M I K E S H A F F E R
| ART
STORIES ART QUOTES ART NOTES Art of course is a visual medium and while it is only reasonable that works speak for themselves (so to speak), there is no lack of words to add to the milieu. Do we care to know that Jackson Pollock collected stones (boulders actually)? Maybe not, but without tomes of trivia and tons of techno talk our love affair with art and artists would be merely middling. |
Visual Art Today . . .
In museums and galleries that which is considered to be art
has taken on an uncomfortable association with novelty and
entertainment perhaps for reasons related to revenues. McLuhan's
definition of art is now more relevant than ever. "Art is whatever
you can get away with," he said.
Abstraction . . .
Compared to abstraction, art that is representational, by definition, has limits
of course in terms of what it can be. Abstract work can be subjected to limits
too imposed by the artist and by the materials used and its placement, for example,
but by and large its composition is pretty much wide open and I find myself drawn
by the vastness of the opportunity. I believe abstraction is the most creative
form of artistic expression, especially within the realm of sculpture and painting.
Mondrian . . .
[Above Left: Composition with Red, Yellow and
Blue, 1927.] Mondrian
came to his elemental
and now illustrious color scheme and horizontal
vertical format after spending considerable time
doing conventional landscapes
and farm scenes
and later impressionistic windmills and trees
and cubist
still lifes. In the end he drifted into
mysticism and sought universal beauty
by
using a few basic colors and removing all
traces of subject matter, drama
and
sentiment from his paintings. It is inspiring to
learn about the variety
in his work and that
some of his most abstract paintings were
inspired by "the
sea, the sky and the stars." Talking about painting Composition 10,
he said, "Struck
by the immensity of nature, I attempted to express its breadth, its tranquility,
its unity." Looking at his abstractions, how could anybody possibly
have known that, had he not explained himself. Art is clearly more than
a visual medium. Should we judge work on its face—its appearance,
its outward qualities, the impression it conveys? Do we need to know more?
In this day and age, I think so.
Kirk Varnedoe . . .
Varnedoe was an impressive scholar with a flair for expressing basic concepts
about the legacy of modern art, particularly abstraction and I am surprised by
the relevance to me of the concluding sentence in his book, A Fine Disregard,
What Makes Modern Art Modern. ". . . if you want to do something
really important, the answer is not over the horizon. It is often right
under your nose, lying right at your feet. And you do not get anywhere
by kicking that around. You pick it up and run with it."
Henry
Moore . . .
Moore had a large sculptural palette and a great deal of respect for total
abstraction. "All
art is abstract in one sense." he said, "Not to like abstract
qualities or not to like reality is to misunderstand what sculpture and
art are all about."
Agnes
Martin . . .
[Right: Untitled #4, 1990] Martin has written
some of the
most touching essays about art I have
ever read. She says her work is
about happiness and
praise. "We
make art work as something that we
have to do not knowing how it will
work out," she
states in one of her catalogs. "When it is finished
we have to see
if it is effective. Even if we
[are inspired] we cannot expect all the
work to be
successful. An artist is a person who can recognize
failure."
Art Mutt* . . .
I admire the artistic gusto that must have prevailed in the Dada days of Duchamp
et. al., the manifesto attitude. I like the idea of just finding something
and calling it art, propping it up, putting it on a pedestal so to speak, looking
thoughtfully at it in a different light, taking it out of context, injecting
it into a new environment, giving it the old trash to treasure treatment, maybe
cleaning it up or maybe not. Did I painstakingly cast and grind this striking
steel sculpture here or is it actually something I found in a junk yard? Does
it matter? How much do I hear for this beautifully smooth and sinuous work
in white porcelain or is it a toilet?
*Mutt is the name Duchamp used to sign his 1917 urinal sculpture.
The Nature of Art . . .
I love rugged bronze and iron patinas, dark mossy earth under ferns in the
deep woods, rough cement and the rain-swept crags of cliffs and outcroppings.
I like the way nature smacks manmade materials around (absent personal injury
of course) and takes control in the end. I like the way rust, corrosion, time
and decay carves and manipulates its subjects and deterioration takes it toll.
Earth to earth, dust to dust. I call it nature imitating art.
Art Outdoors . . .
Large-scale works of art, temporary installations or
permanent placements, convey an aura that is missing
from similar or equally compelling but smaller
works. Consider the differences among trees and their surroundings—delicate
dogwoods compared to towering oaks located in ornamental gardens or
in a dense forest, for example. Successful outdoor projects stem from an
awareness that allows the artist and curator to access the impact of a project
in advance of its installation. Maybe success is the result of the same sensibility
that leads to memorable architectural and engineering achievements but whatever
it is, it is not the result of simply scaling up small works, even small
works that are captivating as small works or locating large colorful things
outside.
Artists Today . . .
The time when being an artist required the ability of
render images, realistic or otherwise, has obviously
long passed. Artists like Jeff Koons make no apologies
for having their work made to order, contracting it out. Big name art is big
business. One of the more creative artists working today, John Baldessari is
all over the place and while he is more intimately involved with his work,
he too has some of his ideas painted by someone else. Driving down the road
he takes a photo out his car window then combines it with drawing and text
to make a picture. He wants his work to be mundane and artless. Have we come
full circle? Artless art. But, wait. isn't it just hype. Salle uses this trick
too—say one thing while doing something else—and so did Mondrian; "I
see no squares in my paintings," he said. On the other hand, pointless
art is ubiquitous but who knows, the way things are going, maybe some day it
will be the next big thing. Maybe it already is.
Influences . . .
I like the work of a lot of the artists that came into their own in the era
of abstract expressionism and minimalism, artists like Rothko, de Kooning,
Motherwell, Pollock, Newman and later LeWitt, Martin and Stella. Their efforts,
forged at a time when these great directions in art were main stream, has
no doubt been inspirational to many who have followed and I find it gratifying
to consider myself among them.
ART QUOTES
Who
Said? . . .
"Art is art and everything else is everything else."
"First I eat the fruit, then I paint it."
"I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions . . . I am not
an abstractionist."
"Painting is self-discovery, Every good artist paints what he is."
"Aesthetics is for the artist as ornithology is for the birds."
"In art there is only one thing that counts, the thing you can't explain."
"The artist's first creation is himself."
NOTABLE QUOTES ANSWERS