Category Archives: Quotations

Things people said.

Art Critic Roberta Smith Retires. Damn!

Posted on April 17, 2024 by JMN

Over her 38-year career at The Times, Ms. Smith cultivated a reputation for intimate observations conveyed in accessible prose. I became a critic in the same way a lot of people become critics: by immersing themselves in a subject and … Continue reading →

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The Zen of Falling Short

Posted on April 9, 2024 by JMN

The thin, gray quality of the old man’s face suggest [sic] that even a Zen master’s identity is evanescent, while the dark intensity of his eyes captures the timeless persistence of his understanding. A series of feathery, beautiful strokes come … Continue reading →

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Bombay Beach, On California’s Dead Sea (The Salton)

Posted on March 31, 2024 by JMN

When I was there, I walked the streets with Denia Nealy, an artist who goes by Czar, and my friend Brenda Ann Kenneally, a photographer and writer, who would shout names, and people would instantly emerge. A stranger offered a … Continue reading →

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‘Beauty Kicks In’

Posted on March 27, 2024 by JMN

I would dislike him if I could build a case from the visible evidence equal in strength to my itch to dislike him. But beauty kicks in. (Peter Schjeldahl on sculptor Richard Serra) (c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights … 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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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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‘Artistic Project Born from Disastrous War and Political Disenchantment’

Posted on March 5, 2024 by JMN

“I have been drawing,” Beckmann wrote to his wife one evening, after a day caring for men who’d survived the trenches. “That protects one from death and danger.” Though he never served at the front, Beckmann had a nervous breakdown … Continue reading →

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Invasion of the Disembodied Tongues

Posted on March 2, 2024 by JMN

“People who don’t speak languages. We have languages coming into our country, nobody that speaks those languages. They’re truly foreign languages. Nobody speaks them.” (Trump) https://www.washingtonpost.com/doonesbury/ Make America laisser les bons temps rouler again. ¡Ándale, buey! (c) 2024 JMN — … 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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‘Poetry Doesn’t Need Music’

Posted on February 22, 2024 by JMN

Poetry doesn’t need music. All of its music is contained in print on the page.(PJ Harvey) People try to tell me I’m a poet and I say, No, I have music and rhythm to help me get my point across … Continue reading →

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