Archive for December, 2012

A little oasis of wisdom

A brief piece of writing like this feels like a blessing. You could unpack an eccentric little Nicholson Baker-sized diatribe about art by extrapolating on the insights from this little column in the New York Times. At the very least, I’m going to work on a long post this weekend, based my reactions to it. Here’s a sample:

It is a mistake to credit to an artwork meanings that primarily arise from our interpretative efforts.  There is a fundamental difference between discovering meaning in an object and imposing meaning on it.  A great work of art embeds categories of understanding and appreciation that we uncover in experiencing the work.  It is quite another thing to use an object as a framework for displaying categories that we bring to it.  The difference is between discovering a mine that contains gold and constructing glittering objects from dross. — Gary Gutting

 

Small is beautiful


Summer Morning, oil on panel, 8 x 6 inches, 10 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches framed.

What amazes me is how it’s nearly impossible to tell whether one of Rick Harrington’s barns is six inches or six feet wide, when you’re looking at a reproduction. The quality of the small work is indistinguishable form the large. Great, affordable work, and there are still a few that haven’t been bought . . .

Art I love

Three Green Apples, detail, David Oleski, 40″ x 60″