Category Archives: Commentary

Opinion or analysis concerning whatever’s on my mind.

The Birth of Venal

Posted on October 17, 2022 by JMN

… According to Italian law, any use of the country’s publicly owned art to sell merchandise requires permission and payment of a fee. (Angela Giuffrida) Who “owns” reproduced images pulled from Botticelli’s cloying, excessively familiar painting? The presumption to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Built Tough

Posted on October 11, 2022 by JMN

‘Is there anybody here that really believes Joe Biden was legitimately elected?’ (Jim Marchant, Republican nominee for secretary of state in Nevada) Yes. (This American) (Jamelle Bouie, “This Is What Happens When … ,” New York Times, 10-11-22) (c) 2022 … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Why Do I Warm to These Two Paintings?

Posted on October 9, 2022 by JMN

Rosalyn Drexler’s elegant painting, “Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health,” is stuck with a lumbering title but sings, nevertheless. I would give it a chill name such as “Composition in Vermilion on Black,” or one with saucy innuendo … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Nays of Texas Are Upon It

Posted on September 30, 2022 by JMN

“Knowing truth is important. Right and wrong are truth, not feelings. And they are the same for everyone. Our creator is the source of the rules for right and wrong and they come from his character.” (Member of the public … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Breaking: Poetry in the Air?

Posted on September 28, 2022 by JMN

Working head of state one day, gone the next. Sic transit gloria. An adoring contingent of Great Britain has lately felt its feelings in splendid public fashion for a queen whose reign exceeded average life expectancy in most of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

What He Simply Tries to Do

Posted on September 22, 2022 by JMN

“In his view, painting and drawing are exactly the same difficulty and take roughly as long as each other.” (William Feaver, art critic and one of Auerbach’s regular sitters) Asked whether he has learned something new about his face, [Auerbach] … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

One Good Pareidolia Deserves Another

Posted on September 19, 2022 by JMN

Rocky debate swirls around a squiggle on the “fingerlike menhir” at the entrance to the Dolmen of Guadalperal in Spain. (See https://ethicaldative.com/2022/09/17/the-dolmen-tells-the-wind-hard-weather-ahead/). Opposite a vaguely anthropomorphic shape etched on the menhir’s side lies the squiggle. Angel Castaño, a philologist, believes … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Dolmen Tells the Wind, ‘Hard Weather Ahead’

Posted on September 17, 2022 by JMN

A megalithic archaeological site has been exposed by drought in Spain. Some 2,000 years older than Stonehenge, the Bronze Age sepulcher was deliberately flooded in 1963 as part of a rural development project. Like the skeleton of an extinct sea … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Wipe It Off, Gray Lady

Posted on September 13, 2022 by JMN

Free expression isn’t just a feature of democracy; it is a necessary prerequisite. (Editorial Board, “Censorship Is the Refuge of the Weak,” New York Times, 9-10-22) No big deal. Just a nicety of style, a peccadillo none but the persnickety … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Asked and Answered

Posted on September 10, 2022 by JMN

“The American press is infatuated to the point of intoxication with ‘democracy,’ ” [Buchanan] wrote in 1991. To make his point, he compared the Marine Corps and corporations like IBM to the federal government. “Only the last is run on … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment