{"id":355,"date":"2011-08-07T12:59:30","date_gmt":"2011-08-07T12:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355"},"modified":"2011-09-13T00:25:25","modified_gmt":"2011-09-13T00:25:25","slug":"the-way-of-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355","title":{"rendered":"The way of beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Dave Hickey<\/p><\/div>\n

You cling to your favorite songs and books and paintings the way you once clung to your mother\u2019s hand\u2014because they help you become who you are and make you feel at home. Sometimes, when you see the beauty of a created thing, you recognize yourself in it and want to join ranks with anyone else who loves it the way you do.\u00a0 Last summer, I embarked on a 16-hour journey from Rochester through JFK and LAX to New Mexico\u2014in retrospect, I might have been more comfortable going by wagon train\u2014in order to join ranks, if only for an hour or two, with someone whose books have made me feel a little more at home in the world. Dave Hickey, one of America\u2019s smartest art theorists, was scheduled to have a conversation with his friend, Ed Ruscha, to celebrate the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the Tamarind Institute, and I showed up to listen.<\/p>\n

Dressed all in black, with a venti-sized Starbucks coffee in hand, he was more physically imposing than I\u2019d expected, bringing to mind Orson Welles or Harold Bloom, not only in the impression he made just sitting there, but also in the sense of his pre-eminence in his field. Balding, with a tonsured ring of dangling hair around the back of his head, he spoke in a quiet voice full of Texas, sounding like Slim Pickens trying not to be heard in the next room. While he and Ruscha traded jokes and memories, and speculated about art, I could hear behind Hickey\u2019s comments echoes of his thinking in The Invisible Dragon<\/em><\/a>, where he deconstructs the history of Western art in order to argue that beauty isn\u2019t meretricious ornament but art\u2019s lingua franca<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Art, he claims, is essential to the way we find order and belonging in the diversity and chaos of an open society.\u00a0 You buy a good drawing or lithograph and let it reorder a certain space in your house and your mind in exactly the way you vote for political leaders and give them permission to set boundaries for your life. Though Hickey sounds as if he\u2019s being outrageous when he compares these bottom-up rules of the American republic to the practices of masochism\u2014as opposed to the top-down order that began to creep into art institutions throughout the modern and postmodern era\u2014he\u2019s actually revealing his incredible skills at pattern recognition.\u00a0 No one commands us to vote or buy art. Like good masochists, in the voting booths, we submit to the authority we choose, willingly. The same willing submission applies when we choose between Kanye West and Wilco, or Warhol and Stella. When certain institutions try to dictate what art is \u201cgood for us,\u201d as if viewing an installation were the equivalent of eating your peas, then something essential to both art and democracy gets lost. The free market is the ultimate crucible for lasting artistic achievement and beauty is what makes a vibrant art market thrive. For Hickey, beauty came to be viewed\u2014in the eyes of the \u201ctherapeutic institution,\u201d as he refers to large parts of the art world\u2014as simply an artist\u2019s corrupt bid to sell work, while \u201cserious\u201d work defies all the rules of attraction and becomes something you look at because someone who supposedly knows better than you has told you it\u2019s good for you. Loving it isn\u2019t required. And neither is a free market where people buy what they actually want, not what they\u2019re supposed<\/em> to want.<\/p>\n

His examination of Mapplethorpe\u2019s imagery is astonishingly persuasive on this score: the formal beauty of the photographer\u2019s startling images, he says, is simply a subversive delivery system for insights having to do with art, art history, love, trust, power, and so on. (Exactly the sort of thing Brueghel, for example, did in his great political paintings.) The work beckons and shocks, but more importantly, it immediately persuades and seduces the viewer with its beauty. If it instructs or illuminates, it does so subliminally\u2014and secondarily. The interpretations come and go. The beauty and power of the image endures. By the end of the book he convincingly argues that all great art operates this way: the excellence of what it physically embodies outlives whatever it appears to denote. How it looks, in a way, matters more than what you happen to think it means. If it\u2019s great, its meaning may fade, yet it\u2019s beauty\u2014you almost want to revive the Greek term arete<\/em> as a substitute for beauty\u2014is timeless, giving each generation of viewers a chance to derive new and vital relationships to it by delving into its essential mystery in fresh ways.<\/p>\n

In his talk with Hickey, Ed Ruscha, elaborated on this line of thinking: \u00a0\u201cThis whole notion of artistic license opens up art. I feel comfortable in a vocation where I don\u2019t have to explain things,\u201d Ruscha said. \u201cWhen you build a house, all those nails have to go in the right place. In a symphony all the notes have to go in the right place. But in art you can put the nails all on top of one another. I\u2019m in a world where incoherence is actually a virtue. I\u2019ve always felt lucky not having to explain myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hickey broke in: \u201cHe\u2019s not sitting around worrying about it. He\u2019s like my dog Ralph. He\u2019s going after the pet food. I don\u2019t know anything about Ed Ruscha\u2019s work. Ed knows the sort of experience I enjoy, that\u2019s all. <\/em>We presume that we\u2019re supposed to look at a work of art and our job is to figure it out,\u201d Hickey said. \u201cThis is a recent phenomenon. I remember looking at my first De Kooning and it didn\u2019t occur to me to figure it out. It occurred to me to want to see more De Koonings.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a way, Hickey\u2019s love for music defines his love for art. Tumbling Dice<\/em> will never get old, and that ever-fresh quality defies explanation. Hickey\u2019s genius lies in realigning our focus on the art itself, away from interpretations, justifications, and analysis, and back in the direction of beauty\u2019s elusive mystery and power.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as a work is mysterious it stays on the wall. When I get it, it\u2019s had it. It comes down. I don\u2019t need something I understand on the wall. I\u2019d divorce my wife, if I understood her<\/em>. All I demand of a painting is non-stupid fun. I think you know what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You cling to your favorite songs and books and paintings the way you once clung to your mother\u2019s hand\u2014because they help you become who you are and make you feel at home. Sometimes, when you see the beauty of a created thing, you recognize yourself in it and want to join ranks with anyone else […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe way of beauty - represent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The way of beauty - represent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You cling to your favorite songs and books and paintings the way you once clung to your mother\u2019s hand\u2014because they help you become who you are and make you feel at home. Sometimes, when you see the beauty of a created thing, you recognize yourself in it and want to join ranks with anyone else […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"represent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-07T12:59:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-09-13T00:25:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2-300x193.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"dave dorsey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"dave dorsey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"dave dorsey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57\"},\"headline\":\"The way of beauty\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-07T12:59:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-09-13T00:25:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355\"},\"wordCount\":1119,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2-300x193.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355\",\"name\":\"The way of beauty - represent\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2-300x193.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-07T12:59:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-09-13T00:25:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2.jpg\",\"width\":\"500\",\"height\":\"323\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=355#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The way of beauty\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"represent\",\"description\":\"the painting life\",\"alternateName\":\"the dorsey post\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57\",\"name\":\"dave dorsey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"dave dorsey\"},\"description\":\"I'm a painter living in Pittsford, NY. I've authored two books and also work as a ghostwriter. I sell my work through Oxford Gallery, and have exhibited around the U.S. and internationally.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.daviddorsey.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The way of beauty - represent","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The way of beauty - represent","og_description":"You cling to your favorite songs and books and paintings the way you once clung to your mother\u2019s hand\u2014because they help you become who you are and make you feel at home. Sometimes, when you see the beauty of a created thing, you recognize yourself in it and want to join ranks with anyone else […]","og_url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355","og_site_name":"represent","article_published_time":"2011-08-07T12:59:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-09-13T00:25:25+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2-300x193.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"dave dorsey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"dave dorsey","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355"},"author":{"name":"dave dorsey","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57"},"headline":"The way of beauty","datePublished":"2011-08-07T12:59:30+00:00","dateModified":"2011-09-13T00:25:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355"},"wordCount":1119,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2-300x193.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355","url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355","name":"The way of beauty - represent","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2-300x193.jpg","datePublished":"2011-08-07T12:59:30+00:00","dateModified":"2011-09-13T00:25:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/drohojowska-philp7-16-2.jpg","width":"500","height":"323"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=355#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The way of beauty"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/","name":"represent","description":"the painting life","alternateName":"the dorsey post","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57","name":"dave dorsey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b459062818b38ed5bb3f68365bc2557f760412a5db1278493176a6a45bb1c8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"dave dorsey"},"description":"I'm a painter living in Pittsford, NY. I've authored two books and also work as a ghostwriter. I sell my work through Oxford Gallery, and have exhibited around the U.S. and internationally.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.daviddorsey.com"],"url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=355"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":515,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions\/515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}