Why should the front of a painting be privileged over its back? Virtually all art is shown one side only — the arbitrarily chosen “front” side. Meanwhile, the “back” is consigned to obscurity and neglect. Yet there’s nothing inherently superior about the blank surface chosen to have paints bestowed upon it. It neither earned nor […]
Painting privilege — against “side-ism” in art Read More »
I was long-form interviewed by Ryan Faulkner-Hogg of Atlas Geographica on this range of topics:: Introduction: 00:00 Aesthetics: 03:04 Do You Practice Art? 08:33 Modern “analytic” art, Modern “pessimist/expressionist” art, & Postmodern “deconstructive” art 10:24 Duchamp’s urinal 32:25 Objectivism v. Subjectivism: 39:30 BLM (benevolent v. Trojan Horse versions) & Marxism: 52:57 Hicks’s Formative Years: 1:00:00
Ryan Faulkner-Hogg (Sweden) podcast on Nietzsche, Art, BLM, and more Read More »
What a good song — and new to me: Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me”: You don’t own me I’m not just one of your many toys You don’t own me Don’t say I can’t go with other boys And don’t tell me what to do Don’t tell me what to say And please, when
Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” (1964) Read More »
What made Rudolf Nureyev an outstanding dancer? Some insights from biographer Julie Kavanagh’s Rudolf Nureyev: The Life. On his focus as a student and his eliminating non-essentials from his life: “I’ve always tended to reject everything in life which doesn’t enrich or directly concern my single dominating passion.” A fellow student noted: “When Rudolf arrived
Nureyev as thinking dancer (and movie recommendation) Read More »
In Melbourne, I met Peter Schipperheyn, creator of the magnificent Thus Spake Zarathustra. The monumental piece is at the McClelland Sculpture Park near Mornington. The tension running through Zarathustra’s bowed body as he reaches and affirms his decision is powerful. Schipperheyn decided on its name in part from reading Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo (“Why I am
Peter Schipperheyn’s *Zarathustra* sculpture Read More »
“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.” Source: Vincent Van Gogh, Letter to Theo van Gogh, 16 May 1882. More at my Quotations page.
Van Gogh on dangerous seas Read More »
While in Argentina I gave a lecture on how deeply philosophical 20th-century art was and did some interviews on the Enlightenment, philosophy, postmodernism, and socialism. The interviews are forthcoming. The video of the lecture at ESEADE University is below and at YouTube. Professor Ivan Carrino’s introduction is in Spanish and my talk is in English.
Why Art Became Ugly — Buenos Aires video Read More »
At YouTube or embedded below:
Dylan Thomas reads “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” Read More »