NOBLESSE NOT OBLIGED

So here we are in the 21st century recreation of a Victorian era adventurer’s den where our neo-feudal faux-aristocrat enjoys his smuggled Cuban and a fine old Islay. But it’s a virtual reality… Continue reading →

1. Gaps in the Scenery

Try to think back to last week; can you put together a sequence of descriptions of activities concerning a particular block of time, a trip to the grocery or an evening at home?… Continue reading →

PROSCENIUM ANGST

Think of Post-Modernism, I know it makes you angry but try, please. Think of it as the epoch in which we now are fully embedded, one which began in the 60’s, as an… Continue reading →

ART IN THE DARK

The eye of outward sense is as the palm of a hand, The whole of the object is not grasped in the palm. —Rumi This image is a variation on the old story… Continue reading →

CLUB HOT BUTTONS

The contest used to be on only for a couple of months, every couple of years, with the press claiming the role of referee. Now, it’s 24/7/52 on both the “conservative” talk shows… Continue reading →

NEKYIA: AN INTERROGATION OF GHOSTS

The art object here is an interrogation of ghosts, but not face to face. It’s an old man’s half mirror reflecting his muses and demons.  The usual suspects, friends, a lover (or two)… Continue reading →

The frame’s tale

A frame tale is a story inside a story, a picture in a picture. There is nothing new about them, Chaucer and Shakespeare used them before Escher and Magritte. This drawing is almost… Continue reading →

The Flesh, the Devil, and the World

In Albrect Dürer’s 1513 engraving “Knight, Death and the Devil” the knight deals the others by riding right on by them as if they were not there; according to art historian Erwin Panofsky,… Continue reading →

A Faithful Image of the Creatures of His Imagination

1. The artist, according to Sigmund Freud, wants the usual stuff, “honor, power, riches, fame and the love of women.” But as he is “an introvert … not far from being a neurotic,”… Continue reading →

Goat Songs and Satyr Plays

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” (Oscar Wilde) So what kind of masks are these? Are they… Continue reading →