From: jainy maewood (polkadotsf@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Oct 22 2004 - 19:30:14 BST
Platt:
One quick response, as I'm heading out for the weekend. Your format is
useful for clarity in reading, so I'm going to follow your example if you
don't mind:
You wrote:
>Having never seen Diebenkom's abstract works I shouldn't comment on them
>other than to say that generally I find the "language" of abstract
>painting to require translation into words to describe the artist's
>intent, thereby defeating the purpose of painting to bypass "the thought
>process that is so characteristic of the 'separate self sense'" as you so
>eloquently put it (below). My favorite book about modern painting is by
>Tom Wolfe entitled "The Painted Word" in which he delightfully mocks the
>necessity to explain paintings like those of Diebenkom. My favorite quote
>about modern abstract painting came from Al Capp: "A product of the
>untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered." As you can
>tell, I'm conservative. :-)
No, I can't tell that you are conservative (not yet anyway!) Because you
mention Mondrian, quite respectfully in your post, and so I'm assuming you
have at least a rudimentary acquaintance with his work? I don't know what
kind of painting you do, but if you have never personally worked with
abstraction, then you may just simply lack the VISUAL literacy to understand
these paintings. I also loved Tom Wolf's book. I found it particularly
applicable to the current popularity of conceptual art and the tendency of
curators/museums and such to view themselves as the prime determinators of
cultural value! It's Wolf come true! But I would urge you to delve deeper
into the abstract arena, if you are interested in that "direct connection to
the conceptually unknown". Because, abstract art is/can be just that. All
it does is drop the representational subject matter - the thing that
provides us with thought-associations about the painting and it's meaning.
Look again, and look at Diebenkorn, and use your EYES and your
feelings...you might be very surprised. You may look, and look, and look,
and not SEE anything. And then one day, you're at the MET in NYC and you
turn the corner, and there's Diebenkorn serenading your soul...trust me,
this can happen. It happened to me! Now I look at Bierstadt and think,
where is the mystery? Go figure! : )
I'll look for other posts when I return...
jainy
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