One of the biggest shocks of my life and one of my biggest disappointments occurred when I went to France for the first time in 1993. France! home of great artists–David, Delacroix, the angelic Ingres, Manet, Monet, and many others. Writers? Balzac, of course. The master. I made a pilgrimage to his home which is…
Category: Culture
Culture, current affairs, Politics
British judge rejects Assange extradition
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•Surprisingly, this morning a British judge rejected the US request for extradition of Julian Assange. Assange, as most of you know, is the beleaguered founder/leader of WikiLeaks. Previously, Judge Vanessa Baraitser was considered a harsh critic of Assange so her decision surprises me. Assange’s supporters expected a different decision, which would most likely spell the…
anecdotes, Bio, Culture
Adventure
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•Culture, materials, Paintings, Shop Talk, Studio Corner, Turpentine diaries
Don’t go to art school
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•Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, likes to say that degrees from the nonprestigious schools are just expensive dunce caps. He means that today higher education is close to worthless, except that degrees from the top schools still get you interviews. I think he’s right. Don’t go to college unless you’re in the right STEM…
aesthetics, Cleveland, Culture, materials, Paintings, Studio Corner, Turpentine diaries, Uncategorized
In the kitchen
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•For the most part, I’ve stopped showing the early stages of my paintings. One thing that I’ve learned after running this site for 8 years is that readers assume that I only post finished work–the opposite of what I actually do. But one of the reasons for this blog is pedagogical. I like sharing information…
Culture, Movies, Shop Talk, Turpentine diaries
Painting in the time of pandemic
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•Culture, podcast, Turpentine diaries
Podcast – Academic art and kitsch p.2
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•aesthetics, Artists, Culture, podcast, Turpentine diaries
Podcast-academic art
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•I pick up last episode’s discussion about Clement Greenberg and the avant-garde and kitsch, and talk about academic art. Artists mentioned: Gerome, David, Bouguereau, Ingres, and Thomas Couture.