variation on a theme
video based tranfer to Kodachrome to digital software
12 February 2009
ART ABOUT ART
From the New York exhibition called "ART ABOUT ART" we see 'Picasso' through the vision of pop artists
Roy Lichtenstein and Claus Oldenburg
Art is Precient
Viewed from this over the right shoulder angle, Picasso's "Head of Woman", in my opinion, explains the human form clearly and completely as a woman in profile. His muse Jacqueline (with that Jackie O. head) seems to be suggested in this attitude of the head. Taken into the 21st Century and without any disrespect to our First Lady, Michelle Obama, the dialogue in art constantly adapts to our time in which we view it. With art education, especially public sculpture as a 'commonplace', we eventually "get it". So now, having a powerful woman from Chicago, with a strong head on her shoulders, now representing the dynamic that is our American culture in The White House, coincidentally ties us to this sculpture, and it's African inspiration that Picasso appreciated before many others "got it". We the people...have transformed the political playing field into a generation and mindset that LOOKS LIKE AMERICA to me.
Picasso, himself, said many times that EVERYTHING he has made is a self-portrait. Initial reaction to this public sculpture stirred ridicule, with words like 'monkey', 'cyclops' and worse...confirming my opinion that BABOON may be appropriate only because of his overlapping personal relationships with women throughout his long life. His love for the African Mask, through his early 20th Century work while working in Paris, lead to his breakthrough co-created style called Cubism (see Braque).
Rodin stole from Camille Claudel...Picasso from George Braque.
Art is always about art.
Kentucky Moon
Many years ago a child I knew whom everyone called Snakes looked up at the sky over the farmland behind his father's house and saw the moon.
He looked at his dad and said, "Look, a fingernail".
May you look at something so common in your world today and see it as a child sees.
Simple Gifts, as the Shakers believed.
Now it's the politicians turn. May we look into their self-serving agenda, disclose their own invested interests, and expect them to think as clearly as a child so this great experiment called America may recover from excess, corruption and the fear of change.
