Thursday, October 26, 2006

My bit to Chris Miller's blog comments

Ref http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=19047760&postID=115975910479705435

I am intrigued by your conversation with Lian Neill.

First of all the understanding of your comment (in italics);

………Rhythm and Melody………..

These words point to qualities that I think are sorely missing from the re-birth of figurative art --- in both painting and sculpture -- where anatomy is (regretfully) accepted as the basic knowledge that is fundamental to good figure sculpture
.

There is the meaning 1. figuratively speaking…and
2. figurative, as in the realistic human figure…….

In the flow of your conversation, “abstract”, in the meaning associated with Giacometti’s “couple”, might be closer to figuratively speaking than to, figurative as in the (realistic) human figure!

An individual sculptor is going to have a style of his own and mixed with his mistakes (recognised or not, by the viewer; himself included) will add to the degree of abstraction in the work. Matisse’s works below illustrate my meaning.



Liam is I think talking about symbolism when he refers to hieroglyphics. Matisse’s 4th work here is almost a Hieroglyphic where the first is a more complex form. Comparing the general understanding of what was meant by “Art” in 1880 from that of 1980 I believe in the concept that only time will judge a work and only a very few works will always be in “fashion”.


My view, for what it is worth, is expressed below and published in 1919, 2 years after this urinal was being created and exhibited as “Art” in New York.



The book is roughly based on Gauguin’s life;

…art is a manifestation of emotion, and emotion speaks a language that all may understand… I cannot agree with the artists who claim superciliously that the layman can understand nothing of Art, and that he can best show his appreciation of their works by silence and a cheque-book. (W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and sixpence, edition 10 (Vintage, London, 1999) pp.2.)

Musical terms such as Rhythm and Melody have made me think about my own work and whether they have such attributes! This has made me think about what Rhythm and Melody mean in terms of metal or stone (or other solid material).

Rhythm ~Symmetry and Regularity, Beat, Flow, Proportion, Time, Repetition, Pulsating sound or feeling often pleasing to the senses and fundamental to the art form of “Dance” .

Melody ~ Sequence of agreeable musical sounds or notes, Air, Tune, Sweet sounds agreeable to the ear as in; babbling brook or whispering sounds of the wind in the trees etc. (Melody often has rhythm too).

The important theme in both is “Pleasing and agreeable”. Never in a month of Sundays would I describe the urinal thus, except in relief of finding one when urgently needed!

Sometimes I think it is better to just let it flow and not think too much about such high literary concepts. Better get on and do some work or we will starve!

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Saturday, October 21, 2006

Local
















We English talk about the weather, that's because we have an awful lot of it.My son is doing "Photography" and here is something he found in the pony's field. We had a furniture industry in the 18th and 19th century here so there are lots of Wall nut trees around still.

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Some Big pictures of sculpture in The Louvre

I discovered the site, quite amazing photos of sculpture in the Louvre. Thank you Richard (Higgins) for sharing them with the world. If you keep clicking you get biger and biger downloads.


http://higginsoft.smugmug.com/gallery/548964/1/25960497.

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Pictures of Summer.


Success at last. Here's one to finish off this theme. "A hot summer gone".

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Dorset in Summer







Its Tuesday and I am determined to post a few pictures of Dorset Life. A Cheese Fair, The Georgian fair, the sea at Lulworth, our bantam chicks, a young swallow in May, and the world cup reaches the farm.

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Saturday, October 14, 2006

Supper Time

I must go and feed the four legged. Suger beet, care mix, herbal wormer hay and water um um!

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ART ART ART

I doubt there has ever been a potentially more exciting foreign collection of Art Exhibitions in London than there is now. I am planning a trip to them all and will let you know what I think.

Rodin at The Royal Academy

Holbein at Tate Britain

Leonado Da Vinci at The Victoria and Albert Museum

Velázquez at the National Gallery

(If you really want to get excited you could impress someone and visit the Turner Prize Exhibition.)

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English Sculpture

If you go to English Sculpture Blog you will find my contribution to study English or more acurately British Sculpture. It is, will be, a very personal view but I hope enjoyable as well as useful. I have yet to learn how to get the pictures to work!

Here is the link http://englishsculpture.blogspot.com/

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Thursday, October 12, 2006

Chris Miller

Here is Chris' blog, well worth a visit and the Sculpture web site is not just very useful but facinating. http://mountshang.blogspot.com/

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San Francisco Expo 2015

I am hoping that the San Francisco Exposition of 1915 will be repeated in 2015. I am going to push from this end for 2 reasons. Firstly because it looks as if it was one "hell of a good party" in 1915 and secondly because it would be great place to visit and exhibit contemporary and "art, generally" when I am 65!!!!! I think galleries from around the world should start thinking about what works they could lend/exhibit from their basements (filled with many thousands of works which are never seen by the public, Louver, Tate, V&A, Met NY etc). It made a profit too which might make the locals sit up a bit!

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12th October 2006 Lunch Time

I owe this blog to Chris Miller from Chicago USA. I recommend that you visit his blog and website one day.

Well there’s a cool guy in a very hot place doing a very good job. See here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/25/wjuba25.xml&site=5&page=0

I am a keen supporter of English sculpture especially those who seem to have faded into obscurity in the 20th century. People like Flaxman, Westmacott, Gilbert, Frampton Ford and Stevens. I hope to build up a list of links for interested bloggers to follow these and many many more.

It is time the English saw and approved of public sculpture. The rest of Europe seems to have delightful works for the sake of “Art” in all sorts of places, but here they seem to be controversial or virtually non existent.

We still have a glut of wild rabbits and I am glad to hear that the Buzzards have had a good breeding year. Perhaps our ponies will have some grass next year. “Charlie” is an Appaloosa (Spotted American Breed) and aged 30. “The Smoke” is a Shetland of no known age except he too is getting on a bit.

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