A Painting is not an Image.

We are swamped by images. Images of paintings are not paintings. I would say it’s also true that: Paintings are not images. An image is an illustrated idea. A sign for something we wish to hold onto. In this way an image is like a verbal concept. A simple analogy or metaphor, like any formContinue

The Word Craft Is Derived from Strength

It’s taken me long enough; but I’ve finally discovered that the word craft derives from Old English and German words for strength. Forehead slap! Of course. Kraft paper means strong paper. Knew that! So at this point this belated revelation reverberates in my skull. Thinking about the distinction between strength and power…. There’s already beenContinue

“Faith, Hope and Impossibility” Philip Guston 1966

A cross-post from Fine Lines, To will a new form is unacceptable, because will builds distortions. Desire, too, is incomplete and arbitrary. These strategies, however intimate they become, must especially be removed to clear the way for something else — a situation somewhat unclear, but which in retrospect becomes a precise act…. Interpenetrated, charcoal on paper, 32″Continue

On Painting

notes to a fellow painter I’ve been thinking about your paintings and what you wrote about them. Part of the reason I’ve waited to respond has been wanting time for my thoughts to percolate. It’s so good that you’re painting. Carving the time and dealing with the logistics. That’s tremendous and shows the tenacity I alwaysContinue

On Berger’s “the Moment of Cubism”

I’ve mentioned John Berger’s essay, The Moment of Cubism a number of times. While I recommend you read the original I felt it was time I describe why I find it such a vital document. Berger differentiates “The Moment of Cubism” from the “Movement” of Cubism. He writes about a handful of artists during theContinue