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Inspiration from Artists Wk 210 Featuring Artists : Clifford Webb and Ralph Hotiere
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Posted
Yes, you got what he was trying to express George. Messages from a very concerned man. He didn't care whether people liked his work or not, he wasn't interested in painting to sell. I admit I haven't really looked into his work very deeply, and would also admit Paul that I often don't understand abstract concepts either. I knew he would be controversial, included him because he is a major figure in our art history. Am not offended. Perhaps the last two could have been omitted. I think people will like my next choice better.
Posted
An interesting choice Sandra. The intention of this thread is to make us look at artists we may not be aware of and certainly we have seen many contrasting styles over the last few years, some of which challenge us as to what we see or understand about them.
I am familiar with the Sacred Heart symbols he has included which obviously come from his RC background. Less familiar with the Māori ideas.
Thank you for the introduction. His work and the reaction here reminds me a little of Sean Scully who we looked at not long ago. This is art: not all of us will like it but we should never stop looking!
Posted
I don't expect to like every example of an individual artist's work; and certainly don't expect to understand them if there's no common reference point, or - if understanding isn't required anyway. I get the religious elements, but am unfamiliar with Maori culture - so I struggle a bit with some of the above. Often, though, there really isn't any particular message - or if there is, I can't always see it. I don't know that this much affects my enjoyment of a painting - whether I "like" it or not. So, I "like" Rothko, or much of his work; doesn't mean I understand whatever he was trying to say, if he was actually trying to say anything rather than exploring colour and the process of painting itself. A great many things can be read into paintings; whether the artist actually meant to convey what the interpreters of a work suggest is something else altogether - cf. Dalí and his melting watches - which might have had more to do with fried eggs than the plasticity of time. Or it could have had a lot to do with both - how much does it usually matter?
In the case of the above - it probably does matter. Very often though, I don't think it matters at all, and I get impatient with the over-analysis of a painter's intentions. It takes me back to Lowry again - there's been an acreage of words and analysis spent on his paintings, but crucially, very little analysis of his work by the man himself - I think he suggested that he saw an unfamiliar world and continually responded to it until the industrial and domestic scenes with which he'd become familiar gradually changed - at which point his interest began to fade. Or maybe he just got old and lost his oomph! Who really knows?
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