I am a customer of the Teaching Company, a great place to continue learning about the world. One of their courses is entitled “How Jesus Became God.” I was struck by the implication of this title. It is clear that the underlying assumption of the history professor giving the lectures is that Jesus was not […]
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No. 54: The Supernatural in Art (Part 1)
Do I believe in the supernatural? Yes, if by supernatural one means that which exists, but cannot be empirically verified. My subjective experience of the natural world is not verifiable, yet I know it exists. For example, a scientist could show that light of a blue wavelength was hitting my retina, that it was functioning […]
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No. 53: “All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee”
All love in this world is a token; a breadcrumb that leads to something more. To confuse the token for real thing is enter Dante’s dark wood; lost following the moon rather than the sun. How one goes about distinguishing token from reality, moon from sun, is the hard part. It is here, where needed […]
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Blog No. 52: In eternity this world will be Troy
In eternity this world will be Troy, I believe, and all that has passed here will be the epic of the universe, the ballad they sing in the streets. Because I don’t imagine any reality putting this one in the shade entirely, and I think piety forbids me to try. Marilynne Robinson via John Ames, […]
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Blog No. 51: Objective and Subjective Experience
The example [melody does not equal sound] shows that there are concepts which direct our mental states but which can play no part in an explanatory [scientific] theory, because they divide the world into the wrong kinds of kind—concepts like those of ornament, melody, duty, freedom. The concept of the person is such a concept, […]
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No. 50, I Am But a Midwife
Michelangelo reportedly said: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” This idea is certainly applicable to photography. I create an image by removing or reducing from the photograph what is not the image. Another way to look at it is that I extract from the data collected by […]
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No. 49: “Amor mi mosse, che mi fa parlare” (Love moved me and made me speak.)
A fine opinion piece in the WSJ, “Art for Life’s Sake,” made the point that: Few of us are unlikely to forget the evils of existence. The real risk is that we will fall into depression and despair; the danger is that we will lose hope in the human project. Many believe that artists should […]
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No. 48: Humans ask the questions
I know that this blog is supposed to be about art, but every once and a while I feel like wandering elsewhere (it’s my Blog after all), see e.g., Blog No. 39. I was conversing with God one day when I thought we could talk about something that had been bothering me. “Is the theory […]
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No. 47 Housekeeping
I recently read a wonderful book by Marilynne Robinson entitled Housekeeping. Marilynne Robinson incants a book of poetry in prose that explores the tenuous relationship between perception and “reality” and thus addresses the major theme of my work. The faithful, transcendental Ruth who is the protagonist of the story is contrasted with Lucille, her sister who […]
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No. 56: It’s not about you
Here is an excerpt from a wonderful commencement speech given by Joyce DiDonato, the great Mezzo. You can watch it in its entirety at: http://www.joycedidonato.com/2014/05/27/the-juilliard-schools-109th-commencement-speech-joyce-didonato/ Perhaps my favorite truth: It’s not about you. This can be a particularly hard, and humbling lesson to face – and it’s one I’ve had to continue to learn at […]