Odds and Ends from De Kooning to De-nial.

De Kooning retrospective at MOMA. So I accompany Ellen—and I say “accompany” cause it would not occur to me to check it out unless urged to by another, and if that another is my wife I am then more inclined to join in if for no other reason than to have some common experience to share thoughts/memories of and inject some variety into our more pedestrian daily routine.

She really liked it. She appreciates the color and dynamic use and interaction of shape and form –and since she is now studying collage, it was of particular interest to her to see how De Kooning combines so many different elements in a single canvas. And I can see what she’s responding to and appreciate it as well in a formal fashion. But I was unmoved by most of it—except the work he did in his teens and in his dotage. When it comes to visual art, I’m ignorant of the technical issues involved and I pretty much respond to it on simple grounds of personal taste.




“The Ultimate Rule ought to be: 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchin'; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty…”
Frank Zappa


With De Kooning, I just don’t sense anything beautiful or pleasing in the work. What is depicted as an interpretation of nature doesn’t seem natural and what is depicted as humanity doesn’t appear human. It’s actually kind of a grotesque vision of humanity to my eyes. All that color and all that cubism geometry and nothing looks really alive or organic.

The show is huge and I can’t look at more than a few dozen paintings before running out of attentiveness and focus. So after giving a few select canvases my full consideration I began wandering around the rooms looking at the people. What I saw was a lot of studious faces mixed with those who just look like people who always check out the hot art show in town. What I didn’t see in any of the faces was pleasure or engagement. I didn’t see what I saw at the Matisse Show, which was a sense of wonder and even a kind of gratitude. Not that art can’t also spark fires of other emotions less sanguine but it should spark something and this show didn’t light my fire. But it’s all subjective ultimately and I often wonder what I’m missing due to my ignorance—and my colorblindness.


I imagine it’s similar to how BeBop sounds to people who don’t understand how the music is created. Before I knew anything about how Parker and Diz and Bud and the rest of that early gang of harmonic havoc wreakers were playing with song structures and chord inversions, all I heard was the energy and the speed of intense inventiveness. But once I had a better understanding of what they were doing it added considerably to my enjoyment--despite the fact that my brain still can’t keep up with the changes for a lot of it, and a tune like Donna Lee is something I’ll probably never even consider tackling.

Was determined not to watch the Jets or any Football this weekend. Stayed busy outdoors doing my wood working and tending to minor chores, but then made the mistake of turning on the tube just to see how the Jets made out and found myself caught up in the Giants-Patriots contest. Just when I thought I had the habit kicked, along comes a game so full of drama and suspense and heroics that I’m back to square one and back in the clutches of the force that seems to be greater than my will to resist.

Cally and Hobbes…Hobbes in foreground.

Our dog’s name is Cally. She got the name because she was preceded by the now deceased Hobbes. Hobbes got his name from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes…and so when Cally came along we couldn’t name her Calvin, so we settled on Cally. I had sort of forgotten, (until I recently came across a collection in a book store) how great that strip was and how much Eli and Will loved it, and how brilliant Bill Watterson was (is).
And I think his books may have been Eli and Will’s first introduction to the world of philosophy—and they couldn’t have had a better tutor. So I leave you with a brief collection of Watterson Wisdom:

CALVIN & HOBBES QUOTES

I like maxims that don't encourage behavior modification.

Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.

Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words.

In my opinion, we don't devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks.

This one's tricky. You have to use imaginary numbers, like eleventeen ..

Dear Santa. Why is your operation located at the North Pole? I'm guessing cheap elf labour, lower environmental standards, and tax breaks. Is this really the example you want to set for us impressionable kids? ...My plan is to put him on the defensive before he considers how good I've been.
~
"MOM, CAN I SET FIRE TO MY BED MATTRESS?" 

"No, Calvin." 

"CAN I RIDE MY TRICYCLE ON THE ROOF?"

"No, Calvin."

"Then can I have a cookie?" 

"No, Calvin." 

"She's on to me."

I go to school, but I never learn what I want to know.

Hobbes : "Do you think there's a God? 

Calvin : "Well somebody's out to get me!"

"The world isn't fair, Calvin."

"I know Dad, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favour?"

H : "What are you doing?"

C : "Being cool."

H : "You look more like you're bored."

C : "The world bores you when you're cool."

To make a bad day worse, spend it wishing for the impossible.

So the secret to good self-esteem is to lower your expectations to the point where they're already met?

It's only work if somebody makes you do it

My only regret is blowing the best day of my life while I'm so young

What state do you live in?" 
"Denial."