New Work and Immortality

Centerfold 1, mixed media with encaustic, oil paint and cold wax, 30"x30"x1.5", 2011

Centerfold 2, mixed media with encaustic, oil paint and cold wax, 30"x30"x1.5", 2011

Here are some other new pieces that I have been working on. The center rectangles are patinated copper and my usual horizontal elements have been overpainted with oil and cold wax medium. (Yes the encaustic was fused before the oil paint mixture was added.)

These pieces are related to the Building Blocks series (see my website) but take it a couple of steps beyond.

Notes on Immortality
Today, because of the enforced couch time brought on by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, I actually got to read the Sunday NY Times. I haven't done that for quite a while. One of the articles, by Stephen Cave, contained excerpts from his forthcoming book, Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization. His premise is that the quest for immortality is "the motor of civilization" and that without our constant striving to be immortal, civilization would cease to function. This, he claims, has been proven by scientific research.

William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

The original research study that he cites records the difference in subsequent actions by two groups: one group reminded of their mortality before the subsequent test (Hey, dumbo, you're gonna die) and the other given the same test but without the warning. (They didn't really say the "Hey, dumbo" part.) The two groups were composed of "court judges" (to distinguish them from Judge Judies?) from Tucson. So the test was that they had to rule on a hypothetical case of prostitution, and the result was that the group who had been reminded set a higher bond on the prostitutes than those who hadn't.

The results of this study, and the subsequent "more than 400" other experiments aimed to test the "worldview" of participants, claim to support the "Terror Management Theory" which holds that we (humans) attempt to manage our fear of death by adhering to "cultural, philosophical and religious systems" that offer immortality [if followed] - my brackets.

My Take On This Thesis
Personally, I think this all sounds totally dubious. Now, it may be true that I do not subscribe to any system which purports to offer me immortality, but if I had just been reminded that I was going to die, why would I care about some poor working girl trying to make a living? Haven't I got bigger things to think about? Although I try not to think about dying because it kinda adds a bad taste to the moment, if cruelly reminded that it's bound to happen one day, I think about those near and dear to me, my giant collection of stuff that will have to find a home, and how glad I am that my body will not go to the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home (Six Feet Under for those who don't recognize the name). Wouldn't that make you more lenient instead of more strict - or am I just out of step with the test subjects? (I would like to have your comments on this.)

Death as the Engine of Life
Continuing with the article, the author claims that if there were no death, civilization would grind to a halt because our drive to seek immortality propels all our actions. Therefore, with the achievement of immortality, "We would have no need for progress or art, faith or fame." We would all wander around aimlessly for eternity, purposeless and timeless.

My assessment: first, I think he's been reading too much Anne Rice. This sounds an awful lot like that vampire series. Secondly, I think that many of us are more concerned with improving our life here and now on this planet and in this time than we are with making ourselves ready for some illusionistic future life with halos, clouds and harps. Do most people really believe that if they follow all the rules and don't step on the cracks, they will be guaranteed entry into the promised land? And is that why they make the choices and lead the lives they do? Does anyone really want immortality? Is that why we make art - to become immortal?

A Week From Hell

It's been a long, hard week here between the extreme heat and humidity and exhausting computer problems. Ultimately the heat broke a little with a good soaking rain on Saturday morning and the computer(s) are fixed and improved beyond where they initially began after nearly 12 hours of work on them by a friend who is an IT wizard. I now have a brand-new operating system on my main computer and sparkling files that have been scrubbed of all the malicious viruses, worms, trojans, and evil-doers that were lurking in them. I won't detail what actually happened because I don't want to publicize the cretin who devised the knockout punch, but suffice it to say that it was a serious blow. Anyone who would inflict such a terrorist attack for no reason other than getting some kind of smug satisfaction at wreaking havoc on the world at large deserves to fry in computer hell.

Archangel. Michael slaying the devil. (Guido Reni's archangel Michael (in the Capuchin church of Santa Maria della Concezione, Rome, 1636) tramples Satan. A mosaic of the same painting decorates St. Michael's Altar within St. Peter's Basilica.)


No, I haven't gone and gotten religion over it all, but I am extremely grateful (in general) that there are kind and intelligent people around who understand the inscrutable world of computers and that one of these great souls came to our assistance. I'm sure that India is a wonderful country, but I would much rather have a knowledgeable guy from the next town be here in person. So I'm glad to put this bad experience behind me and focus on the improvements this has brought to my dear computer.

New York, New York
Looking ahead to this coming weekend, I am making the trek to Manhattan via dear friend Binnie's in Connecticut. The Binster and I hope to rendevous with other friends in NY and see some art in the flesh. One show I would really like to see is the new Matisse show at MoMA, “Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917.”

Henri Matisse, Bathers By a River, 1909-1917

The Times today had an article about the research done on Bathers By a River, a painting which they say Matisse considered one of his five greatest works. The Times has an interactive feature about the painting showing the stages of its development over eight years. Here is the link to the slide/video/audio description of the process. On that site you will also find the link to MoMA's website which has a lot more about that painting and the show in general. Unfortunately, this show does not open until next Sunday, July 18th. Perhaps I'll get back to New York before it closes in October.

The Arting Trip List

Lee Bontecou, untitled sculpture, 1959.

1. Lee Bontecou
But in looking at the MoMA site, I see that they have now have a show on of work by Lee Bontecou, one of my very favorite artists. If my mind wasn't such a sieve, I might have remembered reading about it before, but I had completely forgotten it. This would be great to see because I only know her work from a couple of real pieces and mostly from reading about it. This is not a huge show, but I'm making it a must on the arting list.

2. The Modern Myth: Drawing Mythologies in Modern Times

From the MoMa website: This exhibition addresses the artistic traces of these motifs in modern art, as well as the practice of modern myth-making, through a nonlinear, thematic representation of works, following a rough chronology from 1797 to 2008. Among the artists represented are Matthew Barney, Joseph Beuys, Paul Cézanne, Enrique Chagoya, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Willem de Kooning, Juan Downey, Max Ernst, Adolph Gottlieb, Arshile Gorky, Wifredo Lam, Matta, Ana Mendieta, Wangechi Mutu, Pablo Picasso, Richard Prince, Jackson Pollock, Odilon Redon, Mark Rothko, Jim Shaw, and Andy Warhol. I'd say worth a look.

Mark Rothko, Archaic Idol. 1945. Ink and gouache on paper, 21 7/8 x 30"

3. Several other shows at MoMA
Such as Mind and Matter: Alternative Abstractions, 1940s to Now, Contemporary Art from the Collection, and Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography.

4. Chelsea Galleries

Including: Jack Shainman Gallery - Leslie Wayne "One Big Love" with Jonathan Seliger "Spoils", Cheim & Read, "Le Tableau," French abstraction, and many others that I will have to look up or we can just walk by and look in the window. 

Leslie Wayne "One Big Love"

Installation shot from "Le Tableau"

The last time that I visited Binnie for an arting trip, it was February and, wouldn't you know it, that Saturday was the day that there were 17" of snow in Central Park. I just hope that this time the temperature is not over 100 degrees as it was last week. I've been hot enough for a while.

P.S. Any recommendations? If you have any suggestions on shows to see this weekend, July 16 and 17, feel free to make your recommendations in comments.