Tag Archives: painting

Peanut Gallery

Posted on April 26, 2023 by JMN

This gallery contains 1 photo.

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

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‘I Am on the Side of Tears’

Posted on March 31, 2023 by JMN

“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 →

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‘La Ronde Enfantine’

Posted on March 29, 2023 by JMN

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 →

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

Posted on March 21, 2023 by JMN

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 →

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

Posted on March 18, 2023 by JMN

… 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 →

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Diametric ‘Scape States

Posted on February 16, 2023 by JMN

“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 →

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Five Quotes About …

Posted on February 5, 2023 by JMN

“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 …

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Don’t Get Me Started

Posted on February 2, 2023 by JMN

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 →

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‘When Did He Do Well? Ne’er!’

Posted on January 31, 2023 by JMN

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 →

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Joe Brainard: The Glory of Cheapo Things

Posted on January 28, 2023 by JMN

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 →

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