• Tag Archives contemporary art

  • Marx and Global Art

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Beltane                                              Waning Flower Moon

    I checked and rechecked my Latin today and still had a couple mistakes; but, mostly it was much improved over last week’s work.  Greg and I also made our way through 4 more verses of the Metamorphoses; if I count right that leaves only 14, 991 or so to go.  That was the morning.

    When I finished, Kate put a blue sack in my hand and I headed off to the MIA.  The sack had a grilled cheese sandwich, a banana, mochi, pickles and a diet rootbeer.  I polished that off on the way while listening to a very interesting lecture on Marx’ theory of alienation.  When I’ve had a chance to absorb it a bit more, I’ll write about it here.

    At the museum I attended a lecture on contemporary art with an emphasis on its global expression.  The woman, Kristine Stiles, has impressive academic credentials and has compiled a key text for the study of contemporary art:  Theory and Documents of Contemporary Art.  She tried to stuff a consideration of Until Now and ArtRemix into an already existing lecture on her new book, World Trends in Global Art Since 1945.  It was too much.  She spoke fast, trying to finish, leaving little room for the audience to write or absorb.  Even so, there was a lot of interest and it will help frame tours of the Until Now exhibit when I have to begin.

    (much of the contemporary art in Vietnam uses socialist realism, sometimes done on billboards, but also, sometimes using oil paints on silk.)

    Spoke a moment with Wendy Depaolis who had surgery February 1st.  She looks great and credits her exercise and healthy eating.  Something’s working well for her.


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  • A lot of manure

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Spring                                     Full Flower Moon

    Moved two hundred pounds of composted manure by wheelbarrow from the garage back to the garden.  Gee, that got my heart rate up.  Moved the same yesterday, too.  Still amending beds.  I put down newspaper as mulch between my garlic rows, then layered composted manure on top of the newspaper.  Got caught up in repairing the damage done by the dogs.  I’ve done bits of it here and there over the last week or so, but this time I finished it up except for leveling.  That took the bulk of the time.  Also did some weeding and planted an errant onion that had ended up underneath the wisteria.

    Since I restarted my non-cardio workout last night, I slept well.  The work this morning was labor intensive, moving the loaded wheelbarrow, shoveling soil from one place to another, so I should sleep well again tonight, too.

    Last night I finished my ArtRemix research for tour #1.  I’m going to plan two tours, but am working on just one right now.  An educator from the Walker has given us a framework for thinking about art after WWII and when I plan the tour, finish reading the research and map out a path, I want to go through each piece from her five point perspective.


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  • Fitter

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Spring                                                       Waxing Flower Moon

    Kate called from the Northstar.  She arrives in Anoka at 5:52.  She took the light rail to Target Field and caught the train home from there.  Feels like living in Connecticut.  I’m glad to have her home.  This is a two-person house and needs both of us to make it run smoothly.

    Got the results of the fitness assessment I did last week.   The heart rate thresholds were not very dissimilar from the ones I had been using, though the max is about 10 beats higher and the mid-range of low is about 3 beats higher.  I got some good recommendations on how to modify my aerobic work and, as I hoped, the whole experience gave me a jump start back to the more comprehensive workout I had been doing before Christmas.  It involves flexibility, muscle warmup and stretching and resistance.  I kept faith with the cardio, but I’d let the other stuff slide.

    Spread more compost and worked it in.  I’m almost ready to plant.  In fact I may plant tomorrow morning before I amend the soil in the next bed, the one with the garlic and the lilies.  The garlic and onions and parsnips look healthy, as does the asparagus and the strawberries.  The bed for the leeks and the sugar snap peas and the bok choy needs some weeding and some soil amending, too.  In the next day or two I should have all the transplants and seeds in that go in now.  Just got word that the potatoes are on their way, so I have to get some more composted manure for the potato/bush bean bed.

    Last night I did research on four of the ArtRemix objects and I’ll finish all 8 of them before Friday.  The tour itself is not until May 7th.  Thrashing around the enlightenment, romanticism, modernism, Liberalism, post-modernism, Vico and Rousseau.  I want to arrive at a synthesis between enlightenment thought and the thought of its primary critics, those in the romantic family of thinkers:  Rousseau, Hegel, Kant, Vico, Burke, Hume.  Maybe somebody else has done it, but I want to do it my way.


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  • PostModern? Oh, Yeah? Prove it.

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Spring                                              Awakening Moon

    It’s been a long, long dry spell.  We’ve had no appreciable rain or snow since ()  and the garden has begun to show it.  The daffodils have come up a bit stunted, many still in the ground would have popped long ago if they had the moisture.  Our irrigation system doesn’t start up until late April.  I may give’em a call and see if we can move it up, but that means I have to fix the netaphim Rigel and Vega chewed up at the end of last growing season.  Gotta be done anyhow.

    Until Now has me cranked up into steep learning curve mode.  I’ve had the first two lectures, another one comes up next week as do walk-throughs for Art Remix and Until Now.  Before then I have to get my head into the new artists and the new art, read a good bit.  Look at the art.  Read some more.  Write a little. Peck a little.  This should be fun, a new universe of art and artists to explore, many of them working with enlightenment ideas, especially the idea of the modern and the so-called post-modern.

    That’s another rabbit hole I’m going to drop into again.  Post-modernism.  I started getting into when I did my D. Min. thesis back in 1990.  Since then, I’ve read a good deal about post-modernism.  The content of the term still eludes me.  Perversely, it has made me very interested in modernism.  That happened because I decided I needed to understand modernism to understand what folks claim about post-modernism.  Seems logical, but I’ve begun to suspect that post-modernism is camouflage for other ideas, especially an assault on the nature of truth claims.  Bet you can’t wait to find out what I learn.

    Into the MIA today for two tours, both highlights.  I did a highlights collection of things I already know well because this was a busy week for me.  Besides, I’m putting my energy now into the Until Now/Art Remix.


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  • An Andover Olypmics?

    Posted on by Charles Comment

    Imbolc                                      Waxing Wild Moon

    The winter olympics could have been held in Andover this year.  If we had any mountains.  We’ve had snow and cold, the key ingredients.  Also, Lindsey Vonn and her husband could have stayed in Burnsville instead of Olympic Village, maybe gotten a few runs in at her home hill, Buck Hill.

    Well, it’s the olympic world’s loss.

    (Yayoi Kusama
    Untitled, 1967
    Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York)

    Kate made my/our favorite cookies today.  She also made chicken schnitzel and a warm potato salad with sweet onions last night.  Boy was that good.  All that and she cooks, too.

    Chapter 6 of Wheelock is under my belt and Kate’s working on it right now.  We’re skipping this week so she can catch up.

    I don’t have a tour this Friday, but I do have a Legcom meeting on Wednesday and the docent discussion group tomorrow, focusing on how to discuss contemporary art.  This conversation will be led by an educator from the Walker, a connection made by Allison.  Should be a big help for the contemporary art exhibition:  Up Until Now, coming later this spring.


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