The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “You may have noticed that things in the art world are a little, well, off these days. “The artists we hear most about are those like vomit girl, also known as Millie Brown, who drinks colored milk and then makes herself throw up on the canvas. Or […]
Taking Modern Artists at Their Word [new The Good Life column] Read More »
Kant I really want To understand Kant And all of his vaunted system. But somehow my brain resists him. I’d like to take up the helm On a trip through his noumenal realm And soak up all the glories Of his cognitive categories. But somehow my mind cries: “No! It’s no place you want to
John Enright’s “Kant” Read More »
Add this to your “Why Art Education Is Important” file: “You can deduce everything about a woman from the way she holds her feet,” Edouard Manet once said to Stephen Mallarmé. “Seductive women always turn their feet out. Don’t expect to get anywhere with a woman who turns her feet in.”[1] Which makes this painting
Manet on a woman’s tellingly-placed feet Read More »
At the The Representational Art Conference in Ventura, California, I’ll be participating in a panel discussion on The Aesthetics of 21st Century Representational Art – (Odd Nerdrum’s Kitsch and Roger Scruton’s Beauty): Moderator: Peter Trippi, Editor, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine. Panelists: Julio Reyes, Stephen Hicks, Alan Lawson, Jan-Ove Tuv. Earlier in the conference, I’ll also
TRAC panel on Odd Nerdrum’s Kitsch and Roger Scruton’s Beauty Read More »
Here is a clear example of zero-sum thinking, this time in literature. Author Lynn Shepherd laments J. K. Rowling’s publishing another book, on the grounds that the successful writer crowds out the less successful. In Shepherd’s words: “It wasn’t just that the hype was drearily excessive, or that (by all accounts) the novel was no
Zero-sum economics? J. K. Rowling edition Read More »
On Tuesday, March 4, I’ll be giving a “Featured Paper” at the The Representational Art Conference in Ventura, California. My topic is “Why Philosophy Matters to Representational Art.” Keynote speakers include Juliette Aristides, Roger Scruton, and Odd Nerdrum, so it will be an intellectually varied and rich event.
Upcoming talk on philosophy and representational art Read More »
I have only two questions: 1. Would Shakespeare feel the need to shoot a portrait of Burroughs? 2. Would he find it amusing? Defacing others’ work is a recurring theme in modern and postmodern art: “Picasso took one of Matisse’s portraits of his daughter—and used it as a dartboard, encouraging his friends to do the
Shooting Shakespeare–novelist William Burroughs Read More »
Tony Martelli’s The Sleepwalker has generated a large number of protests about its patriarchal nature. Journalists at Slate and The Wall Street Journal have more coverage. Students at Wellesley College have complained about how the statue triggers in them fears of sexual assault, white privilege, male privilege, oppression, and other very bad things. Feminism should
Wellesley sculpture protests are not feminist Read More »