On May 3, 2009, at 7:34 AM, Saul Ostrow wrote:
> Chaim by the late-1950 was a commercial artist - endless mother and > child > sculptures - though they might have been out of guilt given his > estrangement > from his artist daughter Mimi Gross - Chaim by that time was more > interested > in beating out Jacques Lipschitz - the other Jewish sculptor - than > anything > else - his African art started as inspiration and then became a > room full of > trophies ( I worked for Forum Gallery in the 70s and had a lot of > contact > with him) - you should romanticize, surmise, and guess less - > projection > onto others is not an egoless activity - the desire to make > everyone like > ourselves is a defense mechanism - everyone who is different such > as myself - > you can mark as an enemy - demonize and make less then human - Saul continued; > Consequently >> my problem with anyone who claims they can access the universal, >> is that >> their sense of the universal is always sectarian - reductive. mando writes; I and every artist on this list accesses the universal to one extent or another. Sectarian to the point of identifying with nature. What is wrong with that? As far as reductiveness is concerned, that is our only alternative in art. The truth of the essence is impossible. Perhaps you might lead the way. mando > As for revolution - it takes place on all fronts - as I pointed out > to you it > is not driven by economics - this was Stalin's failing - it is > instead driven > by a belief in that all humans have the right to live a life worth > living- and > that in a global society like ours in which we can produce more > than what is > needed, the organization of production based on profit derived from > scarcity > is inhuman - but then again for jingoist patriots like yourself, > who is > more concerned with congratulating yourself on how little blood you > have on > your hands relative to others - while millions die of starvation > and poverty > world wide because of the system you support - economic equality is > not a > democratic ideal that a literal minded person like yourself could > really > appreciate - > > But as it did in Germany, and Italy in the 1930s capitalism will use > aesthetics to quell the sigh of the oppressed creature, make a > heartless > world appealing, and deny its soulless condition. It will make > aesthetics the > opium of the people. > > > ____________________________________________ > > Saul Ostrow | Visual Arts & Technologies Environment Chair, Sculpture > > Voice: 216-421-7927 | [email protected] | www.cia.edu<http:// > www.cia.edu/> > > The Cleveland Institute of Art | 11141 East Boulevard, Cleveland, > OH 44106
