> Viz. Annie writes: <<I found it interesting that he went more and more
> minimal over time; reducing form to washes of colour and then finally
> reducing the colour to greys. It seems to me that he suicided at that
point
> cos there was no where else for him to go conceptually.>>
>
> But this seems not only reductive to me, but to confuse cause & effect. It
> seems, too, sentimental to claim--& how would one know?--that an artist
> committed suicide because he couldn't think of any new directions. Such a
> claim devalues both art & suicide.
Altho' I can understand artistic death as a route to self-willed personal
demise I am too wary of the devaluation of an irrecoverable other's
experience in the packaging of suicide, and too on red alert at such a verb
formation as 'suicided'. It has the feel of a cheap tour arranged by a
Thomas Cook subsidiary or rival.
Best
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Duemer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2001 11:38 PM
Subject: Re: Femininity in Poetry
> Doug wrote:
> <<& certainly those big ones in the Tate permanent collection are among my
> great meditation sites...>>
>
> Doug, for me too. It's been a long time since I've sat in that room, but
the
> memory of those canvases remains vivid. Great peace there, perhaps
> paradoxically, give R's tormented life.
>
>
> Viz. Annie writes: <<I found it interesting that he went more and more
> minimal over time; reducing form to washes of colour and then finally
> reducing the colour to greys. It seems to me that he suicided at that
point
> cos there was no where else for him to go conceptually.>>
>
> But this seems not only reductive to me, but to confuse cause & effect. It
> seems, too, sentimental to claim--& how would one know?--that an artist
> committed suicide because he couldn't think of any new directions. Such a
> claim devalues both art & suicide. If I had to choose, I would prefer to
see
> the paintings as a record of some much larger despair. But in fact that
also
> seems overly reductive. We have the paintings.
>
> jd
> ======================
> Joseph Duemer
> School of Liberal Arts, 5750
> Clarkson University
> Potsdam NY 13699
> 315.268.3967
> [log in to unmask]
> http://web.northnet.org/duemer
> http://www.grammarbitch.com/ppp/index.html
> ======================
>
>
> Times are bad. Children no longer
> Obey their parents, and everyone
> Is writing a book.
>
> [Cicero]
>
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