Creatively Advancing into Novelty
“Let us suppose that everyone in the world wakes up today and tries to Write a poem. It is impossible to know what will happen next but certainly we may be assured that the world will not be made Worse. I believe in the divinity of profligacy. The creation of art, okay, just the attempt…
“We critique far too soon, we must first seek understanding.” – Marshal McLuhan I come from the art world. Critiquing is something I do often so I’m very familiar with the term. However, lately I’ve been reading a lot of theoretical, academic essays dealing with the “critique” of various theological/philosophical/sociological ideas and/or movements. I’m finding…
“In my experience users react positively when things are clear and understandable. What bothers me today is the arbitrariness and thoughtlessness with which many things are produced and brought to market, not only in the sector of consumer goods, but also in architecture and advertising. We have too many unnecessary things everywhere.” The quote above…
Currently I believe in Christ because of the aesthetics of the Christ event. That is, the who Christ was and is — the life that Jesus led as recorded in the Gospels, the things he taught, and ultimately his death that brought and end to all primitive religious sacrifice — is so compellingly beautiful that…
In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it. The above quote comes from German educator Ernst Fischer. His view of art’s purpose and place in society closely…
And, of course, the temple par excellence of culture is the modern museum in which the objects of art seamlessly mirror back to us the satisfaction (repressed, unconscious as it is) of our teleological drive to historical mastery bewitching ourselves into thinking we have achieved it. Art in this sense is double-edged: it is not…
Last Wednesday night our movie group watched the documentary film In The Realm of The Unreal, directed by Jessica Yu. In brief, the film documents the incredible story of Henry Darger (1892-1973), a visionary artist, janitor, and novelist. Darger’s story takes place in the Chicago area and tracks his life beginning with his turbulent childhood….
Good composition is like a suspension bridge; each line adds strength and takes none away…Making lines run into each other is not composition. There must be motive for the connection. Get the art of controlling the observer – that is composition. Quote and painting above from Robert Henri, prominent founder of the Ashcan School in…
“What makes a work of art unique isn’t its color or composition or subject, it has nothing whatsoever to do with what we see. Why are some paintings masterpieces while others, perhaps even more competent, are forgotten? Why are some symphonies still beloved hundreds of years after the composer has died?” Gamache thought about it….
Christ is a persuasion, a form evoking desire, and the whole force of the gospel depends upon the assumption that this persuasion is also peace: that the desire awakened by the shape of Christ and his church is one truly reborn as agape, rather than merely the way in which a lesser force succumbs to…