Over ten years ago, some of us were complaining that the postmodern art world had become repetitive — and worse, boring — as it was merely recycling the same old tropes about nothingness and waste products. Two images making the social-media rounds this week: Nothing in Paris: Rectal explorations in São Paulo: So I repeat: […]
The State of the Art World, late 2015 edition Read More »
Excerpt: “Your personal vision is something to handle with great care, like holding a point of light in the cradle of your hand.” Read more at Newberry’s site.
Michael Newberry, On Being an Artist Read More »
[I gave a talk in July at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on “The Next Revolution in Art.” Here is the full, original English version. The following is Margaret Chik’s condensed translation into Cantonese.] 首先，回顧歷史有名的藝術城 Cases: A closer look at some great art cities 雅典 (Athens) 曆时半個世纪的希波戰爭 （499- 449BC），最终以希臘的勝利而告结束。在希波戰爭中，雅典是希臘各城邦的盟主，城市雖然遭到戰爭的破壞，但是戰爭勝利而缴獲的大量財富，又使希臘的經濟繁榮起来。作为城邦盟主的雅典，对外以霸主身份發展自己的势力，对内實行民主政治，給人民以更多的富足與自由。執政官梭倫推行改革，採取多項措施促進雅典手工業和商業的發展。繁榮的經濟生活帶來了昌盛的文化生活。雅典是古代希臘文化輝煌燦爛的基礎，从而使雅典在公元前5世纪成為當時全希臘的藝術和教育中心、歐洲最美麗繁榮的城市。 佛羅倫撒 (Florence) 自十四世紀開始，佛羅倫撒從封建制度解體邁向城市的步伐，出現了歐洲最早的資本主義萌芽，這構成文藝復興運動興起的經濟基礎。當時的佛羅倫撒是歐洲最大的金融中心，其紡織業和銀行業居歐洲之冠。佛羅倫撒政治、經濟、文化政策哺育了文藝復興的燦爛群星，成為歐洲文藝復興運動的發祥地。 荷蘭 (Holland) 十七世紀的荷蘭被稱為荷蘭黃金時代，當時荷蘭剛脫離天主教会的控制和西班牙的殖民统治，成为人類歷史上第一個商業資本主義國家。國際貿易的持續發達，金融資本的自由流通，使荷蘭一跃成为歐洲最富裕的國度。荷蘭東印度公司是世界上第一家發行股票的跨國公司，堪稱現代公司治理和組織制度的創立者。社會的開放、對不同的思想流派、宗教信仰呈包容態度，吸引了歐洲其它專制地區的逃亡者带着手藝、財富和智慧涌向荷蘭，這些因素都在使此時的荷蘭藝術的繁榮起到巨大推進作用。 巴黎 (Paris)
下一輪藝術革命 (The Next Revolution in Art) — Cantonese translation of lecture in Hong Kong Read More »
The international conference, Innovation, Substance, Vision — The Future of Art, was held at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan in 2003 and hosted by the Foundation for the Advancement of Art. The speakers at the one-day conference were: * Jan Koenderink, a vision scientist from the Netherlands and author of Color for the Sciences and
The Future of Art conference in New York — video Read More »
Por um longo tempo, os críticos de arte moderna e pós-moderna têm contado com a estratégia do “Isso não é repulsivo?” Refiro-me à estratégia de, dado que as obras de arte são feias, triviais, ou de mau gosto, apontar que “uma criança de cinco anos poderia tê-las feito”, e assim por diante. Em sua maioria,
Por que a arte se tornou feia? Read More »
[In July 2015 I gave a talk at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on “The Next Revolution in Art.” The text of my talk follows.] Why art matters to us Art is a perennial human desire. We need and hunger for stories, images, and sounds that are unique, beautiful, self-affirming, and/or profound. We love to
The Next Revolution in Art — my lecture in Hong Kong Read More »
In my Introduction to Philosophy course this week we are reading and discussing The Fountainhead, a great novel on the themes of independence and integrity. In Part One, Rand’s primary purpose is to contrast the characters Howard Roark and Peter Keating. Here is a table (click to enlarge) summarizing the main events in each young
The Fountainhead (Introduction to Philosophy this week) Read More »