And Franklin, for someone who's observed that classic Japanese erotica is somewhat improbable anatomically, your Private Life would seem to fit that description (not that I have a problem with that).
All good comments, except about color straight from the tube. The analogy to the loudest sound from an instrument is wrong. The purist sound is not the loudest sound. Pure strong color is not "loud", it is color. COLOR. It has more and more various potency than whited or greyed off color. And, as Clem said, or would say, it's a matter of taste. Clearly he liked pure color, but he also said "don't be afraid of your painting looking pretty."
Another aspect of this: saturated colors are inimical to Cubist figuration. If like me you're going to give up modeling form, you basically get one saturated color per picture, or you have to get rid of most of the value contrast. Throwing a hard line around forms helps hold the composition together, but even with that, too many saturated areas don't look good. I don't experience it as a concession because I'm really interested in neutrals.
Darby, when I interviewed him, noted that a lot of the possibilities of color in abstraction had been left on the table because most of the giants, excepting Noland, had used color more to differentiate components of composition than to create color effects.
The Boston MFA should be very thankful that Hyman Bloom was a Jew instead of African American, which makes his long neglect far easier to handle now, since pretty much anything will do.
The inability or refusal to deal with the concept of quality is a form of denial which happens to be convenient as well as comforting (although it's false comfort). It's analogous to rejecting the fact that the quality of one's eye (which is critical for appreciating and interacting with visual art) varies among people to a considerable degree. It doesn't matter whether we like that or not; it's still the way it is. It doesn't even matter how intelligent someone may be--if there's no eye, there's no eye, and that's it.
As for being pro-decoration, the real issue is how well it's done, and if it's done well enough, it can be as decorative as it wants. Such work can reach a level of formal excellence so high that trying to dismiss it as "decorative" is simply missing the point (and the work).
Art historically, there's an anti-decorative streak in modernism. I'm for it categorically, more or less in contradiction. Obviously everything depends on how, not what.
You might have written a little essay on quality, as opposed to content or message or intent, but I realize that may be too risky now. You could be taken for mentally disturbed, if not fascist.
Yes, but I meant something more in-your-face, as in "If the quality of a work of visual art isn't high enough, the work is a failure as art, no matter what it is about or what it supposedly means or what it is intended to convey. Visual quality, in other words, trumps concept."
Some great new works you have here Franklin. I really enjoyed the story-like nature of this essay as well.
What a great manifesto, Franklin. I love the work and I’m happy to see this architecture of ideas, compatriots and history to support it.
Love the new work and statement essay!
And Franklin, for someone who's observed that classic Japanese erotica is somewhat improbable anatomically, your Private Life would seem to fit that description (not that I have a problem with that).
Rules are unavoidable & comforting but they may strangle exploration when stated this way.
Not to Sara, because she knows already, but to everyone else: Your mileage may vary.
All good comments, except about color straight from the tube. The analogy to the loudest sound from an instrument is wrong. The purist sound is not the loudest sound. Pure strong color is not "loud", it is color. COLOR. It has more and more various potency than whited or greyed off color. And, as Clem said, or would say, it's a matter of taste. Clearly he liked pure color, but he also said "don't be afraid of your painting looking pretty."
It's my artist statement and I'm sticking to it.
Another aspect of this: saturated colors are inimical to Cubist figuration. If like me you're going to give up modeling form, you basically get one saturated color per picture, or you have to get rid of most of the value contrast. Throwing a hard line around forms helps hold the composition together, but even with that, too many saturated areas don't look good. I don't experience it as a concession because I'm really interested in neutrals.
Darby, when I interviewed him, noted that a lot of the possibilities of color in abstraction had been left on the table because most of the giants, excepting Noland, had used color more to differentiate components of composition than to create color effects.
https://artcritical.com/2015/04/08/franklin-einspruch-in-conversation-with-walter-darby-bannard/
Cool works, Thank you. Especially love the first one on top. BR Hans
The Boston MFA should be very thankful that Hyman Bloom was a Jew instead of African American, which makes his long neglect far easier to handle now, since pretty much anything will do.
The inability or refusal to deal with the concept of quality is a form of denial which happens to be convenient as well as comforting (although it's false comfort). It's analogous to rejecting the fact that the quality of one's eye (which is critical for appreciating and interacting with visual art) varies among people to a considerable degree. It doesn't matter whether we like that or not; it's still the way it is. It doesn't even matter how intelligent someone may be--if there's no eye, there's no eye, and that's it.
As for being pro-decoration, the real issue is how well it's done, and if it's done well enough, it can be as decorative as it wants. Such work can reach a level of formal excellence so high that trying to dismiss it as "decorative" is simply missing the point (and the work).
Art historically, there's an anti-decorative streak in modernism. I'm for it categorically, more or less in contradiction. Obviously everything depends on how, not what.
Tiepolo could be considered decorative. At that level, that's a non-issue.
You might have written a little essay on quality, as opposed to content or message or intent, but I realize that may be too risky now. You could be taken for mentally disturbed, if not fascist.
This statement literally begins and ends with quality.
Yes, but I meant something more in-your-face, as in "If the quality of a work of visual art isn't high enough, the work is a failure as art, no matter what it is about or what it supposedly means or what it is intended to convey. Visual quality, in other words, trumps concept."