Hi Robin,

thanks for your comments on my new paintings...I just wnet through you r gallery and you have added some beautiful new paintings since I last looked...

Kara

Two tickets, eh?  I guess we know who is the real "bad" one.

I think it is a message that you should buy two tickets for you and your daughter to visit China. (Or maybe that other troublemaker Jane.)

Religion, Nudity and Politics are what my painting teacher said are the three NO-NO's for juried shows.  Of course I decided to test that one....Should blog the responses some time.  Let me know how the Tibet show turns out.  Seems like we all like to root for the oppressed.

G 

Thought of you when I read it...weren't you who linked me to these letters?

Greg 

The tyranny of reality



April 15, 2008



Dear Gregory,



Those of us who sometimes mentor and instruct students are

familiar with trying to get people to really look at things.

Recently, after a few days walking around in a subject-rich

environment, I was agog with new possibilities. Burdened with

reference, I returned to the studio and proceeded to paint the

worst thing I've done in some time. It was one of those

paintings that has you considering a career in accountancy.

During the fiasco I began to better understand a syndrome I've

had all my life. It's what I call "the tyranny of reality."



Let me explain. When we are overloaded with subject matter, we

have an automatic tendency to neglect title and imagination.

Subject matter is no match for spirit. Too much observation can

change the creative event from one of spirit to one of

rendering. Surprise, chance, illusion, personality, audacity,

confidence and desire are the most affected. Abandonment and

even desertion may have to be contemplated.



Sad to say, but glorious nature stomps on creativity. The

artist becomes not a master, but a slave. On the other hand,

reflecting in tranquility, uncluttered by overabundance and the

need to get reality right, one is free to pass to another

level. "Reality," said Joyce Cary, "is a narrow little house

which becomes a prison for those who can't get out."



In 1970, the distinguished critic and social theorist Roland

Barthes wrote, "Painting can feign reality without having seen

it." When I first read that statement a door opened. Time and

again I've seen the idea make timid artists brave. Those who

dare to "feign reality" are in the agreeable business of

surprising themselves. Believe me, it's anticipated surprise

that keeps us at our easels. I hardly know of an evolved artist

in any field who doesn't understand this. "The job of art,"

said Francoise Sagan, "is to take reality by surprise."



Bogging down in detail will spoil the fun every time. I can't

think how many times I've failed to break down that door. Clive

Bell, another critic lashing out in the age of hyperrealism,

noted, "Detail is the fatty degeneration of art." He has a

point. Fat is tyranny. Reduce.



Best regards,



Robert



PS: "The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance

of things, but their inward significance, and this, and not the

external manner and detail, is true reality." (Aristotle)

Robin, thanks for the comment on my blog. :)  I was feeling pretty crummy when you peeked in - it was very sweet of you to encourage me!  Thanks for being a ray of sunshine with a good dose of reality!

 ~Jeni

Do I know about funks?! I am the Funkmaster. I was in one for nearly a year last year! I couldn't bring myself to focus on anything at all because I was busy trying to figure out what my title was supposed to be. Finally I said "screw that" and now I just do whatever feels good at the moment. 

I'm heading out for a guys golf getaway on Friday and when I get back next week I need to finish getting my yard cleaned up. Spring clean up is brutal when you're property is canopied by three giant oak trees so I won't be painting for a week or so as well.

Happy travels!

Hey Robin,  your welcome,  glad it worked for ya.

Anne

YW.  And thanks for joining the group.  It really helps to have a fresh eye from someone else about things we may not have thought of,  or just need to be reminded of.   What I do to post a pic is copy and paste.  I left click and drag my cursor across the pic till it turns that funky color.  Then right click and click copy and go into the group and do Ctrl and V to release it into the thread,  making sure the cursor is in the box first.   I know you prolly know all this already but I figured I'd mention it just in case.

Seeing how you've cleared your comments,  made me realize that you can certainly tell the pack rats from the well organized :)   I think I need to do some comment cleaning. lol