{"id":9350,"date":"2021-02-13T12:05:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T12:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350"},"modified":"2021-02-11T12:58:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T12:58:12","slug":"wit-and-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350","title":{"rendered":"Wit and beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

The Moon Woke Me Up Fifteen Times, Sara Genn, acrylic on canvas<\/p><\/div>\n

Back when an office copier seemed to be something almost large enough to step into and drive, there was a gag familiar to most people who ever used a big Xerox machine. Someone would inevitably hop up onto it and moon its flashing light to duplicate their naked rear end. It was a trending gag in office spaces for a while: drop trousers, sit on platen glass, press button. Judd Apatow humor. I was amused that all of this was brought to mind by Sara Genn\u2019s<\/a> marvelous cluster of paintings, assembled into a grid\u2014lovely and suggestive tulip petals, rows of them, each in a color as subtle and lyrical as the tones of Stella\u2019s floral geometry in the Sixties. It\u2019s little wonder her work was awarded finalist status<\/a> for the Luxembourg Prize last year. Hers was the most beautiful and accomplished of all the work entered for that generous prize.<\/p>\n

The Moon Woke Me Up Fifteen Times<\/em> seduces the viewer gently but relentlessly with the quiet joy of its variations on a single note: a curved bifurcated shape that\u2019s part ravenous Pac Man, part tulip in profile, part suggestion of human life\u2019s anatomical axis in the shape of a Xeroxed moon. What I mean is, along with everything else it evokes, it\u2019s also a colors-of-Benneton cluster of bare derrieres\u2014and that hint of irreverent burlesque puts a cheerful cap on all the work\u2019s other virtues.<\/p>\n

Her title is an homage to a Basho poem, \u201cThe moon woke me up nine times.\u201d It\u2019s a haiku full of Basho\u2019s characteristic simplicity, profound in its matter-of-fact celebration of the moon\u2019s fleeting beauty and its uncharacteristic sense of humor, a quality more typical of Basho\u2019s poetic descendant, Issa. You can\u2019t tell whether the moon stirred him because it was bright and full, and thus impossible to escape as he slept outside on one of his itinerant quests into the natural world, or did he keep waking up on the hour all through the night because he didn\u2019t want to miss a moment of its luminous silence?<\/p>\n

Aside from changing the number of awakenings to suit her formal ambitions, Sara Genn modifies the line into a smiling affirmation of how many times her duplicated moon woke her<\/em> to rapt attention and celebration of one subtle color after another. But you have to recognize the funny pun packed into the word moon in order to understand this affirmation of her artistic awakening. Alongside that, you realize the line asserts a night of unquenchable desire, the way an old blues lyric is likely to do. But the desire here has been sublimated into a sequence of notes, like a refrain from Erik Satie. The tension between the title\u2019s humor and the simple perfection of those color harmonies, the slight way in which each pair of lips has been parted to create a unique spire of negative white space that disappears into the rich color that surrounds it\u2014the pull between the sincerity of that beauty and the slightly ribald remix of Basho reminds me of how Frederick Hammersley worked so hard to make his viewers smile at his clever titles for small-scale, heartfelt color harmonies. Genn\u2019s work is a close neighbor to Hammersley\u2019s minimalist lyricism. She\u2019s absolutely serious about the radiant beauty she composes in this simple sequence of tones, but she lets her wit give it a title it doesn’t require to do its work. Ever since I first saw this image months ago, I haven\u2019t yet been able to look at it without smiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back when an office copier seemed to be something almost large enough to step into and drive, there was a gag familiar to most people who ever used a big Xerox machine. Someone would inevitably hop up onto it and moon its flashing light to duplicate their naked rear end. It was a trending gag […]<\/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-9350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWit and 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=9350\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wit and beauty - represent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Back when an office copier seemed to be something almost large enough to step into and drive, there was a gag familiar to most people who ever used a big Xerox machine. Someone would inevitably hop up onto it and moon its flashing light to duplicate their naked rear end. It was a trending gag […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"represent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-13T12:05:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"dave dorsey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57\"},\"headline\":\"Wit and beauty\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-13T12:05:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350\"},\"wordCount\":630,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350\",\"name\":\"Wit and beauty - represent\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-13T12:05:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/?p=9350#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thedorseypost.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wit and 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":"Wit and 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=9350","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wit and beauty - represent","og_description":"Back when an office copier seemed to be something almost large enough to step into and drive, there was a gag familiar to most people who ever used a big Xerox machine. Someone would inevitably hop up onto it and moon its flashing light to duplicate their naked rear end. It was a trending gag […]","og_url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350","og_site_name":"represent","article_published_time":"2021-02-13T12:05:25+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"dave dorsey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"dave dorsey","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350"},"author":{"name":"dave dorsey","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57"},"headline":"Wit and beauty","datePublished":"2021-02-13T12:05:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350"},"wordCount":630,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350","url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350","name":"Wit and beauty - represent","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-02-13T12:05:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5f1b414f169df69053f04f66b929fd57"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/sara-genn-moon-woke-me-up-fifteen-times-install-2020-67.5-x-93.5inches-acrylic-on-canvas-1-996x1024.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/?p=9350#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Wit and 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\/9350","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=9350"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9367,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9350\/revisions\/9367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedorseypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}