Art and the Homeless

It is surprising that more has not been said about Picasso's "Guernica" as a metaphor for news - specifically, newspaper news - and how it reflects the perception of world events when seen at a distance. The background of the 1937 bombing of Guernica, which inspired the painting, includes the first news report of the incident sent by “Paris-Soir” journalist Louis Delaprée, who vividly described the atrocity. This connection between media coverage and Picasso’s powerful depiction of war and suffering is further supported by historian Martin Minchom, who has convincingly argued for the importance of contemporary news reportage in shaping public understanding of art and propaganda. On April 26, 1937, the German "Condor Legion" carried out a devastating aerial attack on the Basque city of Guernica. It was more than an attack, it was the demonstration of a terrifying new method of warfare known as "blitzkrieg" through saturation bombing over a sustained per...

On the "Portraits like Apples" Cliché... The idea of Cézanne treating his sitters like apples was famously attributed to critic Charles Morice, who wrote in 1905 that “Cézanne takes no more interest in a human face than in an apple”. This statement is cited as a key source for the widely held perception that Cézanne viewed his human subjects with the same detached, object-like scrutiny as his still lifes. The statement that Cézanne had "no more interest in a face than in an apple," with both holding value only as arrangements of tones and forms, reflects a long-standing interpretation of his work. The idea underscores Cézanne’s focus on structure, color, and pictorial balance over subject or narrative. As later interpreted by critics and reviewers, this suggests that for Cézanne, the emotional or social significance of a sitter was secondary to the formal challenge of translating three-dimensional form into painted surface. This perspective has been both celebrated ...

... search critical commentary on Francis Bacon's painting three studies of Lucian Freud which was recently gifted to the Los Angeles contemporary museum of art by the estate of Elaine Wynne Bacon's Three Studies of Lucian Freud Francis Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" (1969) is widely regarded as a masterpiece and a pivotal work in 20th-century art, reflecting the complex relationship between the two artists, Bacon and Freud, who were both renowned British figurative painters and close friends, though also artistic rivals. The triptych, composed of three panels depicting Freud seated on a cane-bottomed wooden chair within a geometric cage, is characterized by its distorted, abstract style and vibrant, almost sculptural use of color, particularly the bright yellow and golden ochre tones that contrast with Bacon's typically darker palette. The work draws from a series of photographs taken by John Deakin of Freud sitting on a bed, which Bacon used as a re...

Giacometti / painting / frontality A fresh approach to Giacometti’s figurative style reveals that its apparent reductiveness—the insistence on frontality, the prevailing monochrome of the paintings, and the attenuation of the sculptured figures—represents the common ground between contending aims and mutually limiting conditions in his artistic makeup: his highly sophisticated sense of what constituted a viable modern art, developed by his experiences as a Cubist and Surrealist, and a deeply felt need to make a human-centered art based on direct observation. In a 1974 article, art critic Jonathan Silver argues that Giacometti’s choice of "frontality" was not a limitation but a deliberate strategy to assert pure observation, freezing the figure to eliminate narrative and psychological implications that could arise from other poses. The inherent spatial inertness of the frontal view, which lacks a viable convention in traditional illusionist art and risks flattening the image, ...

... Sartre asserts that an ego must be a structure outside consciousness so that it can become an object of awareness which is analogous to asserting that an ego is constituted of both subject and object as consciousness is consciousness of an object Sartre Ego Structure Jean-Paul Sartre argues that the ego is not an immanent, transcendental subject but rather a transcendent object constituted within consciousness, existing outside of pre-reflective experience and becoming an object of awareness through reflection. He contends that the ego is not directly present within unreflective consciousness, which is characterized by an impersonal, non-egoistic structure where the self seems to vanish as consciousness is absorbed in its intentional relation to the world. Instead, the ego emerges as the specific object of reflective consciousness, which is directed upon one’s own lived experiences. This reflective act posits and grasps the ego in the same moment, making it a transcendent pole of s...

... in his essay on commitment Theodor Adorno repeats Sartre's comment that the stature of works of art increase the less they remain attached to the empirical person who created them as Hegel said before him Adorno and Sartre on Art In his essay "On Commitment," Theodor Adorno references Sartre's view that the stature of literary works increases the less they remain attached to the empirical person who created them, a perspective Adorno notes Sartre himself acknowledges, aligning it with Hegelian ideas. ... in which context did Sartre remark that creative works increase the less they remain attached to the author  Jean-Paul Sartre argued that a literary work gains its existence and meaning only through the act of reading, becoming detached from the author's original context and intentions. For Sartre, the work of art is not a static object but an event that occurs in the reader’s consciousness, requiring their active engagement to achieve fulfillment. He emphasiz...

To answer the question, "How do your paintings of the homeless help the homeless?" -without facetiousness, is to reply "They don't." The paintings can't "help" anything. What should be done to help the homeless is to prevent homelessness. It may be a vain hope, yet it is my hope that by keeping the subject of homelessness front-and-center - through the exhibit of art about homelessness - they may contribute to building consensus on a reasonable response. At the risk of bias, the answer to homelessness (in my humble opinion) is prevention. When homelessness is eliminated, these paintings will remain as a reminder of what once was.  That's the short answer; my personal commitment to the problem of homelessness is more nuanced. I am confident of the fact that every homeless person suffered a trauma, a post-traumatic stress syndrome event, at some point in their life. With that hint I must leave the psychological motives behind homelessness and it...

... what is the context of the quote "nil admirari" attributed to Kierkegaard  Kierkegaard Nil Admirari Context The phrase "nil admirari," meaning "to be surprised by nothing" or "let nothing astonish you," is attributed to Søren Kierkegaard in the context of his philosophical exploration of irony and the human condition. It is presented as a standpoint of irony, where one maintains a detached, unimpressed perspective, refusing to be astonished by the world's events or conventions. This concept is linked to Kierkegaard's broader critique of intellectualism and institutionalized thought, where he argues that intellectuals, despite claiming to be ironic or critical, often become complicit in the very systems they claim to oppose, living in a state of "non-resistance" that amounts to tacit agreement with the prevailing consensus. The phrase is also connected to Kierkegaard's own life, marked by personal struggles and a sense of...

“The Book of Superstitions: Black Cats, Yellow Flowers, Broken Mirrors, Cracked Sidewalks, and More Cultural Behaviors and Myths Explained,” by Shelby El Otmani, published in 2023, is a 192-page hardcover volume published by Harper Collins Focus, which explores the cultural histories behind various global superstitions, including Friday the 13th, rabbit feet, knocking on wood, walking under a ladder, and the evil eye. It traced their origins across African, European, Greek, and British folklore traditions. The book is organized by region to illustrate how cultural identity has shaped these beliefs, and includes beautiful illustrations and an analysis of how superstitions vary internationally. Thought-provoking for the reader, is the implicit common sense of superstitions such as not walking under a ladder. It is not simply “bad luck.” It is said for safety reasons. What makes “The Book of Superstitions” thought-provoking is the common sense behind many seemingly irrational beliefs. For...