Lyonel Feininger, German-American Abstract Expressionist (1871-1956)
"Each individual work serves as an expression of our most personal state of mind at that particular moment and of the inescapable, imperative need for release by means of an appropriate act of creation: in the rhythm, form, colour and mood of a picture." -- Lyonel Feininger
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Recent exchanges with friends of good will have revealed a bit of alarm among them about "woke."
They are troubled by the glee GOPers show while beating their opponents about the head and shoulders with the term.
As one who is more studied in the transitory nature of language -- and familiar with the mocking of schoolyard bullies, which the Trumpers are for the most part -- I won't yield the right-of-way to folks wanting to commandeer "woke" and its derivations.
I like the term, even though it's not that rich or elegant. It "struts," while "aware" saunters. And I understand, too, that like other matters of fashion, it will soon be replaced by something else.
I also detect a readiness on the part of some friends to concede that GOPers are right to claim many actions or opinions of the woke "gazpacho" are not really matters of social justice. This is most certainly true, and not a hill worth defending.
But I also realize that just because Republicans charge that something is "woke" or wrong-headed does not make it either -- despite GOPers mastery of wrong-headedness.
I do urge my friends against too quickly throwing in the towel, especially if they are of a hue and gender that can more easily navigate treacherous anti-woke waters by simply remaining silent.
George McNeil, American Expressionist (1908-1995)
"(W)ithout any conceptual awareness of what I was doing, I learned the life premise of modern art, that energies seen in nature could be transformed into their pictorial equivalent, that paintings could assume a life of their own."
Ibram Lassaw, Russian-American abstract sculptor (1913-2003)
"The sculpture itself is REALITY, not an interpretation of reality."
Gerard Sekoto, South African, (1913-1993)
“Art is a human virtue and I have given my whole self to it—for it promotes understanding amongst races rather than destroy it."
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Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus, Newport Jazz Festival 1971
Giorgio Morandi, Italian still life painter (1890-1964)
"One can travel this world and see nothing. To achieve understanding it is necessary not to see many things, but to look hard at what you do see."
Ernest Crichlow, American social realist painter (1914-2005)
One of my most stubborn triggers is the frustration I feel when social exchanges devolve into virtuous chest-beating, especially among the churched.
A familiar passage from the Book of Isaiah begins "Come now, and let us reason together" (1:18, King James Version) and seems to be enjoining the tribes of Judah to cut the crap and get down to the business of fixing their problems. Being level-headed will make things right (obliterate all manner of sinfulness).
Other common translations render "reason together" as "talk over" (Complete Jewish Bible), "argue it out" (New Revised Standard), and "settle the matter" (Good News). In every case I found, the goal appears to be resolution and not pointless prattle or continued dispute.
Even so, I often get the feeling when I'm observing or participating in an exchange about pressing matters with church folk that they are more interested in undermining than understanding.
I suppose that follows if one's models for public discourse are men and women whose purpose is to find support for why they are right in what they believe or do. Hermeneutics is not about seeking truth but evidence of what one is already convinced of.
This might also explain why dogmatic church people and dogmatic politicians get along so well and are best avoided.
Rico LeBrun, Italian-American artist and teacher (1900-1964)
“I draw and paint with one desire to bring about the forms of a human image uniquely mine. If I have a morality guiding me it is this: that the forms used must have their own kind of splendor, their own impassioned eloquence. Without this the subject is a ruse, not a theme. The human image as I see it cannot be fabricated by conceits, but may condescend, now and then, to be measured by love. Its terrain is immense.”
Lee Gatch, American abstract painter (1902-1968)
Gatch chose as his subjects parades and cancan dancers, landscapes, skyscapes, rivers, the moon reflected in the water and the paschal lamb. He painted, wrote his patron (Duncan Phillips), "with the clarity of a true mystic's inner eye."
~ The Washington Post
This is an astute comment from the director of The Woman King, Gina Prince-Bythewood, that raises questions about what Black women gain or lose by playing the social capital game in Hollywood -- if they are even able to.
“People like to say, ‘Well, Viola (Davis) and Danielle (Deadwyler) had studios behind them.’ But we just very clearly saw that social capital is more valuable than that,” Prince-Bythewood told The Hollywood Reporter. “That type of power is exercised in more casual ways in social circles, where folks are your friends or your acquaintances. There may be diversity on your sets but not in your lives. And Black women in this industry, we don’t have that power."
Would doing what was needed to bolster social capital -- which might require forming alliances with players who are not known to or trusted by Black folks -- alienate Black women from their base of support? Would signing onto projects that hold little obvious appeal to Black audiences for the sake of building social capital among Hollywood decision-makers actually diminish these women, call into question their commitment or result in them being labeled sell-outs?
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As I excavate underground newspapers from the '70s, I find many gems. This classified ad in the Berkeley Barb really got me thinking.
If he's still living and if he was really in his early 30s when he wrote this pitch, "Al Varez" would be in his 80s now.
Even if he has passed on, I wonder whatever happened to him.
Did he settle down, despite saying he wasn't looking for ties or vows?
Did he find a compatible sweetie who showed him her world?
Did they go to dinner in Chinatown, see a concert at the Fillmore, walk along the Wharf, ride the streetcar to North Beach, listen to poetry at City Lights?
Did they love each other?
Nearly three years ago, the New York Times and the Associated Press told readers why they were capitalizing "Black" when it was used as a racial and cultural designator.
I've had a few conversations with folks who objected to the change, most arguing that it appeared to be a step away from equality and toward more divisiveness. "Shouldn't 'white' be capitalized, too?", they asked.
Though I don't necessarily adhere to all of the logic articulated by The Times and the AP, I do follow the practice because, well, why not? I may cavil with their thinking about common cultural heritage uniting all Blacks because many African Americans I know give little thought to the "African" part of that descriptor. And the use of terms like "white privilege" does suggest a cultural unifier that is active in that attitude.
In the end, capitalizing "Black" seems a small enough gesture of conciliation for centuries of denunciation in the press, a member of which I was for years. I also retain an affinity for the press and think this move was wise and welcome.
It did occur to me that some folks might view the capitalization of "Black" through the same polarizing lens they saw Martin and Malcolm, that is, Martin was for integration and blending; Malcolm was for nationalism and separation. Capitalization was counter to the efforts by good people to reject differences and find common ground.
Of course, over time the ideological lines between Martin and Malcom rose and converged. Martin more strident, Malcolm less so.
Weekends when I was a kid often included spinning this 1971 album from composer Burt Bacharach, who at the time was married to actress Angie Dickinson (Police Woman). It was full of immaculately produced adult contempo -- two featured in the record's cover lines -- and wonderful orchestral works.
This particular song's sweet suburban swing captured my imagination and sent me to the dictionary to find out what a "grip" was. (Those Hal David lyrics!) I love the way it builds from the piano under Bacharach's "passable" crooning to strings and horns and that subtle tap on the snare at the end. He was the maestro.
I may have been the only guy in my college dorm who had this record in his collection.
RIP, Mr. Bacharach.
Herzl Emanuel, American Cubist sculptor (1912-2002)
About his experience working with other artists for the WPA in the '30s, "we felt we were working directly for society."
Alejandro G. Iñárritu's pitch-black, politically-bombastic Digger has so much structural and narrative depth that it will challenge ev...
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