I have come especially to talk to those among you who recognize these failures. I want particularly to talk to those who recognize all of their failures and feel inadequate and defeated, to those who feel insufficient – short of what is expected or needed. I would like somehow to explain that these feelings are the natural state of mind of the artist, that a sense of disappointment and defeat is the essential state of mind for creative work.
In order to do this I would like to consider further those moments in which we feel joy in living. To some these moments are very clear and to others of a vagueness that can only be described as below the level of consciousness. Whether conscious or unconscious they do their work and they are the incentive to life. A stockpile of these moments gives us an awareness of perfection in our minds and this awareness of perfection in our minds makes all the difference in what we do.
Agnes Martin
Lecture, 1973
This lecture was originally given at the ICA on February 14, 1973 on the occasion of the exhibition, “Agnes Martin”
This was posted on Thursday, November17th, 2011 in Art, Culture, Life
The built environment, like language, has the power to define and refine sensibility. It can sharpen and enlarge consciousness. Without architecture feelings about space must remain diffuse and fleeting.
Yi Fu Tuan
from “Space and Place”
This was posted on Sunday, July25th, 2010 in Art, Urbanism
sometimes it’s easier for me to see things for what they are in photos rather than in real life. so i take a lot of pictures. usually i need to take a break from working and i get up and walk around the studio looking at things this way.
Maybe every other American movie shouldn’t be based on a comic book. Other countries will think Americans live in an infantile fantasy land where reality is whatever we say it is and every problem can be solved with violence.
I avoided making New Years resolutions this time around… but find that I have delayed all of my resolutions, plans for change, and regrets for my birthday… this Saturday. Most people feel like the “milestone” years are something like 18, 21, 30… but for me, 28 is turning out to be a pivotal year. I’m finally feeling like I can grasp the idea of “satisfaction” and the joy that could come from controlling one’s actions, environment, and lifestyle.
Case in point, I’m in love with this design for a home. It seems like the perfect mix of environments, inside and outside, private and public. The only thing that I would change would be the transparency of the glass. It would have to be adjustable…
“What is the Absolute? Something that appears to us in fleeting experiences–say, through the gentle smile of a beautiful woman, or even through the warm caring smile of a person who may otherwise seem ugly and rude. In such miraculous but extremely fragile moments, another dimension transpires through our reality. As such, the Absolute is easily corroded;it slips all too easily through our fingers and must be handled as carefully as a butterfly”"
— Slavoj Žižek (The Fragile Absolute: Or, Why is the Christian Legacy Worth Fighting For?)
This was posted on Friday, March19th, 2010 in Life
I am searching for inspiration this morning. Luckily, I didn’t have to look too far. Checkout this brief video about printmaker Karen Kunc’s work. I was exceptionally lucky to be an undergrad at the University of Nebraska and to be given the opportunity to both take classes with her and study abroad under her guidance. Her work is amazing and I have one of her small intaglio prints from my archives on display in my home. She has definitely influenced me – from my love of “printedness” to the way I see and understand the spatial properties of my surroundings.
Karen Kunc Print
This was posted on Wednesday, March10th, 2010 in Art, Printmaking
