Tag Archives: painting

Peanut Gallery

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Suffer the little children to… have a future. (c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved

More Galleries | Tagged , | 10 Comments

‘I Am on the Side of Tears’

“All we can do now is pray.” Famous last words. Prayer is the recourse of the desperate when there’s no recourse. It’s the last croak from the isthmus of the fauces before humanity lies facedown in the mud. When you … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

‘La Ronde Enfantine’

I savor the deep dark greeniness and people-dwarfing scale of the forest in this painting by Courbet. The syrupy light on the tree trunks is eyeball lickable. (Julia Jacobs, “He Lost a Courbet Fleeing the Nazis. His Heirs Are Getting … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary | Tagged | 7 Comments

‘I Discovered That the Act of Writing Is Also an Act of Drawing’

Lebanese-American painter-poet-novelist Etel Adnan (1925-2021) was interviewed by Gabriel Coxhead for the June 2018 issue of Apollo. I’m drawn to her work for how it mingles Arabic language, painting and poetry. Quoting from the interview: Perhaps most interesting, in terms … Continue reading

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

‘They Can Feel Almost Like Exquisite Texts to Be Read’

… Each [painting] presents so much information that you have to move in close for further contemplation and deciphering, trying to figure out how the paintings were made and which of their weird little details are accidental, which deliberate. They … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Diametric ‘Scape States

“He’s showing us in the natural world our own inner landscape,” said [collector Bernard] Lumpkin, who owns four Gavin canvases. “When you’re inhabiting a painting by Cy, you’re inhabiting a world which is simultaneously strange and familiar; real and surreal; … Continue reading

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

Five Quotes About …

“What I teach you is nothing. What you learn by doing over and over is where the learning begins.” (Simon Michael) “Writing poetry is much easier … Five Quotes About …

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

Don’t Get Me Started

On Squirrels I don’t defend creationism butsometimes it’s hard to getmy head around the notion thatone bit of protoplasm puton a bird suit, another a people suit,and don’t get me startedon squirrels. Have you ever notedhow one can scamper up … Continue reading

Posted in Anthology | Tagged , | 2 Comments

‘When Did He Do Well? Ne’er!’

This gallery contains 1 photo.

I’ve filched my title from the standup comedy of the matchless Gary Gulman. If you don’t know him, you owe it to yourself to track down on YouTube, exempli gratia, his explanation of how the states got their abbreviations. (c) … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Joe Brainard: The Glory of Cheapo Things

The creamy sensuality of the toothbrush rack melts your heart. Talk about ennobling humble objects with tender attention. It’s an act of painterly love lavished on a trivial appurtenance. Both lyrical and somehow sad. “There is something I lack as … Continue reading

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