Mr. Waters with, from top, “Silver Clock” (2012), by Doug Padgett; “Untitled (Hammer)” by Lee Lozano (1962); and “Pier Paolo Pasolini and Mother” by Vittorio La Verde. Credit Eric Chakeen for The New York Times.
John Waters answers an interviewer’s question about the art he collects.
“Besides liking the work, what guiding principles do you follow in collecting?”
It has to sometimes, at first, make me angry. It has to delight me and surprise me and kind of like, put me off a little bit at first, and then I embrace it. The kind of art I like is the one that makes people angry, that hate contemporary art — the ones that easily fall for the bait of it. I always go to that first… So to me, each one of these pieces relaxes me and makes me tense at the same time — which is what art should do. All art that works infuriates people at first.
(Melena Ryzik, “John Waters, the Man Who Brought Us Divine and Loves Brown Art,” NYTimes, 5-23-19)
Petulant style note: In reading the article’s title I had to pause for a moment to recall that “Divine” was an actor in Waters’s film “Pink Flamingos.” A set-off such as quote marks — “Divine” — or italics — Divine — would add clarity. Just saying, as they say.
(c) 2019 JMN
“Rived”!
Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivering his victory speech in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday. Credit Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images.
(Editorial Board, “An Electoral Brush Fire in Australia,” NYTimes, 5-20-19)
Past participles in this opinion piece flutter the heart of a nerdy grammaticist.
I rarely read or use the verb “(to) rive,” which I think of as “(to) split.” A cautious Google dip confirms that meaning. The usage example also confirms my predisposition toward “riven” as the past participle: “the party was riven by disagreements over Europe.” (Google)
Things change. I’m happy to live with “rived.” I’m sure it has passed muster with the style czar or czarina at the NYTimes. One wonders if “given” will ever give way to “gived.” Or has it already, and I missed the memo? I think we Yanks are winked at by the Brits for hanging on to “gotten” where they’ve moved on to “got.” Archaisms are stubborn in the colonies.
But there’s more in the way of participles to enjoy here:
There it is: “rent,” past participle of “(to) rend” meaning “(to) tear.” Indeed, Google gives “rent” as a synonym of “riven” (or “rived”). Splitting and tearing seems to be on the minds of the Times editors today.
Following “rived,” by the way, we would expect “rended” and “teared” instead of “rent” and “torn.” Consistency, however, is not the hobgoblin of language, as it is of small minds.
To end, there’s a folksy Aussie slogan in this column that’s pure fun:
I don’t know exactly what the slogan means — slogans rarely mean anything anyway — but to an American polluted by a lifetime of advertising it’s impossible not to think of an ad campaign in which cute cartoon bears extol the delights of using a certain brand of toilet paper for personal hygiene:
Everyone indeed. We can safely say that no electorate is rived or rent over this particular “going.”
(c) 2019 JMN