Chris ,
your arguments with William,were never between abstraction vs. realism,
But with variations of personal interpretations/ variation of what looks
real, and only real, when done or as it is being done.
mando
mando
On Feb 18, 2009, at 8:01 AM, Chris Miller wrote:
Is this it -- the end of the world ?
Conger and Miller in a mutual admiration society ?
Not likely - although our many differences can no longer include
abstraction
vs. realism.
I've been looking more at abstract painting ever since a good
friend started
making pots and showing them to me every week. That got me looking
more at
glazed ceramics through the ages - and finally at the patterns
woven, printed,
or painted on fabrics.
My career as an art critic is not going far because I cannot
stand to look
at contemporary art.
But recently, I've been seeing more American abstract art as
beautiful. Not
much of it, mind you -- because a contemporary artist is supposed
to be
uncomfortable, confused, angry, annoying, or disgusted. But
sometimes --
they just seem to be glad to be alive -- and that's I feel about
Dekooning
(the wife, not the husband) and the earliest and latest works of
William
Conger. I just saw the retrospective again -- and again realized
how much I
enjoy his paintings like "Mondavi".(1970) or "Pioneer" (2003)
And, I have to admit that everything else he's done is better than
most of
the figure paintings by local, living artists. Making beaufiful
figurative
art is an incredible challenge - and I'm afraid that most
figurative artists
settle for the descriptive, cute, clever, and/or disturbing.
Happily, the young art editor at NewCity invites critiques of
anything that's
being presented as art -- whether it's been done by angry kids, stuffy
professors, art super-stars, or little old ladies who paint on
weekends -- so,
I get to pick the things I like, and ignore all the rest.
BTW -- my "Portrait of the Artist: WIlliam Conger" (on which I
worked about a
year) referenced our listserv as a place where he hangs -- so
hopefully some
curious readers will stop by for a visit (though, I suspect that
nobody reads
these reviews other than the artists or curators themselves)
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