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Art & Man Mechanized

April 1st, 2011

Well, first the move and all that entailed. Then over the last few months world events have drawn attention. Japan! What is this world coming to? In the midst of this I’m attempting to “produce” work for two personal exhibits this summer.

What to say? First and foremost, my heart goes out to the Japanese people. Words in this regard are totally inadequate. I’ve experienced some deeply moving moments in reflection. The following touches some of the highlights. Bear in mind these are verbal thoughts which miss the essence of the experience. They are, however, perhaps valuable on their own merit.

Everything to follow is based on a biased view towards human life quite outside the norm. Having said that, I need add that at my age I no longer feel any sense of judgment towards the society in which I live. Quite the contrary. I’ve written elsewhere about my opinion that our evolution is not done in a progressive linear manner. This has been well documented in the case of prehistoric cave paintings. But we do progress. It may be that over a given 100 year period we progress in humanistic manner 100 steps. Perhaps in the next few year we digress 99 steps. Well, that is still a net advance of 1 step. Has not our value of the human life progressed in this manner? Ever so slowly has the dignity and quality of the individual human life improved.

This model held true until the last 150 years. The photographic image has both directly and indirectly transformed our artistic/esthetic sensibilities. We have yet to begin understanding its significance. A, short, few decades later industrialization was in full swing. And given the choice between a horseless carriage and its alternative we started down the slippery road of mass consumption.

This abbreviated digression was necessary to preface what I wanted to say about my special experience. I felt a deep sense of identity with the Japanese people. This could not have been possible the day before yesterday. Many; if not most of us now can have the feeling of being in the same boat together.

My hope is that this catastrophic event may trigger steps in a different direction. Perhaps an understanding that a world devoid of artistic and esthetic sensibilities is a world that stepped into a deep precipice. If we do not come to our senses someday we will believe when looking back at the fruit of Western Civilization … “well, you can’t get back there from here.” Humanity will have become blind to the importance artistic sensibilities hold for society at large.

Here it is in a nutshell; If the big questions become muted, then the important question of, “how man should live”, becomes as important or unimportant as how ants should live.

Published in french as La mécanisation de l’homme et de l’art

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Comment and Answer : The Truth of the Painter

December 9th, 2010

Anne says :

The truth, where is it? The truth what is it ?
Large question indeed.
Is not the truth subjective ?
Physically, it depends upon the point of view.
For exemple, Is a photography a true representation of reality? It is rather the vision of it that the photographer has wanted to give by not putting into it the garbage which is just outside the shot. The notion of in the field of vision / outside the field is already an interpretation witting or unwitting of the “Truth”.
Psychologically, the truth is even more subjective ?
Two persons will live a given situation in two very different ways. And however this experience is one (in the meaning unique) and therefore it has a priori only one truth. This makes me think about factual truth. After all a fact is a fact, unquestionable, confirmed.
But though, in history, the historical thought based upon real facts is in constant evolution. In science, the verity of to day will not be the truth of to morrow.! The discovery of a new “scientifical truth” will shake the truth.
I think we need to ask ourselves the question of the truth that we accept: our own truth, the one of our family, of our kin, of our colleague, of our culture, of our time. And for art, with my poor knowledge in this area, I think that the essential is that the artist respects hi truth, his own truth in the instant he is creating ( so “be true towards yourself”).
I agree with Corot about the truth of the first impression.
We finally come back most of the time to our first impression about people, about the landscape, about the content of our plate (here visual), about our future housing, about our work, about the work what we are looking at.

Denis responds :

Thank you Anne for your thoughtful remarks.

Here is the bottom line for me, I believe that what we see and what we think about that experience is important. We arrive at an understanding of what the words we use to describe and explain things represent. When they arrive at the point of becoming abstractions we can then get those words into perspective. In this context, it is not the things we know that create problems for us … it is the things we know that are not so. A poor grasp of abstract thought or abstract words compounds those problems. (I’ll write more about this probblem in a future article.) Art is largely about a good grasp of the tradition of painting and problem solving, not the pursuit of abstractions such as our common understanding of the word truth.

As you see, Anne, I am short on answers, long on questions. I trust that my studies and intuition lead me to good ones. This, I believe is the path of a painter.

Ciao, Denis,

Published in french as Commentaire et réponse sur “La vérité du peintre”

Posted in Artist-Art, Painters | Comment

The painter’s Truth

November 30th, 2010

I understand that being “politically correct” in much of todays world precludes delving very deeply into philosophical matters. Has this affected the way we think and talk about art? I believe that perhaps this is the case. What do you think?

In the middle of the 19th century, Sainte Beuve summed up the current state of affairs thus: “The beautiful, the true, the good is a fine slogan and yet it is specious. If I had a slogan it would be the true, the true alone. And not the beautiful and the good get along as well as they can.” He was, I believe, speaking to the importance beginning to be placed on scientific and artistic truth. He was close to the painters. Corot was to talk about the importance of the first impression, truth and accuracy. Odd, considering he was so adept at fitting his impressions to classical notions of composition and design.

Truth. Exactly what is it? Does it have a connection with “to thine own self be true”? Is it enough to follow the current opinions flavored with the latest ideas as to the meaning of truth? How is a painter to know what to paint? Is it really as simple as truth or fiction?

Questions.

Most painters blindly follow the zietgeist. “You must be free and unique like no others.” This is not freedom. If you are not free you would not know the truth if it bit you on the arse. Freedom is a precondition for the painter or any creative individual.

Published in french as La vérité du peintre

Posted in Artist-Art, Painters | Comment

Life and Creativity

September 23rd, 2010

Two Orchids
“Two Orchids:” a lucky shot in low light. This was taken hand held with a Canon G10 at 1/10 sec, f5.6. Like everyone is saying, “The best camera is the one you have with you.” The G10 generates a lot of noise in low light but with this image I’m okay with it.

Since I moved to France in 1994 much has changed for me. For one thing before my wife became sick I was spending a good deal of time in the US. She was diagnosed with a rare fast growing cancer which we were told was terminal by the specialists we saw in France. Thank God for the internet. I learned that a research institute in the US, Sloan-Kettering Institute, was actively working on a experimental protocol. What’s more they were collaborating with The Institut Curie in Paris. So, immediately on the phone to Curie; luckily a quick appointment and we had a protocol. It was not easy getting treatment because Doctors don’t like being told what to do. But having said that, the treatment was first rate. Françoise is a survivor. I am a survivor. It has been 9 years now. It is unimaginable how hard this all was and how it has affected and changed our lives. These days we don’t put up with much shit. Life is much too dear to spend time dealing with the petty stuff. And for this reason, we found ourselves moving from the home from which we thought we would never leave. We are happy with our new home. But it was a time consuming project. It took a two year chunk of precious time.
For those of you whose lives have been touched by cancer our deepest sympathies. And the 3 out of 5 of us that have not been touched? Please count your blessings and think beyond thee current TV comedies on the “Big C”. They just touch the tip of the iceberg. For anyone wanting to understand more about the impact on lives and the need for more public awareness this is a must read http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/sep/19/the-big-c-cancer-tv

This blog began in April, 2006 as www.webb-blog.fr written in French with a translation in English. It, along with my site www.deniswebb.fr did very well. That was all fine, but traffic to my English sites: www.deniswebb.com and this blog remained quite low. Easy to understood why: it was essentially a copy of the translations in the French blog. Aside from the fact that these are two quite different publics it appears in the blog that the articles where written over a period of a couple of months when in fact it was over a two year period.

I’ve been on a artistic path from a young age and I feel I’ve been fortunate. In my opinion, fame and notoriety are traps for the unwise. Autonomy, integrety, and direct contact with a smaller circle brings balance and perspective. For many years this has worked for me. Many, much more talented than I, have attempted to make big changes or pursue that chimaera called success only to be subdued by an unrestained ego. (Here is an interesting, if not brilliant, video by Elizabeth Gilbert about nurturing creativity → http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html)

For a long time humanity has struggled to break the chains of history. Creativity and the historical view are the antagonists. My heart is warmed when I see a young person like Elizabeth Gilbert thinking and speaking clearly.

Remember, we paint who we are so keep your brushes wet.

In art,
denis

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