Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Week 8: VEIL / BEGIN




First, know that I was going to give you ENCOUNTER / BEGIN, but the two words implied a bit too much of a narrative. And I liked the ide of beginning emerging out of the hidden. So, VEIL / BEGIN. Either way, see where it takes you...
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Philip Guston began these drawings in the late 1960s, at a point in his work where something was waiting to emerge but he didn't yet have a sense of just what it was. His paintings from the previous decade will give you a sense of this--powerful, atmospheric, unresolved. He needed to find his ground again. And what lead him there were some seemingly very simple drawings. Deceptively simple.

Makes me think of the distinction made by art historian George Kubler (I'm quoting from memory)--that a tool, no matter how complex, is in the end  very simple, while a work of art, no matter how simple seeming, is ultimately very complex...
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REALLY good class last night. Looking at Martin Puryear's work, followed by your own projects. An upper, all the way. James Agee and Walker Evans, word and image--Manuel Álvarez Bravo (the great Mexican photographer), Dwayne Wayne (ok, I looked that up)... Mostly, everyone quite animated...