Category Archives: Quotations

Things people said.

THERE Be Dragons — Blue Ones!

Posted on August 28, 2025 by JMN

“We still don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with here… But given the warming of the Mediterranean,… we’re not ruling out that in the coming years we will once again confront situations that we’ve never dealt with.” (José Luis Sáez, … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged | 5 Comments

‘I Came Into the World Very Young’

Posted on July 16, 2025 by JMN

I discovered Satie long ago through Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes, and liked the music immediately. I thought of him as a “minor” composer, and I was drawn to perceived niche tastes. I crave even now the unmoored feeling that his music … Continue reading →

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

Untie These Hidebound Eyes, Unbind These Hogtied Hands

Posted on July 12, 2025 by JMN

Jason Farago-rhymes-with-Chicago writes a deep, reflective appreciation of Cézanne’s work, calling Cézanne the first painter he ever loved.  BC*: For six centuries, ever since some scientifically minded Florentines had developed rules of perspective that made art look more like life, … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Guide for the Perplexed

Posted on July 1, 2025 by JMN

“… When I don’t know what to do next, I tend to throw everything at it, be as expressive or as minimalist or as detailed as I can, reach for bright colours or keep it monochrome, look intensely or scribble … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

‘Ebullient, Rigorous and Boastfully Esoteric’

Posted on June 23, 2025 by JMN

Walker Mimms’s treatment of Hilma af Klint is elegant, lyrical, explicit. Ebullient, rigorous and boastfully esoteric, these “Nature Studies,” as she called them, reveal the didactic side of a pioneer in nonliteral art. This is an economical show of some … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Campaign in Poetry, Govern in Fiction

Posted on June 20, 2025 by JMN

“Eggs have come down 400%. Everybody has eggs now.”— Trump, apparently unaware prices can only drop 100% Say What? Archive No no, it’s true. Eggs aren’t only FREE now, grocery stores are PAYING customers to walk out with plenty of … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Before Bidding Eau de Revoir to the May Issue

Posted on June 16, 2025 by JMN

Here’s something called a triolet from Poetry, May 2025. The form is new to me and strikes a chord: concision, repetition, the discipline imposed. Triolet with a Line by Sylvia Plathby Brittany Perham We take the N out to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Quotations | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

‘His Technique Can Be Potently Slapdash’

Posted on May 31, 2025 by JMN

If the images in the survey feel more like news than comment, that’s partly because we can sense the press photos Shahn used as his sources. Though his paintings themselves aren’t close to photorealistic — his technique can be potently … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Purloining With Pizzazz: Wayne Thiebaud

Posted on May 18, 2025 by JMN

This copying work helped Thiebaud figure out his own solutions to artistic problems. I blush to own it, but I was never keen on pointillism. For all that it purported to be scintillating, it has a diffuseness that feels static. … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Reading ‘Reading Ulysses in Montana’ in Texas

Posted on May 15, 2025 by JMN

Delving Yardbarker is the nom de guerre of the creator of “Reading Ulysses in Montana.” As with Luvgood Carp, it gives me pleasure each time I say “Delving Yardbarker.” Sonorous, compressed, quirky, inventive, mischievous, literate, subversive, diverting, intriguing, outrageous, prolific, … Continue reading →

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