Blog #2

So, here is attempt number two at this blogging business.

Charles Biederman definitely caught my attention with his article about Mondrian and nature. What I gathered from his writing was that art and science do intertwine. He wrote that artists may try to stray away from nature, but it is seemingly impossible to completely separate art from nature. "Yet one can say, without risk of reasonable contradiction, that no artist has ever been able to cease abstracting from nature, it being impossible...Nature remains the genetic source for all forms of the abstractions of art, whatever the artist may do." He also stated, "...then, and only then, can all aspects of nature be finally excluded, but then art has disappeared too..." It's as if the more Mondrian tried to pull away from nature, he limited himself that much more. I feel nature should be embraced in all art forms and used as an influence.

When I read Ad Reinhardt's article, I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about it. I immediately took it as a satirical piece. I enjoyed it, but it didn't really stick with me. It just seemed to slide right through the cracks in my mind. I did find the quote "a picture is finished when all traces of the means used to bring about the end have disappeared" quite interesting. It's as if to say there should be no evidence of an artist at all in the picture; that the picture has no creator, it just is. I really liked the 25 Lines of Words on Art: Statement too. Most of the statements are contradictory, or oxymorons, and statements like that always intrigued me. "The extremely impersonal way for the truly personal." "The most universal path to the most unique. And vice-versa." "The most common mean to the most uncommon end." "The completest control for the purest spontaneity." The last statement I quoted is probably my favorite, because I am such a control freak but can be spontaneous. (I'm not sure how much that really has to do with anything, but I just thought that I should mention it! hah)

So I still don't think I'm doing so hot at this blog thing, but at least I'm trying, right?