Tag Archives: style

Adverb Rebellion

Posted on May 23, 2021 by JMN

This passage from a fellow blogger (cap doff to) caught my eye: Reality? Well it starts to mock back at your face, you get surrounded by the clouds of regret, cry on the ashes of your pretentious bliss and feel … Continue reading →

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Semicolon Rebellion

Posted on May 22, 2021 by JMN

Use a semicolon to separate two independent clauses — i.e., two sentences that work on their own — which are closely sequential: “I finished a painting today; it went better than I thought it would.” Or in order to separate … Continue reading →

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Fanfare for the Arch and Monarchic Empyrean

Posted on May 21, 2021 by JMN

For fanfaronnish, pharaonic, peerlessly peeraged personnages kitted, kilted, severely coiffed and balconic in presence, shod and booted in besotted opulence, blackamoorian brooched, got up in splendid headgear, lorded lads and ladied dames garbed in emblazoned berobement, none… For sherlockian, sherwoodian, … Continue reading →

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The Rock Pile

Posted on May 14, 2021 by JMN

Dwight Garner’s review of a new biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings* evokes a foible-wracked genius: It’s a pleasure to meet this cursing, hard-drinking, brilliant, self-destructive, car-wrecking, fun-loving, chain-smoking, alligator-hunting, moonshine-making, food-obsessed woman again on the page. The passage that hits … Continue reading →

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‘A Beautiful, Pathetic Object’

Posted on May 10, 2021 by JMN

It’s a pleasure to meet William T. Wiley, who moved and shook in a West Coast “funk art” scene while steering clear of wealth and fame. It’s no surprise that agreement on what exactly defined the funk art movement was … Continue reading →

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Resistance Is Futile…

Posted on May 9, 2021 by JMN

… when it comes to quoting Matthew McConaughey. “I’ve found that a good plan is to first recognize the problem, then stabilize the situation, organize the response, then respond.” “Knowin’ the truth, seein’ the truth and tellin’ the truth are … Continue reading →

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Messing With Space

Posted on May 6, 2021 by JMN

Like a pig rooting for truffles I harvest luscious phrases from Roberta Smith’s art critiques. After “he jumped on the Color Field painting bandwagon,” Jules Olitski (1922 – 2007) created works that “mess with space and scale in a visceral, … Continue reading →

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‘Gloopy Glory’

Posted on May 5, 2021 by JMN

The paintings of 90-year-old Frank Auerbach, “last surviving member of a pathfinding generation of postwar British figurative painters,” are up my alley. Auerbach’s iterative pigment attacks are savage and astonishing, and Jason Farago is always good for a blue-streak of … Continue reading →

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‘Miner of Difficult Truths’

Posted on April 21, 2021 by JMN

I can study all day Alice Neel’s brushwork and modeling of flesh and features, how she gestures at her subjects’ surroundings with casual precision. Her “Carmen and Judy” has a frank, womanly exactness and searing intimacy that The New Yorker’s … Continue reading →

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‘Business in Great Waters’

Posted on April 17, 2021 by JMN

I jotted on the fly several snatches of phraseology that resonated with me today as I watched Prince Philip’s live-streamed funeral service on the BBC. May what power that is deal graciously with those who mourn, and those who go … Continue reading →

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