We must ignore the carping of the sophisticates. Well-educated critics may claim that pictures cannot be ranked, value is multidimensional or subjective, or that such talk, represents a totalising, colonising, possessive, post-capitalist, hegemonic Western imperialist approach. All of those missives are beside the point. When it comes to the arts, dealing with the scarcity of [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Art'
Scarcity of Attention and Elitism – “Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist” – Tyler Cowen
August 1st, 2011 · No Comments · Art, Criticism, Culture, Economics
Art – “Up in the Air” – Walter Kirn
July 6th, 2011 · No Comments · Art, Culture
Art. It always makes me feel diminished. There’s something smug about it. Cocky. Cold. Public works commissioners just love the stuff—it eases their bad consciences, I suspect, for hiring their nephews and steaming open sealed bids. Behind every sculpture garden, a great crime.
Tags:
The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing – “The Picture of Dorian Gray” – Oscar Wilde
May 20th, 2011 · No Comments · Art, Culture, Economics, Elitism
So sorry I am late, Dorian. I went to look after a piece of old brocade in Wardour Street and had to bargain for hours for it. Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Tags:
Simple Pleasures – “The Picture of Dorian Gray” – Oscar Wilde
May 19th, 2011 · No Comments · Art, Civilisation, Culture, Elitism, Quotes
“I adore simple pleasures,” said Lord Henry. “They are the last refuge of the complex.”
Tags:
Beauty ends where Intellectual Expression Begins – “The Picture of Dorian Gray” – Oscar Wilde
May 18th, 2011 · No Comments · Architecture, Art, Civilisation, Criticism, Culture, Music, Poetry, Quotes
But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins.
Tags:
Art and Diversity of Opinion - “The Picture of Dorian Gray” – Oscar Wilde
May 17th, 2011 · No Comments · Art, Civilisation, Criticism, Culture, Elitism, Quotes
Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that [...]
Tags:
Chinese Watercolor Painting – “China: Its History and Culture” – Morton, W. Scott
April 2nd, 2011 · No Comments · Art, China, Criticism, Culture
Where oil paints are employed, it is possible to paint out a portion of the canvas and redo it in a new version. But with ink and watercolors the stroke once drawn is beyond recall and cannot be altered. The Chinese artist in calligraphy or painting—and the two are considered virtually one—must thus practice again [...]
Tags:China
An Artist’s Needs – “Ernest Hemingway on Writing” – Larry W. Phillips
December 24th, 2010 · No Comments · Art, Criticism, Culture
Only two things you can do for an artist. Give him money and show his stuff. These are the only two impersonal needs.
Tags:
"RFK Funeral Train", Paul Fusco
July 1st, 2009 · No Comments · Art, History, Politics, The Kennedys
Synopsis: Photo-journalist Paul Fusco presents a collection of his photographs from the carriage of Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral train. My Take: Bobby is a bit of a political hero of mine. He was pilloried as a ruthless political operative in life and is revered as an inspirational idealist in death. He combined compassion and pragmatism [...]
Tags:Paul Fusco·RFK·Robert Kennedy
