Want Some Words…

These rules are from Mark Twain’s wicked 1895 essay “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses”, which is mainly a criticism of Cooper’s story “The Deerslayer”.

Twain wrote: “I may be mistaken, but it does seem to me that ‘Deerslayer’ is not a work of art in any sense; it does seem to me that it is destitute of every detail that goes to the making of a work of art; in truth, it seems to me that ‘Deerslayer’ is just simply a literary delirium tremens.”

1. A tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere.

2. The episodes of a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help develop it.
3. The personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others.
4. The personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there.
5. When the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning, also a discoverable purpose, and a show of relevancy, and remain in the neighborhood of the subject in hand, and be interesting to the reader, and help out the tale, and stop when the people cannot think of anything more to say.
6. When the author describes the character of a personage in his tale, the conduct and conversation of that personage shall justify said description.
7. When a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged, tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven-dollar Friendship’s Offering in the beginning of a paragraph, he shall not talk like a minstrel at the end of it.
8. Crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader by either the author or the people in the tale.
9. Events shall be believable; the personages of a tale shall confine themselves to possibilities and let miracles alone; or, if they venture a miracle, the author must so plausably set it forth as to make it look possible and reasonable.
10. The author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones.
11. The characters in tale be so clearly defined that the reader can tell beforehand what each will do in a given emergency.

In addition to these large rules, there are some little ones. These require that the author shall:

12. Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.

13. Use the right word, not its second cousin.
14. Eschew surplusage.
15. Not omit necessary details.
16. Avoid slovenliness of form.
17. Use good grammar.
18. Employ a simple, straightforward style.

Well, at least the end of November. It’s been an up and down month, but it’s over, and it’s ending on a couple of high notes.
I’ve finished the Xmas presents for my siblings, and stepmother, for one.
I went to Hallowell to the Harlow Gallery and dropped off 3 paintings yesterday, for their 8×10x80 show, that starts Friday (with a special viewing tomorrow night, in conjunction with their 50th anniversary party), and ends on the 14th of December.
Go early, buy often.
See you in December.

A video for Andrea Dorfman’s song Art

…Carol Padberg
Here’s her artist’s statement:

Using the “modernist DNA” of typography fonts such as Bauhaus, Futura, and Helvetica, I create visual improvisations. I use fragments of found typography to take apart and put back together language. My work employs traditional painting media (encaustic and polymer resins) as well as materials that extend the medium of painting (adhesive vinyl, flocking and metallic films). Often I choose materials with which I can create a tension between the flat graphic voice of type and the fluidity of paint and handwriting. Sometimes comical, sometimes minimal, these images ask questions about design, nonverbal language, and the modernist lineage of abstract painting.

I’m liking her collage especially the Helvetica at sea series:

Helvetic at Sea #8

(via Two Coats of Paint)

Wow this guy is good.

A New Vigil--Ric Stultz

Peace and Love and Noticing the Details

There’s beauty, and there’s having rights. If people have rights, it’s easier for them to make their beauty.

Scenes from Antarctica - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Audrey Kawasaki posts some pics from her new group show The Drawing Room on her blog.
The thing that makes the biggest impression on me is the sameness, in theme and style, of the works in the show, which may just be because Audrey Kawasaki curated the show, but I’m thinking, not.
Ms. Kawasaki can draw beautiful women, I’ll give you that, but her style never seems to change, or grow. As for the other artists in the show, well, just look at the pics she shares. I mean there’s nothing wrong with stylistic sameness (for lack of a better word), especially in a group show of like minded painters, but I think this pulls it a little too far. It’s bland, and there’s hardly any fire in it at all. A couple of the artists do stand out some, but, where they do, it’s mostly in using a different technique, and that’s about it.
This is the up and coming of the art world, and they’re making money because they are popular (and good for them I say), but, the question is, why are they popular?
The answer is, one–that they have mastered their technique–beautifully–and two–they use very kitschy themes–beautiful women, cute children, childlike fantasies, etc.. It’s easy on the eyes, and easy on the brain. And people want easy.
This being a good, or bad thing, I suppose, depends on your idea of what art should be.
Let the fireworks begin.

Joan Miró’s Wild Decade

I’m thinking that Joan Miro may be becoming my new favorite artist (sorry Pablo).  I wish now that I’d had time to visit his museum when I was in Barcelona a couple of years ago.   That link above is to a slideshow essay of his work.

click on the image to see more of his work.