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Sean Scully Insights

28/7/2014

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A few months ago i wrote a short blog introducing Irish/American painter Sean Scully. I'm coming back to look at his art practice again because the seriousness of intent and serial nature of his work warrant a much closer examination. If painting is emptied of content and reduced to form only in true Sontag style we are left with a Greenburgian, utopian art concerned only with formal purity. In simple terms, what's in the art and what it means is primary to its real value. Scully's intent about content is revealed in many interviews and go beyond a simplistic notion of formality and embrace a conceptual rigour. My aim here is to look a little closer at the value of an art that wonderfully balances both formal and conceptual concerns.

All artists at some point take a stance regarding their intent for making art. Whether they take the traditional "High" or "Low" road will decide the value they place on either "form" and or "content" in their work as well as its ties with art history. The argument that the institution of "High" art has disappeared in an age of "Post," "Postmodern" art and free markets is simply untrue. More than ever the art world has commercialised itself for the purpose of controlling art and commoditising it as a high value product of desire for the rich and famous. The big problem is that the big claims for a serious content in this very commercial art are simply false. In effect, much "High" art is in fact "Low" art thereby nullifying art criticism and any standard by which art can be judged. Evaluation has been reduced to "surface appearance," personal taste and "novelty" value; quite simply, it's all good but here's the hypocrisy, some is better so we charge more for that.
   
In order to achieve the prices that distinguish the art of "value" from the "ordinary," certain artists and art styles are packaged and promoted to the exclusion of others. Make no mistake; in a supposedly global egalitarian marketplace "High" and "Low" is alive and well and marketed aggressively by the supposed "cultural elites" consisting of an exclusive cabal of galleries, museums and art fair organisations. This largely depends on the skilful manipulation of styles and the creation of "trends" and now mirrors the fashion world to an alarming degree! At this point you're probably asking what this has to do with the art of Sean Scully and i will attempt to tie things together as coherently as possible in this limited space.
Catherine (silver and gold) - 1995 Sean Scully
Pale White Wall - 2002 Sean Scully
Raphael - 2004 Sean Scully
Firstly, we need to consider the Duchampian proposition that art is an "Idea" first, before anything else and that, "that idea" can magically turn anything into "art" simply because the artist says so. This was effected by the exhibition of "readymades" (manufactured objects), the most famous being the first, a urinal signed R.Mutt in 1917 by Marcel Duchamp. Art was rapidly divested of its content following this and the stage for art as "object" was set up which turned the art world upside down. 

Clement Greenburg took this idea further by championing an art that almost single handedly declared its "form" and "purity," eliminating the discourse of "meaning" in the work itself. The "look" or surface aesthetics became the prime concern and this was further championed by Susan Sontag in her surprisingly anti academic essay, "Against Interpretation" PDF an appeal to leave the work alone and appreciate it for its surface aesthetics alone. From this point on, any artwork, which entertained with its peculiar appearance or surface properties and in particular the "monumental installation" became "oeuvres du jour" promoted by the art establishment for mega bucks as the new museum aesthetic and was often based on puns, jokes and riddles. 

It is important to understand that during this "conceptual frisson" of the early sixties art world, Sean Scully was quietly launching his practice as an abstract painter in the UK. In a way he was already out of date with the then current art world trend of favouring and embracing ironic, post modern, minimalist, conceptual art. He has been wonderfully out dated for some time but at the same time paradoxically dating nicely like a mature wine.   

Scully's painting has held up against the "Tsunami" of what is largely repetitious, copy cat establishment art that has been paraded prominently in galleries and now museums over the last fifty years. The art world has been promoting ever more bizarre exhibitions, pushing grungy biography, banal objects and monumental installations to higher and higher levels of theatricality. Much of this work, regardless of the "highbrow" claims of its authors and promoters is conceptually hollow and perilously close to decoration. 

This is in stark contrast to Scully, an unrepentant serial painter who appears as one painting anomaly in a sea of art made to mostly amuse and titillate the undiscerning public. Scully has skirted the land mines and pitfalls of appropriation, low-brow, text based and intermedia strategies inherent in Postmodern art. He has done so not in order to avoid contemporary issues but because he understands the trap in making art that panders to "the crowd" or attempts to expound some form of social or political ideology which "real" art is simply unable to do! Instead he has held fast to his aims and produced innovative, visually powerful exhibitions of timeless art. 

Scully states, "I hold to a very Romantic ideal of what's possible in art, and I hold to the idea of the 'personal universal.' This is a complex agenda. My project is complicated in this way, and in that sense I'm out of fashion. I'm going against the current trend towards bizarreness, oddness; as you just called it, the 'esoteric', which of course was around in the 1930s. That's what is being revisited now."

Scully who mines the "personal universal" uses his signature, "stripes" to create images that in reality may be analogous to doors, wall or windows but in fact strongly point to the "noumenon" or "thing in itself" thingness that overrides the minds ability to form meaning. This function in itself sets up a scenario where difficulty in understanding what is perceived opens a door for dialogue with the "sublime," an effect/idea that Lyotard writing after Emmanuel Kant, was convinced, was the only hope for an art that was being emptied of its transforming power by overt and covert compliance to and complicity with art world agendas for control. 

Let's face it; if you can control it and package it and empty it of its power, it becomes in fact just another object to be exchanged/collected for a value dictated by its scarcity and demand. So then, the homogenous nature of a product in effect ensures its market as long as belief in its "unique" facade of preciousness and rarity can be maintained. What we have then are great claims being made for an art form that mimics, parodies and mocks original invention. The value of this art is contingent on "faith" but in effect parades as the "Emperors New Clothes" effectively maintaining the "status quo" while hiding its vacuous "factory" quality behind the "valuable" brand name of the artist.

This brings us back to Scully's art for which the same claims could be made, especially now that he has achieved some prominence in the art world. This would ring true if in fact Scully was guilty of mimicking mainstream art styles. In fact he has done the opposite and returned to the core questions inherent in the making of art and in particular "abstract" art, a difficult kind of art to sell. Scully has gone back and studied art history in order to find the "locus for a new beginning in his painting project. Scully's paintings have that trademark appearance of simplicity but given time they radiate an aura that is tangible and complex. His working methodology turns blank canvas into portals of "essence" that exude a palpable "presence" and this sets him apart from much of the rest. Scully's paintings challenge us to keep looking and when we do, we find ourselves looking into another world that's hard to comprehend. These paintings are not only intuitive but highly intelligent as form drives content, only to reverse creating a panoply of conditions conducive to the "sublime." 

Sean Scully has earned his stripes working his way through multiple variations of his theme finding originality in the simple "stripe" motif. To say his paintings are simple though, would be an insult to a painter that has weathered many of the art world storms/cycles and come out the other end neither cynical nor perturbed. Scully believes in the efficacy of the painting project and has engaged in it with the faith of a saint if such a comparison were possible. No doubt, "luck," as Dave Hickey would assert, has had some part to play in Scully's ascent to the "canon" but to my mind there is also a uniquely beautiful quality in his work that is readily discernible to all and this quality sets his work apart from that of many others in the art herd. 

I have been inspired for some time by Sean Scully's direct and intelligent approach to art and can say that my understanding and art have been both stimulated and enlarged because of his persistence.

To learn more about Sean Scully click Here 

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Lyn Ashby - Book Artist

24/7/2014

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PictureI Decline Myself - Lyn Ashby
It is usual to consider books as narrative, text based objects containing many pages of paper bound by some sort of hard cover front and back. There are books containing pictures as well as books with text and pictures usually centred around a clear theme. These days E-books have become increasingly popular in an age of lightweight portable computer tablets. Your favourite title can now be downloaded with a credit card and access to a wi-fi hot spot. Words, sentences and chapters as digital code streaming stories to your screen, a sort of digital book nirvana for those still inclined to read.

There are other manifestations of books which have little to do with the traditional book or "novel." These are known as "artist books" not to be confused with "art books" or even "book art" which is in a category of its own. The artist book is an object of eloquence with poetic inclinations and as it is produced by the artist, is usually available in limited editions due to the constraints imposed by its hand made nature. The artist book is a peculiar creature characterised at its apex by clever invention using a myriad of devices engaging text, images, all manner of papers, plastics and binding fixtures. Artist books come in many formats incorporating foldouts, flick pages, cut-outs, layered cut-aways, hand printing, digital printing, stencilling, calligraphy, photocopies, photographs, drawings and found objects in all manner of shapes and configurations. In short, the possibilities for artist books lie in the range of "awesome" in the hands of an imaginative practitioner.

Lyn Ashby is one such person, making amazing, interdisciplinary books based around his diverse interests and expertise linking language use in games, riddles and puzzles within set social conventions. With delicate poise he combines his elements in an almost alchemical fashion wringing out new meaning from that which is "known" through the use of hyperbole, metaphor, irony and inversion. Not only are the materials and compositions shrewdly mapped out in advance, the core of ideas is skilfully interwoven into the whole. If this sounds all too serious a venture to contemplate, rest assured that a healthy dose of humour is lovingly spliced between the pages. Lyn wants his readers to enjoy their passage through articulate aesthetic landscapes but he also wants them to finish with a sense of unease, that all is not as it appears.


Books are essentially "egalitarian" agents and remain "open invitations" by virtue of their cover/page format encouraging wider social discourse and progress. Lyn Ashby draws out the many abstract permutations of a central idea, re-fashioning this traditional platform into contemporaneous form for intelligent appraisal by the reader. A book is an opportunity for imaginary transport to other places and Lyn continues to satisfy with each new publication. From the endearing possibility of release and happiness for the mythical protagonist Sisyphus in "Sisyphus Goes Home" to the prophesy of one possible future for an unknown ancient manuscript concerning the origin of a written language in "AlphaTopo," the reader is challenged to re-think hypothetical possibilities and their ramifications.

In a time when much art is increasingly the solipsistic introverted projection of its makers, it is refreshing to find a practitioner who works intelligently blending both ideas and materials together into a beautifully cognisant whole. Artist books open a space for astute exploration of the possibilities inherent in the "form" known as "book" where the manual turning of and examination of"pages" facilitates intimate human engagement with "books as art."


Lyn Ashby is an inventor of imaginary linguistic scenarios that transport us to the realm of "extraordinary" and to this end his work has a transcendent or numinous quality that inspires me continuously.

Take time to check out Lyn Ashby's amazing books here.
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13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

21/7/2014

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Picture
Among twenty snowy mountains,   
The only moving thing   
Was the eye of the blackbird.   

II
I was of three minds,   
Like a tree   
In which there are three blackbirds.   

III
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.   
It was a small part of the pantomime.   

IV
A man and a woman   
Are one.   
A man and a woman and a blackbird   
Are one.   

V
I do not know which to prefer,   
The beauty of inflections   
Or the beauty of innuendoes,   
The blackbird whistling   
Or just after.   

VI
Icicles filled the long window   
With barbaric glass.   
The shadow of the blackbird   
Crossed it, to and fro.   
The mood   
Traced in the shadow   
An indecipherable cause.   

VII
O thin men of Haddam,   
Why do you imagine golden birds?   
Do you not see how the blackbird   
Walks around the feet   
Of the women about you?   

VIII
I know noble accents   
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;   
But I know, too,   
That the blackbird is involved   
In what I know.   

IX
When the blackbird flew out of sight,   
It marked the edge   
Of one of many circles.   

X
At the sight of blackbirds   
Flying in a green light,   
Even the bawds of euphony   
Would cry out sharply.   

XI
He rode over Connecticut   
In a glass coach.   
Once, a fear pierced him,   
In that he mistook   
The shadow of his equipage   
For blackbirds.   

XII
The river is moving.   
The blackbird must be flying.   

XIII
It was evening all afternoon.   
It was snowing   
And it was going to snow.   
The blackbird sat   
In the cedar-limbs.



This poem has been an inspiration to me for a long time. Wallace Stevens was, i believe, in "the moment" when he jotted down these exquisite lines. Verse after verse trace distinct "image sensations," painting a visual feast any true melancholic can enjoy. Green skies, euphonic bawds, bare trees, blackbird eyes, sharp icicles, snowy landscapes and autumn winds blowing blackbirds about. There is fear and awe in this series of word images that provoke a twilit  empyrean sense of reality. Time seems to stand still, held in suspension by words that activate eternity like a lever and we lose sight of where we are for a moment. Stevens connects us to the blackbird and nature every step of the way. There is secret knowledge here for those who wait for the connection. You have to let go and slide between the lines to understand what the poet might have been seeing and feeling. 

Crafting sublime visual images with words has to be a creative act of the highest order. It is akin to making music, painting pictures or choreographing dance moves but is richer because it moves us beyond the merely physical to other worlds. In this textual world blackbirds have the power to be sinister harbingers of disaster or heralds of enlightenment and the reader-participant makes a choice. No matter what metaphorical interpretation is applied to this poem it remains an eerily beautiful compilation of graphically stark yet sensual word paintings.

Check out other great poems by Wallace Stevens here.   

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Sayonara On Kawara

17/7/2014

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Picture
Thursday July 10th, On Kawara passed on from this plateau to another. Most of us would be echoing the same sentiment, "I never knew you at all," a comment that probably would have been pleasing to this very private soul. He left quietly, pretty much the same as he entered and this was fitting for a man whose "existentialism" pretty much dictated the course of his life. As far as i can ascertain, he was hardly ever photographed or interviewed during his life so he has taken his cloak of anonymity with him to the grave. It's a novel flourish, exiting the art world stage without having been seen (i exaggerate) in the first place. One could view such an act with cynicism if it weren't for the evidence of his life which shows a man living out his philosophical convictions unwaveringly to the last breath. I don't know about you but i have to admire a man like that in an age where hypocrisy is almost lauded as "de rigueur" and personal integrity is thrown out the minute the scent of commercial reward wafts through the air.

On Kawara abandoned figurative painting somewhere in the early 60's and embraced a more conceptual art practice encompassing his central concerns with time, space, consciousness, life and death. Much of his work centres around his preoccupation with time and its function as a measuring tool for human existence. He meticulously recorded time (his time) and its passing by adopting various methods of recording the fact of his existence through postcards announcing he "got up at", "i am still alive", "i went", "i met", "i read" and "Date" paintings rigorously completed the very same day otherwise trashed. His great work consists of books filled with chronological date listings for "one hundred years" and "one million years." These were read in turn by two readers sitting in a glass booth in the gallery and audible throughout the whole gallery space. The sheer singularity of focus and consistency in his practice is enough to convince me of his greatness. In fact, there are only a few artists that i'm aware of that were as consistent daily in their practice as On Kawara.


After my initial discovery of On Kawara back in 1998 (in the University of Tasmania library) i was perplexed by his art and any relation it might have had to my (at the time) constructed abstractions. There seemed to be no link between his early and late work, the former of which were mostly highly figurative paintings of a rather ghoulish nature. Somewhere between the late fifties and the early sixties his work took a dramatic shift from macabre, apocalyptic compositions to more austere, cerebral works including his postcards and paintings. I can't say for sure what happened to the artist but it almost seems as if he had an epiphany, a "road to Damascus" revelation, where the ghosts of the past (atomic devastation in Japan) were washed away and he took a sharp right turn in his thinking toward his art and the future. 

I'm willing to wager that his pre-occupation with, "still being alive" is indelibly linked to the unspeakable horror of nuclear destruction in Japan. Somehow the artist put the shock and devastation behind him and birthed a quiet phoenix from the ashes of his past which continues to rise in its importance to the conceptual/biographical art of the late 20th century.   
It's taken awhile for On Kawara to filter on down into my understanding of contemporary art practice and all the many things it can be. These days i feel a sort of belated kinship with him because of his interest in the clinical, scientific observation and recording of his everyday life. It is obsessive, granted, but human and kind of childlike in its intensity to declare "presence" (his) and insist on "recognition" (attention) from others over such an extended period of time. Is it finding a great thing and "sticking with it" all the way or in the process of making, gradually finding your identity so inseparable from the work that a kind of resignation sets in? Maybe only On Kawara knows the answer and took that understanding to the grave with him.

I'm still trying to position myself in relation to his work but i believe i'm closer to seeing that link than before. I see the transcendence in his daily confessions. I got up, i read, i met, i went, i'm still alive, are all statements affirming triumph over anonymity, insignificance, banality and death. These are bold assertions declaring, "I tried", "I took action and refused to give in to the daily entropy pulling me down and threatening to erase the memory of my life." I see these artworks as an encouragement to all, to try again, never give up, make something out of your life. This is the "existent residual humanity" in his work and it offers hope to all.

On Kawara may be gone but his work is sheer poetry, a beautiful and exquisitely refined succession of visual Haiku declaring, "See, i am still alive."    
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Jens Ramsing - Painter

12/7/2014

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There is an innate sensitivity required for any artist to render in paint the essence of his/her subject without the work sliding into theatrics or banality. To all intents and purposes, art produced for the sake of novelty whether to shock or entertain will always embody a kind of core superficiality or pretentiousness that will relegate it to the category of "mediocre" with time. There is an honest quality that can be visually ascertained in a piece of art that has been painted from the heart with vision and without contrivance. This is not to say that logic has been denied and that due consideration hasn't been given to composition, scale etc. by the artist. It means simply that undue consideration for an audience or concerns about commercial viability have not intruded into or over-ridden the artists connection with his/her subject whatever that might happen to be. 

Painting out of a personal need to paint and painting for an exhibition are two different things and in my mind have little relationship with each other. Every artist is challenged with this dilemma at one point or another. The danger for artists and art is that in the pressure and rush to "produce" for a market, an inferior or lightweight quality becomes residual within the work. The fact remains that not all art is great or contains the elements that make it universal and timeless. It is the artists responsibility to ensure that their motivation for making is correct and that their concern for status, recognition and financial gain doesn't take precedence, resulting in a shoddy art legacy conforming merely to the trends or fashion of the day. Great art always takes us beyond ourselves and is transcendent in nature. It should stop us in our tracks and cause us to wonder and question the bigger issues of origins, relationships, morality, mortality and beyond.   
Odessa Steps Detail 1 - 2013 Jens Ramsing
Odessa Steps Detail 2 - 2013 Jens Ramsing
Odessa Steps Detail 3 - 2013 Jens Ramsing
Oh, oh, oh Not Again - 1996 Marlene Dumas
Soldier - 1999 Luc Tuymans
Mao - 1992 Gerhard Richter
Jens Ramsing is a Danish painter i had the privilege to meet while resident near Odense, Denmark for three months earlier this year. I was singularly impressed by his sincere attitude toward the act of painting and the way he approached that act as an attempt to render "honesty" in every picture. For Jens, the process of painting had enabled the outer projection or materialisation of complex emotional states within himself. His images are best described as "expressionistic impressions" that embody the essence of a range of feelings using the barest necessities at his disposal. Thin, translucent washes of paint applied with quick intuitive brushstrokes seem to render ghostly images that emanate from the canvas as if through a steamy mirror. There is no building up of intricate surface layers but an amazing complexity that is immediately evident in his direct and spontaneous mark-making. No cynicism or superficiality is apparent here!

This instinct to image impulsively without extensive editing comes out of Jens practice of intense observation. Looking, looking and looking again provide the foundation for pictures that are striking in their immediacy, that just seem so right, unlabored as if they had materialised without human assistance. There is also a socially political nature to these works relating to the human condition, nature and communal relations. The simple complexity in his work calls into question the very reason for the venture of art-making. Jens is painting in order to bring forth and precipitate the stuff of life which confronts us with its very requisite nature. I have little doubt his method of handling paint is intrinsically linked to a very personal experience and sensitivity to memory and environment.

When thinking about Jens work a number of artists such as Luc Tuymans, Marlene Dumas and Gerhard Richter immediately spring to mind. I believe he has been influenced to some degree by artists such as these but rather than go the easy route and mimic a style, he has fashioned his own trademark method of image making. It is my hope that Jens work will in time become more widely known and appreciated outside his native Danish milieu!


        
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Grey 

9/7/2014

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Grey or 'gray' is  far more than just a word to denote colour. There are so many connotations arising from the mere mention of grey in a wide array of contexts. It isn't something that is probably taken into consideration by many on a day to day basis. Nevertheless, this is a word that has acquired such a wide swathe of meanings that it is worthwhile having a quick look at why it is one of my favourite words/concepts incorporating colours, contexts, nature, optics, culture, psychology, ethics, religion, fashion, associations and symbolism to name a few. There is a lot at stake when the idea of 'grey' arises and every culture forms its own unique response to it.

Grey can represent modesty, seriousness and conformity when it comes to business world fashion for both genders, yet can reflect humility and also poverty when worn by monks and priests of different religious orders. Grey can be interpreted as uncertainty and indifference on one hand and yet reflect intelligence, mental power and reflection on the other. Shades of grey often represent magnitudes of good and bad for many and indecision or reluctance to commit to a black and white decision for others. Recently, another twist has been added with the release of a book series and film titled "Fifty Shades of Grey" lending more credence to the term. There is also a perception held by many that grey is a negative, signifying solitude, boredom and emptiness placing anything 'grey'
 under suspicion. Grey hair denotes old age and the elderly, something every youthful generation wishes to ignore as it conveys the repellent message of "vanitas", a life party spoiler, if ever there was one. Lastly, grey stands for both shadows and secrecy when referring to the hidden power behind the authority figures which are visible, but is also representative of the colour of ashes, of mourning and repentance in some religions including Christianity.
Grey is both colour and concept and for the most part they are inseparable to me. My eye darts to the mere suggestion of 'grey' and takes great delight in fathoming its warm or cool hues. When the rare collision of a myriad of greys occurs, it is a perfect retinal storm and a delight to me. All greys are welcome but some strike a deep chord and are welcomed like intimate friends when they appear. Certain painters have done justice to grey but only a few in my opinion have taken grey to a 'sublime' level. El Greco is an early innovator of the use of grey with his images of religious ecstasy. Peter Klaesz also used greys beautifully in his exquisitely detailed still life pictures of worldly abundance. Rembrandt, then much later Whistler followed by Mondrian, Morandi, Richter, Scully and Martin created some fine examples of "grey paintings" that visually please with their sensually honed surfaces. I know i have left out many fine names (in particular, 3D and multi-media artists) for the sake of brevity, nevertheless, these few examples are an indicator of the historical legacy of 'grey' in art for those wishing to research further. 

Where would the glory of the rainbow colours be without grey to provide that wonderful, resonant contrast for them? I hope you'll take some time to think about 'grey' and what it means in your life.           
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Pablo Picasso

3/7/2014

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PicturePicasso Drawing with Light
It's difficult at times to know where to start with Picasso as a subject of discussion. Born in Malaga Spain in 1881 he became the iconoclast that in many ways ushered art into the modern age and forced society to see things differently. Before he died in 1973 at his home in Mougins France at the grand old age of 91 he had advanced perception pretty much in every field available to him in the visual arts. This brought him world acclaim, wealth and respect from his peers but also earned him enmity with a wide range of people who resented his talent and called him a "fraud" because he didn't toe the conservative line. All the facts are in and there is no denying that his life became a juggernaut that flattened everything in its path; i mean the traditional conceptions of what art was and should be, were irrevocably changed for better and worse. 

Pablo Picasso worked his way through all the artistic conventions controlled by the cultural authorities of his time and once he had understood their dynamic he proceeded to turn them upside down. He perceived clearly the connection between art and its transcendent power and the inevitability of power elites to usurp and manipulate that powerful influence to control society. Throughout his life he thumbed his nose at the attacks on his art and those against him personally. He innovated incessantly and worked across all mediums making him probably the first true pre-digital, multi-media artist. Picasso was not only a painter, printmaker, sculptor and ceramicist, he was also a stage designer, poet and playwright. He invented or co-developed a range of styles across many media forms. He is recognised particularly for the co-invention of Cubism, both analytic and synthetic with fellow artist and collaborator Georges Braques. Cubism, probably more than any other style of pictorial convention opened up extensive inquiry into the science of visual perception and the investigation of spatial realities in the 20th century and still dominates contemporary image making today.

La Belle Hollandaise 1905
Girl With a Mandolin 1910
Les Demoiselles D'Avignon 1907
Guernica 1937
Light Drawing 1949
Chicago Sculpture 1967
Whatever one may think of Picasso the man and his colourful personal life, it is hard not to admire his amazing achievements. There are more than 50.000 artworks attributed to him making him the most prolific artist ever. More Picasso's have been stolen from museums and collections worldwide than any other artist on record adding to his notoriety. Picasso was shrewd and intelligent and understood his place in history as a force for change and he determined early in his life to leave a legacy that was complete in every way. He was also a clever market player and controlled the release of his artwork to maximise his reputation and financial position.  

He is a contradiction in terms though, as he was a "communist" until the day he died yet remained for the most part quietly apolitical during some of the most turbulent events in human history. An example of this incongruity is "Guernica" his large painting documenting his opposition to the brutality of the combined German and Italian air bombing of the Basque town at the request of Franco in April 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. This contrasts with his opposition later to UN forces intervention in Korea to halt the communist takeover even after news of widespread massacres and appalling human suffering depicted in "Massacre in Korea". There are also many questions surrounding his time in Paris during WW2 where he lived relatively carefree when many other artists were imprisoned or lost their lives at the hands of the Nazis. It would be unfair though to target Picasso for his ideological convictions but it does shed some light on what appears in retrospect to be a relatively charmed life.

Pablo Picasso is the first artist in history to have enjoyed a mass audience during his lifetime and so was the first truly modern art persona. He has been a difficult source of inspiration for me as i'm always aware of his long shadow looming over art history. One of my favourite quotes of his, "Art is a lie that leads us to the truth" is still one of the best summaries i've heard on the nature of art. In many ways he pushed open the door of freedom for subsequent generations of artists including myself yet in the words of a frustrated Jackson Pollock, "Picasso you bastard, you've done it all" is a sentiment many can empathise with. It can be awkward trying to look around the mountain of his original achievements if you are painting with art historical legacy in mind. Nevertheless love him or hate him, Picasso was and is an idiosyncratic "giant" of modern culture.  
    



     
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    William M Boot

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    Encaustic Art Blogs
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    Art Articles

    Anish Kapoor Coats Cloud Gate In the "Darkest" Black Known to Humanity

    Jasper Johns:Monotypes 

    Robert Ryman: Double Positive

    ​Clifford Still's Radical Repetitions

    Giorgio Morandi: Peculiar Realist

    Giorgio Morandi - Metaphysician of Bologna

    ​Alberto Burri's Challenge

    I Will Not Be A Sunday Painter: Alberto Burri Makes a Picture in 1954

    Jackson Pollock - Tate Liverpool

    Painting and Reality: Art as Analogy

    Real painting - Exhibition Review

    Gerhard Richter Interview: Abstract Paintings

    Abstract Painting: Social Function

    Abstract Painting: Everything is Finished, Nothing is Dead

    Cy Twombly Drawings

    Realizing Clifford Still

    Cy Twombly Interview

    The Cult of Jeff Koons

    Modern Art Was a CIA Weapon

    Agnes Martin - Two Books - A Life

    Agnes Martin - An Existential Shudder From a Pure White Surface

    Agnes Martin - Tate Exhibition

    Agnes Martin - Interview

    The Abstract Sublime in Contemporary Art: Robert Rosenblum

    Nicholas De Stael - Needs To Be Seen

    Donald Judd and Frank Stella Interview - What You See Is What You See

    Imi Knoebel - Interview

    Imi Knoebel - Dia 2009

    Fantasies Artists Have About Success

    Damien Hirst - Plagiarist Extraordinaire - Learn the Truth

    Bridget Riley - Exhibition Review

    Vincent Longo: Interview 2016

    ​Philip Guston:Flesh and Bones and 'Thingness'

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    Luc Tuymans: Interview with Jarrett Earnest

    ​Luc Tuymans: "On the Image" essay

    ​Luc Tuymans: "Le Meprise" Exhibition at David Zwirner Galleries, NYC, 2016

    ​Lloyd Rees: The Final Interview with Janet Hawley

    ​Richard Pousette-Dart:
    Exhibition Review- Pace NYC