Category Archives: Commentary

Opinion or analysis concerning whatever’s on my mind.

‘Six Persimmons’: Asymmetry and Ambiguity

Posted on May 15, 2024 by JMN

In a show called The Heart of Zen, “Six Persimmons” was displayed for three short weeks in late 2023 at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. It was “painted with ink on paper in the 13th century, probably by … Continue reading →

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Training Color to Speak for Itself

Posted on April 27, 2024 by JMN

Inspired by the theorist Michel Eugène Chevreul — whose 1839 treatise on color harmony is on display in this show — Sonia [Delaunay] and her fellow pioneers in abstraction had to train the individual elements of color, such as contrast … Continue reading →

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‘There’s Nothing There Except the Pictures’

Posted on April 25, 2024 by JMN

The artist Jim Nutt has been making a version of this imagined portrait for the last 40 years, a mode that has dominated his practice… His women never age, never seem to dislodge from a midcentury stylistic amber: all wearing … Continue reading →

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The Caped Grammarian

Posted on March 19, 2024 by JMN

The linguist’s mind ripples with muscle beneath his unprepossessing skull. Most days, reclusive and modest, he contemplates exotic texts in his remote book-cave. Occasionally, however, an English specimen from Digital City issues a cry for help. The linguist springs into … Continue reading →

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What’s in a Name?

Posted on March 16, 2024 by JMN

Ask César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, holder of the Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at Ohio State University. Ask Atahualpa Yupanqui (1908-1992), born Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburu, holder of a guitar in Argentina. Ask Helen-Marie Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, wife … Continue reading →

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Savage Women

Posted on March 10, 2024 by JMN

The plasticity of the modeled flesh; the acuity of the subject’s skeptical gaze distorted by skillfully hinted pince-nez spectacles; the wristwatch: the rich blacks of garb against a brushy olive background: these excite notice in the expressive portrait of Berthe … Continue reading →

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An Alternative Social Medium

Posted on March 8, 2024 by JMN

We all have moments when we’re prone to paraglide on feelings in lieu of actually knowing a thing or two. Here’s a way to break out of your stasis quo: Park your smart phone. Knock back a snort of tequila. … Continue reading →

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Who Would, You Know, Think It?

Posted on March 6, 2024 by JMN

“People who are coming from parts unknown, countries that you’ve never heard of. Languages that nobody in this country speaks. We don’t even have teachers of some of these languages. Who would think that we have languages that are like … Continue reading →

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George Tscherny (1924-2023): Ad Artist

Posted on March 1, 2024 by JMN

He recognized from an early age the way that high art and commercial art overlapped, blended together and even nestled inside each other. I called myself a space salesman when I worked in newspaper advertising. When I was made ad … Continue reading →

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Are You Going to Savory Fare? Parsley, Turmeric, Tofu and Lime

Posted on February 26, 2024 by JMN

Remember me to one who waits there,She once was a server of mine. Love to Michelle and Phyllis in their respective states; to Raúl in Barcelona at the university bar; to the vendor near the Plaza de Cataluña who put … Continue reading →

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