rhythmical arrangements in the natural world, we internalize that, and we construct our physical environment in ways that we can rhythmically divide and utilize space. Rarely is there anything that we do or experience that does not have anything to do with rhythm in some way, and that perceived and experienced rhythm affects our desire for order, for what is order but a rhythmical arrangement of things and space for particular use?
If I begin a pencil drawing without any pre-planning, it is spontaneous, abstract doodling that given time I will find an order, not so much to impose but to allow to emerge from the way lines and marks coalesce on the page. A composition will arise, not by itself although it may seem to grow before my eyes. I am well aware that I am making the decisions about where marks go, what gets emphasized and what does not. I choose a light or a dark pencil, and I select specific tools with which to make marks or to control them – like collected squiggly lines that may represent the effects of light, i.e. the effects of light and dark, which always gives something the appearance of light and shadow and, thus, illumination.
Even when working abstractly, I am still aware of the possibilities of light and space. This is not a statement, as some might say, about the flatness of the picture plane, for even with abstract design, I can still create the hint of ambient light, illumination, and space and depth. I could, if I choose, also suggest weight and substance. With current work, I’m mostly thinking about planes in space, but I also play with ambiguity and keep some areas open while others may be closed. However the composition may begin to look, there typically is the suggestion of spaces or windows to peer through, and in some cases doorways through which one could navigate. A viewer might experience one of these compositions as a kind of visual puzzle and perhaps even begin to fantasize and imagine naturalistic forms and shapes. That’s okay, too; it simply reinforces the idea that art can be interpreted in varieties of ways and order is always a major part of that.
Posted on 1/30/2017
By Donald Fox
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For many years science fiction writers have envisioned multiple simultaneous universes or alternate realities that coexist but in different phases or temporal planes so that none are cognizant of the others. How many of these universes could coexist is impossible to say. In more recent years some theoretical physicists have posited that multiverses are possible, and that the world that we know may have copies of itself where beings like ourselves may also exist. These alternate realities could explain certain kinds of experiences (if the worlds somehow do influence each other) like the awareness that some people have of past lives or visions of the future (one possible future) or esp or other psychic phenomena. This is interesting on a theoretical or imaginary level, and it could even explain how some people can experience the same thing but come up with quite different versions of what took place. We certainly have seen a lot of that in the news of late even to the point of calling facts alternative facts and news alternative news. This certainly sows doubt on what may be the actual reality if such a thing exists.
In our information age, however, we record most everything and can prove that something is, or was, a certain way, can’t we? The past has shown us that authoritarian regimes always attempt to control the media, create revisionist history, and manipulate the ‘truth’ to the benefit of the regime. Think of the holocaust deniers and all the versions of this or that war and so on. Shall the truth set you free? Depends on which version of the truth is being presented, doesn’t it? Many might object, though, that when there are enough facts and enough witnesses, there is only one truth because it is verifiable. It can be proven. The deniers are subsequently shown to be in error, and so we say that time will tell. History will right itself. We will learn the truth, or so it is claimed.
Whenever I work on a painting, there is always the truth of the moment. Whatever is happening in the painting is the truth at that time, but that truth is always subject to change. So we might say that there is no complete truth until the painting is completed and that final truth is in place. At that point in time there is a verifiable completion, and that is what is subject to whatever critical inquiry will follow. Any idea posed at the beginning of the painting may or may not remain in effect until the end, for the process of painting as I experience it now is where that truth is explored and revealed (created). This can be true whether the painting is realistic or abstract. How a particular scene or subject treated realistically is actually presented stylistically can change almost as much as a beginning abstract concept may change in its process of realization. Most painters know and accept this, and this is why so many speak about the art process as a process of discovery or exploration.
My most recent painting, Alternate Windows, literally plays with the idea of change, possibility, shifting viewpoints, and potential interpretation psychologically, spatially, and imagistically. I’ve addressed this idea in other works like Floating Windows and Shifting Panes, but here there is also the tongue-in-cheek reference to the recent phenomenon of alternative news (alternative views). However the viewer decides to read the piece, I have no real stake in that. My experience will remain intact regardless.
Posted on 1/29/2017 6:37:00 PM
By Donald Fox
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The French writer Collete once said "Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it." A writer, of course, lives by words, and so the words must come one after another to describe and record the observations, memories, and thoughts that grow in a writer’s mind. For this to become art, however, those words must be crafted, ordered, and, more often than not, whittled down to the few that clearly express the writer’s intent. Likewise, the painter cannot simply empty the paintbox and frame every scrape and scribble without some reference to order. As my first real art teacher often said, “I am a painter. Whether I am also an artist will be judged by others.” What he demonstrated through his process and work ethic is that art grows from the disciplined mind.
Whatever journey an artist takes, literal, symbolic, or imaginary, whether pre-planned and self-directed or plunged headlong into a mysterious realm of discovery, the thoughts, feelings, and emotions from which the art is manufactured have to be culled, nurtured, and formed into that which will create them anew for the audience for whom they are intended.
Posted on 1/28/2017 5:55:38 PM
By Donald Fox
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What is the value of a painted landscape, streaks and smears and splotches of color arranged on a drum-tight fabric surface that serves as a window on a wall into a world perhaps seen or not or at least familiar to that found somewhere in physical space? That fiction, that simulacrum, that phantom illusory space crafted with loving care as if to make that scene important beyond its mere presence as one place among many seen a thousand times but now transformed into unchanging dimension. Its fantastical permanence transforms from visual language into concept, idea, metaphor, or symbol. It reminds and challenges that there is more than the brief encounter. It becomes memory transfixed, but memory filtered through the eye and mind and heart of another for anyone bold enough to look with care, to question what is seen and more so what is thought in the presence of its mirror. For mirror it is, not simply to the tree or lake or mountain rendered but to the vision stirred within as it reflects the inner world of all who view it with earnestness and awareness. It exists to be seen and contemplated as a meditation in waiting until activated by the seeking mind. It is a moment in time opened like a book of secrets that blooms and grows within the fertile field of aesthetic delight. All one has to do is look.
Posted on 1/27/2017 6:38:24 PM
By Donald Fox
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Politics are tiresome and quite boring – not the ho-hum kind of boring that might come from something disinteresting or dull but boring because so little ever seems to change in spite of each new round of politicians, conservative or liberal, saying that he or she is determined to change or fix the corrupt system that he or she is vying to be a part of. Additionally, people seem so easily duped by said politician with whose espoused ideology they most closely align, except that one never really knows for sure that what the politician claims to believe is in fact what he/she believes until in office when action shows or belies that belief. And – this is a big AND – every politician says that he/she is only there to serve the will of the people. We should have by now realized that this so-called will of the people is made up of individuals with his/her own belief-agenda that relates directly to the everyday experience of that person and even though daily experiences may be similar for those in certain places-strata-segments of society, each person makes individual decisions based on that experience. No two people see that same thing in the same way, and when there appears to be agreement on something, even that is a surface appearance rather than a substantial one. The will, like smoke, is made up of thousands of tiny particles (the people) condensed for a brief time to a visible cloud but soon dissipated by the slightest wind of misunderstanding and conflicting belief.
Voter’s remorse is a lot like buyer’s remorse when post-election the voter begins to see that the elected chimera is now quite different from that collection of words and smiles that popped up in various media platforms. When I was a boy, and even though I was politically ignorant at the time, I remember the election of Dwight Eisenhower. I learned later that he was a war hero, a highly-respected leader of Allied Forces and though not a politician he had to do political things to manage the vast resources at his command during the war years. He was a congenial person and something of a grandfatherly figure to many people in those post-war years. I knew nothing of conservatism and liberalism at the time, but I think he did a good job, and his prescient advice about the military-industrial complex was right on the money. This I began to understand while in high school. At that time, there was the exuberant energy and hope generated by the young Jack Kennedy followed swiftly by the rude awakening to violence and discord from his assassination and the Viet Nam War years coinciding with Civil Rights and the horrible brutality exhibited by fellow Americans. The loss of Dr. King and later Robert Kennedy made America look like a land of hoodlums, racists, and subversive extremists.
There were worse dangers than communism, the Soviet bloc, and the threat of nuclear holocaust. The threat was next door or around the corner. A national fear pushed conservative and liberal leaders to subversive acts abroad, covert actions that generated massive ill will. Most Americans felt we were doing good with exports of care packages, medicines, spiritual blessings, and democratic values. Subverting regimes we did not like, however, created another view of America. We became viewed as the Great Satan rather than the Great Liberator or the Great Hope. Other countries were growing in influence, power, and wealth with agendas not in alignment with our own: China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, and others while the Soviet Union was slowly disintegrating from within. The world was growing increasingly complex and interdependent something that should have been learned from World War Two. No one or two nations can serve as superpowers ad infinitum. Just as ecosystems thrive only when functioning with interdependent parts, so will nations thrive as interdependent components of a planetary world. As conscious human beings, we must learn to embrace our similarities rather than excite and exaggerate our differences. Cooperation rather than confrontation is the key. We literally are all in this world together.
Posted on 1/26/2017
By Donald Fox
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There are countless designs found within nature that range from the purposeful like camouflage for protection to the accidental like a landscape view found to be pleasing by an observer. Whether we realize it or not, we are profoundly influenced by patterns and designs found in nature just as we are by the images and patterns that surround us in our individual environments. We become culturally acclimated to our surroundings. If we actually lived in nature as our ancient ancestors did, we would learn to be aware of the potential rewards and hazards of that natural world. Since we learn from experience and it has been shown that aversions (and attractions) to various stimuli are often conditioned responses, it can be easy to suggest that much of how we respond to the world is simply learned behavior. Expose oneself to the right stimuli and one might become an ideal individual who is perceptive, sensitive, well adjusted, and confident in thought and action. However, how many of us feel that we are truly that fully realized human being?
Conditioned behavior is not behavior generated by conscious choice, but as we grow and learn we often are told that we do have choice, free will, or however that idea may be expressed. Many of us also believe that we have a fundamental nature with which we are born, something innate. That nature develops along with our personality as we grow. For example, some people seem naturally good with numbers, others with artistic or creative interests, and still others imbued with natural curiosity about the world around them (those who would tend to become scientists, for example). We are not, however, such simple organisms that we are molded this way or that although it has been shown that behavior can be modified by extreme circumstance – good people can be made to do not so good things. Genes, family influence, gender and cultural expectations, and many other factors push or pull us in various directions. Even so, there is the question of free will, of choice, that at some point will become a major factor in personal development.
When we look at artistic works whether by known artists or by those from cultures where the artist is usually anonymous, we make part of the appreciation of the work about the personality and motivation of the artist who made it. Sometimes this is carried to such extremes that artist celebrity status outshines the work. Andy Warhol touched on this idea in his work during the sixties and seventies. He showed the many ironies wrapped in cultural trappings. The outrageous prices paid for the work of some contemporary artists are the result of this cult of personality – we might call it the hyperbole of status, and we see it not only in the arts but throughout modern western culture especially. Consequently, there is confusion, bombast, ridicule, superficiality, alienation, and other negative characteristics within the art world along with intelligence, wit, profundity, brilliance, insight, and inclusiveness. The old cliché about separating the wheat from the chaff still holds much truth even as it strains from its burden of longevity and overuse.
Much art in the modern world becomes centered in irony by intention or by happenstance. Perhaps the real question, and maybe the only valid question, for any art today is whether it contributes something good, pleasurable, uplifting, or enlightening for its audience. When we look at the best art through the centuries, the art that has endured and continues to speak with eloquence and power is that which does these very things and fundamentally empowers its audience even when the original artist had no idea who that distant future audience might be. We continue to be enriched, and isn’t that good enough reason for art in the first place?
Posted on 1/25/2017
By Donald Fox
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Recently I saw the film Papa about the relationship that develops between a young American journalist and Ernest Hemingway when the older writer was living in Cuba not long before the revolution that lifted Castro to power. Hemingway drinks too much out of frustration at not being able to write. Several scenes show him standing at his typewriter staring intently at the blank carboned pages. The agony on his face is palpable. The severity of the writer’s block is profound. Less than two years later Hemingway committed suicide.
Most artists have likely experienced fallow periods when creating art did not seem possible. Others talk about the making of art as a job that is approached with the same discipline as any other job. The act of continuous work enables the artist to keep working whether feeling inspired or not – at least that’s the theory. Painters continually paint, writers write, musicians play music, and so on. This does not mean that every act of painting or writing or making music results in masterful art, but somewhere within that continuous productive process good art is made. There is no magic formula, no creative spell.
We can say that sometimes the muse is fickle, inspiration is lacking, or distractions are overwhelming (family concerns, health issues, financial issues, loss of confidence, and so on). Artists, however sensitive they may be, are also individuals who deal with their own fears and their own challenges. Part of training to be an artist should include how to address fallow periods. This is not different from any motivation that anyone might use to keep him or herself productive, positive, and moving forward in life. Whatever skills are developed through training, whatever working processes are discovered and followed, and whatever activities keep one’s creative energy at a high level, all of these merge within the scope of the creative process. Each artist has to work out for him or herself whatever keeps the motivation strong. Too much success (as in the case of Hemingway or Fitzgerald) could be just as debilitating as too little success. There is no one size fits all here.
My personal motivation comes from many possible sources: reading, viewing art, going to a good museum, watching films, reviewing previously made art, listening to music, submersion in natural settings, writing about art, thinking about art, drawing, talking with other artists, simply paying attention to what is in the world, and from restful sleep that always produces vivid dreams. This is only a partial list but one that often produces results. I have learned what does and does not produce the necessary state of mind or in some cases the state of no mind that generates the space for creative work. I’ve spent a lifetime doing this; consequently, how could there not be results?
Posted on 1/24/2017
By Donald Fox
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There are as many reasons for the making of art as there are artists who make art. So much art is currently being made that it would be impossible to list all those reasons, but if we simplify, we might be able to suggest some of the major ones. We could say that art is made either from a positive stance or a negative one. For example, a positive reason for making art could be to express a spiritual connection to the world. Many artists talk about spiritual motivations behind their art. They may be glorifying the world, some aspect of it, or their spiritual understanding of it according to their perception of god, spirit, cosmic harmony, or fundamental unity. That art is often celebratory and expresses lofty concepts or goals. The art is a means to communicating and sharing positive energy. As such, the art can range from the singular work like a painting or piece of sculpture to some form of socially interactive art where viewers become participants of an experiential space (happenings, performance pieces, interactive pieces, environmental works, and so on). This kind of work can be personal in nature and generally small scale or it may be public like murals, large-scale outdoor pieces, or specially designed spaces that viewers enter into. Music, film, theater, dance, and multi-media pieces can also fall under this positive category.
On the other side, there is a lot of art with darker intent. Part of that may become psychological, social, or political and serve to protest or demonstrate against ideas, actions, or issues perceived to be negative, inhumane, or unjust. Much of this kind of art can be satirical, allegorical, or straightforward critical of the subject being addressed. The purpose of the art is not to uplift or enhance experience but to confront and suggest, even demand, change. There often is a lot of anger behind the making of this art and expressed through it. Its intention is not to be beautiful but to enrage, engage, or offend the viewer, and sometimes to coerce the viewer into action so that he or she becomes an agent of change inspired by the art (we could even say subverted by it). Protest art is generally shorter lived than positive art because its purpose is tied to something concrete and finite that either changes or doesn’t but over time naturally becomes of less importance. We can say that this kind of art is usually tied to time, place, and circumstance more so than the art with positive intention, for the latter has universal appeal that lasts generation after generation.
Any practicing artist makes choices about the direction or directions his or her art may go. Some artists may embrace only the positive and others only the negative while some others may move from one to another depending on personal circumstance and lifestyle choices. We can see a lot of so-called primitive art throughout the world that is directly tied to its culture for its purpose is to express aspects of that culture. Western artists, and these days, international artists will likely borrow from different cultures including ones outside their direct experience (like primitive art) to create personal statements through assimilated images that express unique personal visions. These could go either direction – positive or negative – depending on artistic choice and purpose. The possibilities are nearly endless, and perhaps this is what makes art so interesting, intriguing, and exciting for artist and audience and why so many of us keep coming back for more.
Posted on 1/22/2017 9:26:41 PM
By Donald Fox
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Representing the human figure has a long tradition in the history of art. Classical Greeks were the first to create the most realistic images with the use of contrapposto in statuary and refined proportions that influenced western art for the next several thousand years. These figures did not represent specific people; rather they represented the Greek pantheon of gods and heroes. This action gave western artists like Giorgione, Titian, and others in a time when Christian mores would have prevented painting nude individuals the opportunity to paint and sculpt nude figures by referring to them as mythic figures like Venus, Aphrodite, Diana, and others. Portraiture was the likely pathway to eventual representation of nude figures as real people, but this did not happen until the nineteenth century. Some idealized nudes that were not mythical pagan images – Michelangelo’s works, for example – represented historical biblical figures, but these were not in context of the everyday world. In effect they were mythical as well.
Edouard Manet’s presentation in the tradition of the sleeping Venus created quite a scandal when he painted a well-known courtesan lying naked and looking straight out at the observer in effect making the voyeur being the one observed. The viewer in this case being the next customer who had just presented the lady with a bouquet of flowers being handed to her by a Negro maid. Courbet, Manet, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, and other painters of the mid- to late nineteenth century placed naked women in intimate settings sometimes at their bath or sometimes as part of characters in brothels. One could argue that the quality of the paintings elevated the subject matter from base voyeurism to aesthetic contemplation of the nude female with stark realism now being the defining principle. For many, though, this was the beginning of a continuing debate about what is art and what is pornography. That debate is still in effect today in a post-sexual revolution society. It’s not debated as fervently as it was in the early twentieth century, but there still are strong opinions on both sides. Quite a few art schools even today will not allow nude models; this varies from state to state. Art continues to challenge people’s comfort zone and point of view.
Posted on 1/21/2017 6:22:29 PM
By Donald Fox
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Next to my desk
are printouts of photos
of the girl with the bright green eyes.
In one she is curled on my feet
looking up at me
one eye catching emerald light.
In another she is perched
high on an oak branch
a spot of sunlight
accenting her forehead and nose
as she looks upward,
light green and shadowed leaves
all around her.
Finally she is huddled atop a table,
a yellow-orange plastic tiger
flashlight with bold blue eyes
sandwiched between her and
a stuffed pink dog sporting a white bow-tie
dotted with small red hearts,
but only she looks out at me,
that girl with the bright green eyes.
Posted on 1/19/2017 7:51:06 PM
By Donald Fox
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The following is not strictly art related. It is, nonetheless, heartfelt and important.
Tomorrow one of the great American traditions will occur, one that happens every four years, the installation and inauguration of a new president. When I was a kid and this event occurred, it was simply a matter of news reports. Back in the day of the old movie newsreels, the event had already happened some time before when it made it to the movie screen. Then, with the advent of television, the event was broadcast directly into one’s home as were the many launchings that marked the stages of the space race, the disruptions that chronicled the unfolding of civil rights, and the events that followed the ill-fated movements in Southeast Asia. Growing into political awareness was not an easy process.
My personal politics were formed during the sixties when it became apparent that the government supposedly representing the will of the people did not always do so. It also became apparent that one’s neighbor could hold opinions totally opposite from one’s own, could support and vote for the other political party, and even though we pledged allegiance to the same flag, sang the same national anthem, we lived our lives in the same community but thought about our country in very different ways. The years of Viet Nam and Watergate, of scandal and resignation, were unpleasant and divisive, but as I was to learn from history not all that different from times in the past that extended all the way back to the very beginning of our country. There is no idyllic period. There is no time when leaders always did the right thing. Even during the worst times when the country as a whole was challenged – we might say either the First or Second World War although others might say the Civil War – the country appeared to come together as one, but that was only on the surface. The disagreement, discord, antipathy, and in some cases outright hatred were still right there just waiting for the slightest spark to ignite full scale eruption. That elusive majority that seems to govern us is filled with contradictions as well as agreements, with pessimism as well as optimism.
Somehow we have managed to survive and sometimes even prosper. We have created a nation that in many ways is the envy of the world though also despised in many parts of the world. We are not innocent though some may think so. We are not Christian or even altruistic, though many will swear that we are. We have done shameful things to our own people and to peoples elsewhere. We have built up our leaders, practically deified some of them, while tearing down others and vilifying them – sometimes justifiably and sometimes not. All of this has been done while espousing the principles of freedom and democracy, principles so easy to read about and accept as true and righteous but very challenging to live up to on a day to day basis.
I remember how joyous many were and horrified others were when Jimmy Carter was elected and inaugurated. I remember the joy and the dismay that accompanied the inauguration of Ronald Reagan. I remember the joy and disappointment that accompanied the inauguration of George H.W. Bush. I remember the joy and trepidation that accompanied the inauguration of Bill Clinton. I remember the joy and anger that accompanied the inauguration of George W. Bush. I remember the exhilaration and the outrage that accompanied the inauguration of Barack Obama. And now there is the potential joy and the potential threat that will accompany the inauguration of Donald Trump. In every single case, with the possible exception of the first Bush, large groups of Americans have talked about leaving the country, have said that the country is lost, said that America is no longer a great nation, cried that the country has lost its way, and some said, “He is not my president.” So far, at least, through assassinations, through riots, through wars, and through economic challenges, we, as a nation, have endured. May God bless America.
Posted on 1/18/2017 6:07:51 PM
By Donald Fox
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History is filled with secrets and mysteries. Even in our own lives that we think we know so well, we may find at a certain point that what we may have experienced earlier and thought was true was, in fact, only our interpretation of what happened. Others tell that same tale differently, and the part we thought so significant was of little importance. In the arts we find reassessment of individual works or individual artists. The history of a time is set; that story has been told. Yet, something is discovered that makes one take a second look, and as a result the story appears skewed or incomplete. New evidence and new perspective give new meaning. We find this in law and criminal proceedings. In fact, there may not be an area of human enterprise where a tale is told too soon, and all the players have not had their say.
Sometimes art is lost, but there is some record either written or as reproduced image. We may wonder at the gap it has left, yet there is no way to assess its effect on anything since the work itself no longer exists. I think of the hundred or so paintings that Pissarro left behind when he fled to England during the Franco-Prussian War. His home was occupied by troops and the paintings were used like rugs over muddy ground. All were destroyed. How might the entirety of his output be perceived differently if all those paintings had survived? Other priceless works of art were either lost or destroyed during the First and Second World Wars. Artists also continued to create during those periods, but the works not being about war we don’t usually associate them with war.
The impact that a piece has also may not be recognized for years after its creation. One work can easily be lost among the many thousands that are created in any given year. There has to be time or opportunity for a work to be recognized and enter into that stream of history either personal or global. A stylistic turning point may seem significant within the timeline of an artist’s work, yet that one painting is just another painting until it is addressed within that context. Is there a particular day or work that you (or any artist) can point to and say that is where it all began? That’s when I knew I was doing something significant?
Each of us tells and retells personal history again and again. Details change and assumptions do as well. This is not surprising since we are continuously learning as we continuously create throughout our lives. Perhaps it is good not to be too quick to judge and too determined to tell the story as complete. There likely is more to come, and the time for telling will arrive soon enough. Until then all is part of the continuous motion of life and art.
Posted on 1/17/2017 7:25:01 PM
By Donald Fox
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Stories have been around since long before the development of writing. This, of course, is an assumption since there is no record to back up the statement. Common sense would tell us that like anything else the telling of stories had to develop over time. It would have begun with some ancient person acting out the presence of animals, the events of a hunt, or some other significant thing that occurred that would impact others of a group. It is natural to communicate something of importance to others. We do this all the time. We narrate the events of our weekends, our vacations, what we did at school or work or during some absence from others. We do this to inform, to persuade, or to entertain, and sometimes for all three purposes. This is Storytelling 101, so to speak.
We also know that primitive cultures without writing will have strong oral traditions, and these are largely in the form of stories that communicate the history of the tribe or group to carry forward to succeeding generations. It is part of the cohesion of the group. That word history is four-fifths the word story, for again, what is history but the narration of a series of events that describes what took place at a particular time? The majority of world literature is in the form of stories, and most of these have developed to a high level of artistry.
It is not surprising, then, that a large amount of painting is narrative in nature. It is also not surprising that this form of painting has built-in limitations, for unless the narrative is stretched out in episodic manner like around the circumference of a vase or in a frieze or mural, the story will be truncated. Only so much can be shown in a single picture. Many narrative paintings illustrate only a significant or dramatic moment – part of a story – rather than the entire story, which would have to be a linear narrative to be conclusive. What the form did do for visual artists, however, was to allow the opportunity to realize imaginatively what a story might have looked like (again, part of it) for those lacking imagination themselves.
I would argue that from this depiction artists learned the importance of all those elements of design that are studied so assiduously today in art programs everywhere. In other words, artists discovered those design elements in order to more effectively tell a story with images. The images themselves became more effective from study of the observable world. Again this seems logical and also understandable that it would have taken time for development of all these elements. Think of a child telling a personal story as he or she struggles with limited vocabulary and limited self-awareness and limited understanding of what is important for his or her audience to know. Compare this to an adult narrating an event. The latter will contain more detail, generally be more logically ordered, and have clearer description. From this, as in other fields of endeavor, has developed the higher art of storytelling.
Art, like most areas of human inquiry, is based on order and organization. It may contain a large area of emotional content and elicit emotional response (unlike the sciences, for example), but the effectiveness of emotional communication depends on the organization of the artistic elements. Whether in the form of a narrative or some other organizational pattern, in order for the emotional content to engage and enlighten the audience, the structure has to be sound. It is the evolution of structure that has made the arts what they are today, and it is also what distinguishes the most effective art of the past. We look to the Renaissance as a high water mark in the development of artistic structure – and it was indeed that – but we’ve also learned that human perception is attuned to many levels of sophistication. Narrative has been and will continue to be a powerful part of that development. The story of art, though, continues to unfold.
Posted on 1/16/2017 7:06:05 PM
By Donald Fox
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Degas: A New Vision closed today at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. This is one of the best exhibits I’ve seen, but then I’ve seen so many and a lot of them have been at this museum. What an incredible perk to living in Houston. Some of the ones of note beginning with Cézanne: the Late Work in the late seventies include two major exhibits of Rothko, Jackson Pollock; private collections of Impressionist works, Golden Age Dutch paintings, Spanish paintings, English paintings, Italian paintings; several exhibits of work by John Singer Sargent, an amazing show of his watercolors, Monet, Picasso, two exhibits of Georges Braque works, Andrew Wyeth, James Rosenquist, German Impressionists, Rembrandt, drawings of Leonardo, multiple exhibits of Chinese and Japanese art plus the permanent collection of Asian art, Jules Olitski, Henry O. Tanner – the list continues with both modern and traditional work. Having access to a world class museum is a great boon to any artist and certainly for art lovers. Besides the large, so-called blockbuster exhibits, there also are smaller exhibits that focus on particular artists or periods or cultures that ultimately make the museum experience encyclopedic.
Posted on 1/14/2017 5:16:07 PM
By Donald Fox
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Gateway
My dad died earlier today. He had been in hospital and had just been moved to a hospice facility after not responding well to post-surgical treatment. He was ninety-eight years old and just one month shy of turning ninety-nine. Like many children may feel about one or both parents, I experience mixed emotions. I do appreciate his support when he gave it, but I also remember the times when that support, and understanding, were lacking. Given the circumstances of his own life and his relationship with his parents, I am better able to understand as an adult some of the qualities I regarded as shortcomings when I was younger; some I still do not comprehend. The complexities of our relationship cannot be glossed over, and I understand that for each of us four children the thoughts, memories, and feelings will be as different as the four of us are one from another.
For now I focus on the positive feelings, the love and appreciation of a strong and independent man who over the past few years had lost some of that strength and much of that independence. That I know was difficult for him. I acknowledge him, though, for many things not the least of which is modeling a work ethic throughout his life that was persistent and consistent in spite of challenges. I acknowledge his love of flying and the contributions he made to aviation throughout his long career as a pilot. I acknowledge the peculiar, stalwart, and at times seemingly reticent way he cared for his family. I am enormously grateful for the gift of education that he gave to all of us kids especially since he had not received such opportunity himself though he learned much in the practicality of being in the world.
I am a bit sad that we never fully connected over my love and appreciation for the arts although I do think he began to understand how important those life choices were for me, and I think he took some pride in that. He did see my persistence and knew on some level that whatever strength I exhibited came from him. I hope that he will reconnect with my late mother who left him bereft years ago when she passed, but he did not hold any particular spiritual belief. I do know that he desired rest, and the best wish I can give him now is that he be at peace. Thanks, Pop.
Posted on 1/13/2017 5:20:53 PM
By Donald Fox
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Reflection 1
Next week I have an appointment for an eye exam. This will be with a doctor new to me that I met at my last exhibit, one who my wife had seen before but I have not. This set me to thinking about a blog from several years ago that I’ve republished here with slight amendment. That she knows I’m a painter (and that she likes my work) makes me speculate that somehow this will affect her appreciation of whatever visual issues I may have – perhaps a fantasy on my part.
Vision is absolutely essential to painters. Sculptors and potters often do much of their work by feel, and though there is strong visual dimension to these arts, it is conceivable to find a blind potter or sculptor. Because I value my vision, I have a yearly eye exam, but I missed last year, which was challenging in many respects not the least of which were scheduling conflicts. Usually I go to the eye clinic at the University of Houston because there I get the most thorough exam. First, I am seen by a senior student from the College of Optometry. He or she is methodical and careful in the examination procedures. When the student has completed the exam, one of the professors, who may be an optometrist or ophthalmologist, does a second exam to confirm or adjust the results of the student. This is literally getting two exams for the price of one (a reduced price at that).
The portion of the exam that is most challenging for me comes after my pupils are dilated. Both student and doctor examine the retina and fundus using bright light shined directly into the eye and observing through high magnification lens. I have always been sensitive to bright light, and sometimes this part of the exam is excruciating. I have to mentally disconnect while remaining immobile and keeping my eyes open. The term blinding light does not do justice to the power of the light penetrating my eyes. I usually am reminded of stories where someone is blinded like Paul on the road to Damascus or the science fiction film Sunshine where certain characters are drawn to stare at the sun.
As the light shines in, I can see a blue halo with an inner circle of yellow around an intense core of white light. It is as though I am penetrated by the light and it excites my cells to become sources of light themselves. Soon there is nothing but light. I often feel the same when a flash of insight strikes. It is as though my entire being has become illuminated with the vision or idea that has manifested. This, by contrast, is a pleasurable experience and one that particularly informs the painting process.
Painting is about light. We see what we see as the result of light, and ultimately we are painting the light that is reflected from many surfaces. The color of any surface is the color of the light reflected from it. A red object is reflecting red light under normal viewing conditions. If the red object is round and the light is strongly directional, the object is not lighted equally around its surface. The object does not appear consistently red to the viewer. The highlighted area, that spot where the light is the strongest, may not even appear red at all. It may seem whitish rather than very light red. The shadowed side also may appear cooler and slightly purplish in its darker tone.
Within a painting light may be observed as the result of varying factors. The light may be direct or indirect, it may be strong or it may be weak, there may be one source or several sources of light, the light may be warm or it may be cool, there may be overall light (ambient light) as in a sunrise or sunset. Whatever the case, it is important to consider the light and its effects on the objects that it illuminates. Light can make objects appear substantial and clearly defined or diminished and obscure. We have become so acculturated to artificial lighting that we can easily overlook the power of controlling light especially with still lifes, portraits, and interior scenes. Carefully observe Dutch paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, or Pieter Claesz for the subtle effects of light through a window or that created by a lantern or candle. Objects appear very different from those in a modern room that is illuminated by ceiling fluorescent fixtures.
We can learn much by observing paintings for their light effects. How a painter utilizes light is also how the painter utilizes color. The successful painter is a careful observer and one who also carefully chooses the colors that represent the effects of light. Warm and cool, light and dark, and bright or dull are the contrasts that the painter must control when using color, especially to create the effects of light on objects. Light reveals color to all observers, and painters use color to reveal light.
Insight that we gain from art (seeing within, seeing into, or understanding by truly seeing) is the result of inner light, of something being revealed and coming to awareness. This may come in a moment much as the original inspiration may have come to the artist or it may come from thoughtful deliberation just as one may carefully search a darkened room with a flashlight. We see something more clearly, more completely, and, perhaps ironically, more intimately because of the artist seeing first and through the work having directed our vision to that which is revealed.
(previously published as “Bright Light,” 1/30/12)
Posted on 1/12/2017
By Donald Fox
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In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that part of that dream was that his children (all children) would someday live in a world where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. We haven’t yet reached that world because we’re still in one where celebrity and notoriety are of more importance to countless numbers and racism and other negative isms govern the thoughts and minds of far too many people. The country that Dr. King knew has changed to the point where we now have had our first African-American president. Regardless of what one might think about his race or his politics or his actions, anyone with half a mind should see that this soon to be ex-president has carried himself with dignity, with intelligence, with grace, and with a willingness to consider the opinions of others. He has shown himself to be a negotiator and a compromiser (as well as leader), two qualities that speak highly of character in this age of me-first and social self-ism. Again, regardless of politics, the contrast between the outgoing and the incoming are as dramatic as the difference between black and white. The layers of meaning in that last statement are as many as they are complex.
Artists have often suffered from categorical assumptions about their character as a group when it should be clear that character depends on individual action and belief rather than group affiliation. Creative people come in all shapes and sizes. Creativity is a human trait, not national, cultural, or racial. To paint artists with a single brush is to misunderstand what art is and what art is capable of. It is possible for powerful art to be created by someone with unstable character, but to label all artists as unstable, irrational, or irresponsible subverts not only art but also impugns individuals who may be high achievers in many different realms including social interaction. Many of the great court painters of the past (Rubens, Velazquez, Goya, Holbein, and others) were not only master artists but also accomplished statesmen and highly regarded gentlemen. Granted some artists may live suspect or depraved lives, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
Arrogance, bias, egotism, and rudeness are not necessarily the hallmarks of politicians either, but certainly there are some lacking in judgment who mistake hyperbole for candor, crudeness for strength, or opinion for fact. Judge art by the character of the art itself. Judge the politician by his or her character in serving the people.
Posted on 1/10/2017 6:45:27 PM
By Donald Fox
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Cathedral Window
It has been a balmy day in Houston nearly reaching eighty degrees, which is not totally odd for this region during the second month of winter. Right now it’s late afternoon, the sun is going down, and gray low-hanging clouds drift steadily across the sky in a northeasterly direction. In the north east and in my home state of North Carolina, snow, ice, strong winds, and freezing temperatures make for a very different experience for those living there. These include members of my family. In phone conversations with them, especially my dad, there always is discussion of the weather.
If we consider, though, that each of us lives in multiple realities all the time, we can see the world in a different way. We may work indoors insulated from outside concerns until we leave to return home. For those that work out of doors, construction workers, say, since some years ago I did that kind of work myself, weather is of great concern. You simply cannot work outside in cold weather without proper protection. Weather extremes can bring work abruptly to a halt. I fondly remember those snow days as a child that also gave us respite from school. But during the course of any single day, any one of us will experience multiple realities that we put into context of our lives and think it all continuous and seamless. In truth, our perceptive brains are creating the appearance of a holistic environment made from disparate elements.
Changes that occur as we age and mature, as we learn, as we comprehend, and as we to a degree become self-directive are also accepted as part of the extended reality. When we experience different forms of art, however, we move into an alternate reality for a time – how long and to what degree depend on the power of the work and the commitment we each make to that experience. Most people who read, for example, will have experiences of getting ‘lost’ in a book. What we really mean, though, is that we give ourselves over to the alternate reality, and our normal world, which is still out there presumably, ceases to exist for we have emotionally and intellectually disengaged from the latter and moved into that fictional space. This can happen with a painting, a play, a song or other musical piece, a dance – most any kind of artistic expression. Much of the time that alternate reality is experienced as fully as our experience of the real world. We are actually experiencing both at once. Or, we could say that the experience of the alternate reality is simultaneous like we share the ongoing lives of others such as those distant relatives.
Art can appear to be magical and mysterious because of that ability to take us out of ourselves and away from ordinary reality. As we study it, we begin to understand that it is a construct, a creation of the artist, and something that manifests according to particular guidelines. Isn’t that the same (well, almost the same) as what each of us does as we translate sensory experience into meaningful perceptions? We explain the world to ourselves moment by moment. The artist explains his or her world through the chosen medium of expression. We as audience enter that artistic world and decipher its meanings just as we enter our own lives each time we awaken. Much of the power of art lies in the shared humanity of artist and audience. Art is a human experience that is as real as anything else we my experience in our lives.
Posted on 1/7/2017 7:22:35 PM
By Donald Fox
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Returned to the exhibit Degas: A New Vision at the MFAH, which closes in about a week. A painter friend went with me, always a great way to gain from an exhibit by sharing insights and discussing problematic issues that inevitably are evident in any painter’s work. All of us do things that sometimes don’t work as planned or create results that are enigmatic at best.
We tend to think of the masters as always being masterful, but even greatness can have flaws or give rise to question, a reminder perhaps that each of us should be diligent about what we show. With a retrospective exhibit like this one, there is the possibility of works being shown that the artist never intended to show. For example, there is a large painting that is an energetic brush drawing on canvas approximately four by six feet. It is sepia-toned like one would expect in a small drawing on paper, and the suggestion is that this shows Degas’s increasing interest in black and white work (which he explored extensively in drawing, printmaking, and photography). This could also simply be the beginning of a canvas that he never completed because of numerous reasons: he felt it was complete – maybe, but there is only one other example of such a work and it is much sketchier and seems unfinished; he didn’t like where it was going and abandoned it; he was distracted by other concerns and lost interest or never found time to complete it; he wanted to leave something that showed how he began a painting (but why such a large one for that purpose?); this was the beginning of a new direction based on graphic work he wanted to explore but for whatever reason did not go beyond this singular work.
The accompanying label text to the 1884-86 work states the following:
"This remarkable, outsized canvas has stumped art historians since it appeared a century ago at Degas’s posthumous studio sales. It is the third-largest work Degas painted. The subject and composition relate both to the monotypes of bathers he made in the mid-1870s, as well as to the series of pastel nude bathers that he exhibited at the 1886 Impressionist Exhibition. The painting is likely an unfinished work, one that shows the sepia underdrawing that probably exists under all of Degas’s oil paintings made after his development of the related monotype technique that so effectively rendered light and shadow. Nevertheless, Nude Woman Drying Herself is a very satisfying picture, which may explain why Degas left it at this stage. In the late 1870s, Degas told his friends that he wanted to work exclusively in black and white, and this work is proof of that desire."
I’m not suggesting that this work is flawed, but it is quite unusual in the context of his output. As can be seen, the painting (it’s definitely not a drawing) is quite energetic and very powerful as a composition that to the modernist eye is expressive, suggestive, immediate, ambiguous, and intriguing, and to me, at least, does not in any way feel unfinished. Whatever Degas’s reasons for leaving the painting at this stage and for not making others in this vein, I am grateful to experience this one, a significant piece that no doubt has influenced many modern painters (if not directly then certainly through the related graphic work – consider Picasso’s or Matisse’s work in black and white or monotone that immediately come to mind). This is indeed a ‘very satisfying picture’ that enriches our view of a remarkable painter whose artistic impact continues.
Nude Woman Drying Herself, 1884-86
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Posted on 1/6/2017 7:22:45 PM
By Donald Fox
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Art is an interesting human activity that could be considered a pastime, a hobby, an entertainment, a calling, a professional endeavor, a philosophical construct, a serious game, a frivolous game, a map of consciousness, or some combination of or possibly even all of these things, or more. Art has no intrinsic value (whether anything has intrinsic value is another discussion, but let’s assume that some things do, like human life, for example). Of course, like so many other collectibles, commodities, valuables, and so forth, there is always the question of agreement as to particular value, but I’m not thinking about art in monetary terms. Its value is in its meaning and its interface with our lives. Again, the spectrum will vary widely here, but we could say the same about religion or politics or other human endeavors.
Something I heard this morning related to education and how so many bright students are being channeled into certain fields that typically are seen as the most financially stable like law and medicine and business – these instead of engineering or the arts or architecture, fields where bright spatial thinkers can be creative and innovative. Prestige colleges cater more to those students seeking the prestige positions (lawyers, doctors, MBA business people) and this filters down to high school preparation. Ultimately it affects funding and program offers in the arts and even some of the sciences. In the discussion this comment was made, “On the one hand, our schools are abdicating the kind of course work that develops the hand and eye -- art, music, shop, mechanical drawing. Without a developed ability to visualize, and to move in space, math and science suffer in turn.”
That ability to visualize spatially is not unique to the arts, but it is a major focus in most artistic fields, even music. Spatial thinking relates not only to orientation within the immediate environment but also to how we might orient ourselves to environments beyond immediate perception – in other words, imaginatively connecting to the larger world. Most of my elementary school classrooms when I was a kid had a world map on the wall. Though I did not know it at the time, this was my first introduction to reading a painting or other visual art. The map showed a set of measurable relationships scaled down to size that told me about the world beyond my immediate perception that nonetheless I could understand imaginatively. There were people living within those little colored boundaries called countries that might be on the other side of the world or in climates totally different from my own even as I experienced myself standing there comfortably in front of that map. Whatever reality I might be experiencing there in that moment was shared simultaneously worldwide even though others might have no awareness of me (except imaginatively), but their simultaneous reality and experience would be completely different from mine. How many directions can we go with that thought?
A painting is like a map for it allows the viewer to move across its literal space relating one part to another while also imagining by association and memory other elements and experiences that, though disparate, come into relationship with the experience of the painting. The map is simply a collection of lines, shapes, and colors representing other places and locations all of which have some connection to memories of places been, places read about, heard about, dreamed about, or imagined. A map typically relates to some part of the physical world whereas a painting is not so confined. A painting, and sometimes a map, are like time/space portals that take us into and out of time and space simultaneously. Call it alternative, virtual, parallel, imaginative time-space, whatever seems appropriate or makes the most sense. The journey is limited only by the imagination of the viewer. How do we place value on this?
http://uh.edu/engines/epi1290.htm
Posted on 1/5/2017 3:50:38 PM
By Donald Fox
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Equation
To some degree art is an intellectual exercise for the artist and intellectual experience for the audience. This does not in any way limit or diminish the emotional response on the part of both artist and audience. Many will say that art is first an emotional experience since a viewer (audience) will most likely have a gut reaction before any intellectual assessment occurs. Full appreciation of most art, though, requires both emotional and intellectual response. These related experiences are not interchangeable, however, even though linguistically we often confuse the two.
Most of us have heard someone say, if we haven’t said so ourselves, something like “I feel you should do it this way” when what we actually mean is that we think something should be done a certain way. Anyone might say, for example, that she feels that a particular work is effective because its color scheme is bold and bright and fits the positive, uplifting subject matter that is represented. What is meant is that the viewer thinks this is true. An intellectual conclusion has been reached, which may in part be based on a positive emotional response to the bright color, but it is a thinking process that has reached the conclusion. Our everyday speech is often casual, and we frequently understand what is meant even if the statement is not syntactically or grammatically correct.
Art, too, allows for some leeway in expression for it is not usually mathematically or scientifically precise (though parts of some artistic processes have to be, like certain kinds of sculpture or ceramics or printmaking). An artist will not think like a scientist or mathematician, but he or she may well desire precision in thinking and execution in creating work. I think it fair to say that with this wish for precision, the artist uses a honed blend of emotional and intellectual response to the creative process.
I understand from years of study and work what this process is like in practice, but what I’m curious about is where this way of being and thinking came from. We know the historical thinkers about art and aesthetics and the philosophers of the past. Their curiosity about and questioning of experience is noted, but what about before them? What about before written history and possibly even before the development of language? Was there something in the human mind that enabled the development of intellectual understanding and the ability to explain experience? Of course, we would say. Our large brains held the capacity for learning, thinking, analyzing, and creating; it’s how we were made. But that historical development would not have occurred without the pre-historical precedent. What was it that prompted those early hominids to do things other than those directly related to survival and propagation?
We can only trace the beginnings of art back so far – hundreds of thousands of years according to recently studied carved shells and tens of thousands of years for the cave paintings. Something amazing occurred between the creation of those simply carved shells and the magnificent paintings in Lascaux. A level of intellectual sophistication emerged in visual expression even before the creation of written language. From the look of the cave paintings, we would assume that those creators had some kind of language with which to communicate their thoughts about what they were doing, but that is something that we have no clue about, only conjecture. We can marvel and feel as we think about those images that our forebears have left for us along with the most intriguing mysteries. We continue this intriguing, mysterious process of creation in the long shadow cast by our ancestors.
Posted on 1/4/2017
By Donald Fox
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Looking back at painting during the Renaissance in both Northern and Southern Europe, it is evident that stylistic development and consistency were important to artists who were also forging identities as artists to be differentiated from craftsmen. The establishment and subsequent growth of the academy and the academic tradition instituted the concepts of consistency and professionalism and succeeding generations either upheld or challenged those concepts until late in the nineteenth century seeds of a new tradition, one more flexible and open-ended came into being: modernism. During the nineteenth century, many classically trained artists began experiments that took painting in new directions. The Impressionists were just one well-known group, and even those members were quite diverse in their output though some experimented more widely than others.
It is interesting to look at the work of Velazquez, for example, vis-à-vis the modern Spaniard Picasso. The former is tradition personified and not just as court painter. He also embodied mastery at the highest level. Picasso, universally considered a modern master, also changed his work style throughout his working life. He pushed the boundaries of painting, paid homage to Velazquez and other past masters, and created a new model for the driven artist, even saying in his eighties, “What is this madness I have that I cannot stop?” Also, he experimented with other media: printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, assemblage, collage, and pushed the boundaries of those as well. Even if one doesn’t care for his work, he has to be admired for his work ethic and his absolute commitment to art.
Some of my artist friends are traditional in the sense that they pursue their visions with stylistic consistency. They do not waver from their path. Others, like myself, choose to experiment either by seeing how far they can go in a particular direction (like pursuing a series of works until the idea is played out), or by constantly manipulating the medium to do new and different things. However an artist approaches his or her work, there is never a guarantee that what is produced is always going to be the best. That is the challenge for any artist – to do the best and strive for the best, but some days, as a painter friend said years ago, “you just have to scrape it all down and start again.” That is the spirit of commitment.
Posted on 1/3/2017 4:25:22 PM
By Donald Fox
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Many artists create a variety of work even when there is stylistic consistency. Painters, for example, might make large scale paintings – large scale can mean anything from easel paintings from about three by five feet to wall sized works of six to ten feet or more in length. These may depend on subject or simply the concerns of the artist since large scale creates a more commanding presence, which in turn can lead to loftier statements. Think grand scale or epic proportions. Landscape painters can also paint mural size works although they might prefer easel works with an expanse or arm’s length at most, what we might call a human scale. In the past large works were done to fill castle and palatial walls or large church spaces, so painting scale often fit the architecture.
Additionally, painters may also create graphic works mostly in the form of drawings. These can be anything from preliminary sketches of varying sizes predominantly as studies for paintings or other works, or they can be finished works in their own right because the artist wanted to explore mastery of a particular medium. Drawing is a useful visual thinking practice wherein an artist may work out ideas and concepts that may later translate to larger paintings, or the ideas may be suitable only for the small scale of sketchbook paper. Some artists enjoy exploring a theme or concept in a variety of drawing media. They find expressive qualities in charcoal, for example, quite different from watercolor, wax crayon, or colored pastel.
A painter like Robert Motherwell also explored the personal, almost narrative quality of collage, which for him was a combination of drawing, painting, and pasted paper, often incorporating cigarette wrappers or scraps from around the studio, pieces of correspondence, or parcel wrappings. These works take on an autobiographical quality since they include so many elements taken directly from the artist’s life although their initial use as color, paper, or texture was for their design qualities. Other artists working in this medium have personalized it as well.
Small scale works tend to be more intimate and personal, which is the appeal for many artists. These may or may not be comparable to short stories. Some stories can be told in shortened form without losing any power even though the novel format would allow for in-depth and detailed development. Not everything has to be grand scale. There are many small, limited, anecdotal moments in life, so it is natural that art should express that as well whether verbally, musically, visually or otherwise.
All art, of course, is artifice; it is fiction even when based in real life experience. The artist crafts the experience of the moment by carefully choosing what and how to represent that experience. This takes editing, refining, replaying, and redefining – all things that we cannot so easily do in everyday life with our experiences moment to moment. Yet, when experienced as art, the aesthetic experience may conjure up certain real-life experiences but now those are given metaphorical and symbolic values that elevate them above the ordinary to make them timeless even when reflecting a particular time and place. The familiar is made new again.
Posted on 1/2/2017 4:47:23 PM
By Donald Fox
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One of my early visits to New Mexico and the desert around Santa Fe was during a time when a significant relationship was coming apart. The grandeur of the landscape, however, was enough to overpower the rather bleak innerscape. I remember visiting various Native American ruins – the irony was lost on me at the time – climbing stone steps and passing rock carvings of strange abstract figures created by some anonymous ancient who had left an indelible mark that had withstood storms, blazing heat and icy cold through hundreds of years, a kind of spiritual ‘Kilroy was here’ but as adulation rather than a personalized ‘remember me.’ There are markings and monuments all over the world that bear no name yet speak to anyone willing to look and listen. They still reside in the natural setting in which they were created rather than grace the wall or pedestal of a museum.
The modern age is very different in its thinking about art. Art is made as a brand – there is irony in that term as well – cattle and other livestock are branded, slaves were branded, and all kinds of commodities are distinguished by their brand (all of which are under the purview of commercialism though socially or politically quite estranged). Branding is about ownership. Those long dead masters have left us their magnificent works, and we recognize their stylistic individuality, but they also have become brands that grace a range of products that have nothing to do with the art those masters worked so diligently to create. One can wear an Impressionist tie, drink from a Cubist mug, write in a Da Vinci notebook, or send a Surrealist post card. We seem to like these kitschy reminders of having seen or learned something about the late artist.
Not so those anonymous markings. We may find reproductions or other souvenir products of some of these as well, but the originals are untouched except by the whispers of time (and in some cases the cataclysms of our reckless misjudgments like war or industrialization, for example, or the immense stupidity of the Taliban blowing up ancient carved Buddhas – political correctness aside, there is no excuse for fanaticism of any stripe). Art, whether we personally like the art or not, is our human legacy, and though some artists these days may get carried away with personal agendas, the art urge is a very deep and powerful force that carries through the ages.
Posted on 1/1/2017 7:54:04 PM
By Donald Fox
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The first day of the New Year, an arbitrary marking by some accounts being that we have imposed a somewhat artificial framework over a natural one, is waning towards evening. We count the days, weeks, and months just as we count minutes and hours within a single day. To say that we like order and regimentation may really be no more than an extension of the natural order given that most human history and myths and legends are tied to natural cycles. We are, after all, creatures of the natural world. Unlike other animals that live their lives according to the same rhythms, we are influenced by our self-awareness and that has moved us to regulate in order to produce. We live by the clock and calendar, monetize time, and sell parcels of personal lives to create livelihood. There are many aspects of our lives that are quite bizarre as a result although we accept this as the way things are and call it normal or reality.
The New Year we see as a beginning and frame it as a time when changes may be implemented to recreate our lives, if not the world, into something about which we will feel good. We wish prosperity when we could wish peace and love (as some will do) thinking in some way that prosperity will save us, make life easier and more worthwhile. We think of renewals and make vows to new beginnings.
Coming into this world as new beings, we have no idea what is in store as we go through our gradual process of growth and maturity. Much of what we experience is part of the particular culture into which we are born. Without attempting metaphysical explanations, we could simply admit that our arrival is largely by chance and to a very great extent chance will be the main factor guiding our development. Chance, however, has no self-awareness and makes no choices, but as we learn and grow, we find that there are many points at which choices can and will be made. Pretty much everything governing action is by choice. We are self-determined, or so we attempt to convince ourselves, so much so that we create elaborate explanations, social structures, schedules, duties, responsibilities, and rewards for those who conform and punishments for those that do not abide by the constructed norm.
From this whirlwind of possibility come philosophy, art, religion, politics, science – in short, all the ways we attempt to manipulate and control our destinies and to convince ourselves that there is meaning and order as we count out the days and weeks and years. We create a positive view and find purpose and meaning or a negative view and sow destruction and disorder even if only to ourselves. Either way the days pass, the years go on, and we continue to make choices for good or ill. As such, Happy New Year.
