LinkLuv: On beauty and art 30 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Abstract art, Beauty, Modern culture.4 comments
I’m pretty caught up in the logistics of moving/selling the house and don’t have much time to be blogging right now, but a few things in an article titled Beauty and Desecration: We must rescue art from the modern intoxication with ugliness seemed to be worth excerpting.
At any time between 1750 and 1930, if you had asked an educated person to describe the goal of poetry, art, or music, “beauty” would have been the answer. And if you had asked what the point of that was, you would have learned that beauty is a value, as important in its way as truth and goodness, and indeed hardly distinguishable from them. Philosophers of the Enlightenment saw beauty as a way in which lasting moral and spiritual values acquire sensuous form.
At some time during the aftermath of modernism, beauty ceased to receive those tributes. Art increasingly aimed to disturb, subvert, or transgress moral certainties, and it was not beauty but originality—however achieved and at whatever moral cost—that won the prizes.
In a seminal essay—“Avant-Garde and Kitsch,” published in Partisan Review in 1939—critic Clement Greenberg starkly contrasted the avant-garde of his day with the figurative painting that competed with it, dismissing the latter (not just Norman Rockwell, but greats like Edward Hopper) as derivative and without lasting significance. The avant-garde, for Greenberg, promoted the disturbing and the provocative over the soothing and the decorative, and that was why we should admire it.
This last quote is interesting to me mainly on account of many previous bloggy discussions with friend and artist Timothy Jones, who finds abstract (or, more specifically, non-objective or non-representational) art to be decorative. Read the article in it’s entirety via this link.
I haven’t finished the article, but printed it off in hopes of doing so later this week.
Pete Pinnell on fine art that functions 26 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art education, Art for art's sake, Art vs Craft, Ceramics, Craft, Handmade.1 comment so far
Pete Pinnell was one of my professors at the University of Nebraska, one of three very strong individuals in a fantastic ceramics program. The following video (external link) is a stellar talk about fine art and function.
Pete is a very good speaker and draws a number of simple but very powerful metaphors as he discusses cups, drinking vessels, in this video. Below I’ve paraphrased some of the portions that really caught my attention:
Art acknowledges and actually talks about life, but there is one great taboo still in the art world, and that is that art still does not take part in life. Art thinks about life, but it does so from the role of the critic, from the observer, from the outsider. I like to joke that art will peek in our windows and rummage through our closets but it won’t sit down at the dinner table with us.
The fine arts world has chosen to forgo touch, but it’s a very powerful means of human expression.
Does having to deal with function limit creativity?
A little bit of dissonance is really required to have something that will hold our attention for a longer period of time.
For the most part I think he hits the nail squarely on the head, but I’d love to hear other’s responses to this 30 minute talk.
Rust, restore 26 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Found objects, Mixed media, Painting.add a comment
The following is an entry to a show at Fort Drum titled Reflections of Generosity. This is an older work, probably done in 2006.
Entropy and restoration are two recurring themes in my process, and thus my sculptures. When I use the word entropy I’m referring to the inevitable deterioration of both the physical and social world around us. I most often observe this phenomenon in the built environment. Buildings crumble, mailboxes rust, roadways buckle and gape with potholes.
Restoration, conversely, implies the ability to rectify or reverse impending decay. In my sculptures this usually takes the form of found objects, repurposed as a canvas (as with Rust, restore) or sculpture. Some of the time these salvaged items serve as raw materials, sometime as accessories so to speak.
Rust, restore comments directly on both entropy and restoration. Whlie the use of text seems, at first, very blunt, symbolism remains. My hope is for the viewer to begin considering both the inevitability of decay and hope with the possibility of restoration.
Models as muse to a generation? 25 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Aesthetics, Beauty, Feminine aesthetics.add a comment
The current exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art examines the supposed ideal of the feminine physique from 1947-1997. Molly Young reviews the show for More Intelligent Life. The follow paragraphs caught my attention in particular:
The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, an exhibition organized by the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (and sponsored by Marc Jacobs), features photographs and works of haute couture dating from 1947 to 1997. The aim is to demonstrate the way “a truly stellar model can sum up the attitude of her time–becoming not only a muse to designers or photographers, but a muse to a generation,” explains Harold Koda, the institute’s head curator.
As the curatorial notes put it, models are those “whose elegant poses and gestures” evoke the attitudes of the day. The show makes clear that this is partly something a model can control and partly something she is simply, ineffably, born with. In a sense, all top models are naturals.
Are such models (the article goes on to note how models in the 80s and 90s essentially became their own brands) actually muses to entire generations? Or even most of a generation?
That claim is a bit hard for me to stomach, although — like I’ve said already on the blog — I’ve never been attracted to any of the models which supposedly represent the attitudes of my lifetime. Is this just a difference in personal aesthetic, or is the claim that a “top model” represents a generation just a stretch?
Image from Wikipedia.
The value of working with your hands 25 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Handmade, Modern culture.3 comments
(external link) Stephen Colbert interviews Matthew Crawford. Crawford, a philosopher and a mechanic, holds a PHD in political philosophy and recently wrote a book titled Shop class as soulcraft.
Along similar lines, I shared an article with my wife earlier in the week titled The Manly Art of Knitting. From that post:
My wife, LeAnna and I have been thinking a lot lately about work. We’ve been wondering if perhaps we’ve been mis-educated to believe that avoidance of manual labor is the pinnacle of education and evolution — that to prove that we’ve arrived in the world, we should work with our heads and not our hands. What we’re wondering is whether that system has steered us wrong, disconnecting us not even so much from our heritage, but from some essential part of who we are as people. That as people, we were made to create. That on some level people were meant to work for their food. And that, similarly, part of our care not just for ourselves but for each other involves a physical act of creating.
Of course we were made to create! “In the beginning, God created . . . so God created man in His own image . . . “
Where people are relocating to 23 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Living incarnationally, Modern culture.1 comment so far
MSN hosts an interesting article from Business Week calculating the ten best places to relocate to in this sour economy. This doesn’t seem to easily fit any of The Aesthetic Elevator’s established categories, but the story caught my eye since my wife and I are in the throes of relocation (even though it’s not directly related to the economy).
No state is totally buffered from the downturn, but several have gotten a boost from the energy, military and agricultural sectors. The healthiest states include Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. In the Washington, D.C., area, federal government and defense jobs have given the economy a boost. And Iowa, which has seen its economy somewhat deteriorate, has also benefited from agricultural and alternative-energy jobs.
The top ten list is as follows:
1. Anchorage, Alaska
2. Provo-Orem, Utah
3. Kennewick-Richland-Pasco, Wash.
4. Yakima, Wash.
5. Omaha, Neb.,-Council Bluffs, Iowa
6. Richmond, Va.
7. Winston-Salem, N.C.
8. Colorado Springs, Colo.
9. Amarillo, Texas
10. Washington, D.C., Arlington-Alexandria, Va., plus areas in Maryland and West Virginia
The article on Business Week actually lists the top twenty if you’re interested. To a degree lists like this are usually pretty subjective, but still interesting.
Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Image from Wikipedia.
Wire drawing of espresso machine 22 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Abstract art, Art, Drawing, Northwest Arkansas, Sculpture, Siloam Springs.add a comment
My friend Joel Armstrong recently created the following wire drawing of an espresso machine for the Cafe on Broadway in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.
On moving to Nebraska 21 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Central Nebraska, Grand Island, Personal reflection.1 comment so far
While we may be lamenting our departure from Arkansas in a number of ways, we’re looking forward to the adventure that lies ahead. We’ll be living, for the foreseeable future, with my parents in a building they are purchasing in downtown Grand Island, Nebraska. We’ve always liked the idea of living downtown over a business. There’s a good coffee shop in the same block and a renovated historical movie theater across the street. Shows are $3, although the coffee shop closes early for some inane reason so you can’t get dessert after the movie. While the entire situation may not be ideal (in the context of American culture) in that we’re moving back in with the parents in our 30s, we will have our own space (two or three rooms to ourselves) and the time will allow us a period of transition as we look to the future, trying to decide what we want to do next.
Some of the other things I’m looking forward to:
- Most cities in Nebraska are not so direly deficient in the sidewalk department as Siloam Springs! Grand Island is much more walkable in this respect than cities in Northwest Arkansas.
- Fewer allergies, or no allergies at all. Some may find this to be a bit trivial, but others with allergies will understand.
- As much as we’ll miss the flora of the Ozarks, my wife and I are eager to move back to the Plains.
- If you think looking forward to a life without allergies was trivial, you may want to skip this point. I’m looking forward to living in a city with a Kohls, and other places to find decent sales on clothing (since we can’t really buy clothes in our place of residence at all at the moment).
- Winters with snow!
- While living with the parents I should have a significant amount of studio space in the basement, which is already equipped with numerous worktables, 220 for my kiln and a vented room for sandblasting (which I may turn into the kiln room).
Downtown Grand Island isn’t quite as hopping as Siloam Springs when it comes to revivification, but it’s certainly not idle either (and, to add some perspective, is probably at least four times the size of Siloam’s downtown area). This is one of the recently remodeled buildings in downtown Grand Island.
On leaving Arkansas 21 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Northwest Arkansas, Personal reflection, Siloam Springs.2 comments
The day before we flew to Florida we received an offer on our house. We didn’t expect it to happen this quickly, and I think the realtor was even more floored than we were (We knew we had a great little house, but weren’t always convinced our realtors thought the same way.). After looking it over we decided to accept the offer rather than counter given the current market.
The timing of the offer, considering our present circumstances, seems Divinely orchestrated. Although there are still a myriad of things that could cause the deal to fall through (it’s still quite early in the process), at the moment we expect to be living with my parents up in Nebraska by the end of July.
On the assumption that we’re moving back north, I thought I’d write a little lament about leaving Arkansas and Siloam Springs.
Other than the pervasive lack of sidewalks, Siloam Springs is a great little community. Sure, it has [other] peculiarities and political, um, intrigue, but so does every town. Overall we’ve come to love this place and its people. Upon moving we’ll especially miss:
- The people, first and foremost. It’s quite rotten that, being summer, some of our closest friends are traveling and won’t be back before we move!
- The flora, something the Ozarks are known for. We’ll miss the the golden raintrees, southern magnolias, mimosas, myrtles, dogwoods, wysteria etc etc
- For the time being, we’ll miss being in a community with a liberal arts university.
- I will miss the sound of summer nights, when a chorus of insects pierce the still, muggy air. Although we won’t miss the insects.
- Tower Bar-B-Q, and barbecue in general.
We’ll also miss the quaintness of the community and the renewed downtown with its parks, just three blocks from our house. I walked through yesterday evening and noticed significant progress on one of the few remaining vacant buildings. A swanky Greek restaurant is going into this building, something that downtown Siloam Springs has wanted for years.
New Work: Supercell sketch 20 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Ceramics, Sculpture.add a comment
This one is also from 2008. The smoke didn’t take all that well but it’s a nice little piece regardless. At one point I thought of attaching this (and the cumulus tower from yesterday) to a carved wooden base, but decided they are finished they way they are.
