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Inspiration From Artists Wk 213 Featuring Artist : Peter Monaghan and Toss Wollaston.
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Message
Posted
Thank you Tessa, it was indeed Sidney Nolan I was thinking of: my late landlady, an art student in the 1940s, friend of Lizzie Frink indeed, opened my eyes to his work - in which I could see nothing at all before she told me to basically take a deep breath, lay prejudices to one side, and have another, long, look. I've tried to do that since with others' work, and I'd certainly be prepared to have such a squint at Mr Wollaston.
I had forgotten Alan's piece on Lise Temple - two lovely works shown above, and I can't imagine why anyone would have been scathing about them (I do hope I wasn't...!). I'd rather have scathing than just ignoring them - but perhaps we could all do with just pushing our minds a little beyond our usual margins: without sacrificing the value of honest opinion. A wee bit difficult - many professional art critics could learn from that advice (especially Mr J Jones of the Guardian).
Edited
by Robert Jones, Napa
Posted
My 'negative' comment wasn't intended as a slight on Sandra. I appreciate the time and effort required to present an article about a specific artist and It's a feature of POL that I thoroughly enjoy. I'm not in the habit of contributing a detailed critique of artists' work but will more often or not say whether I like it or not, in this case I wasn't impressed but I still very much value Sandra's contribution.
Posted
Will come back to the main discussion after giving it more thought but just wanted to say Alan that you prompted me to look up Lise Temple and I love her work. Interesting shapes and lovely vibrant colours. Very enjoyable contemporary. I can't remember your posting her on this thread, I might have missed it, but am very happy to be alerted to her now. Is she worth a re-post?
I've also had an all too quick look at Sir Sidney Nolan, I think to really appreciate his work you would need to know more about what he was saying through his paintings. I do like Robert's late landlady's advice. I'll return to have a proper look.
Posted
Paul and Jenny really hit the nail on the head. And I'm afraid looking back that I would look at the artists they had chosen but not comment or thank them for the effort they had put in. I make a point of doing that now, whether I like the artist or occasionally not. It does take some work and I'm doing it only every three weeks, whereas they both open our eyes to different artists weekly.
Paul, was this thread originally your idea? I remember someone commenting that it is the first thing they look at. It it certainly sustaining the Forum long term. And that is what we need, use it or lose it!
A definite yes to honest comment (but there are ways of doing it). No point otherwise.
I'm going to stick with the artist changes I've made, having now done some of the work. I think that it wasn't a very good idea to have more unconventional artists just one after the other after the other, a variety of painting styles would be better. I'll look at re-visiting my original choices when I come back.
Brett - they were chosen as examples of his work of course. You obviously feel that they weren't good examples, I'd love to see what you feel would have been better so please put some up.
Edited
by Sandra Kennedy
Posted
I thought the work displayed tended to lean towards the abstract too much and sensed it was perceived that way in the comments. His work is valued because of the way he portrays a rugged landscape: the shape of the land, the angularity, the light and earthy tones. There’s nothing pastoral about these regions. It’s tough, uninhabited farm country, especially the West Coast of the South Island.
These paintings are regarded as having a real sense of place and respected for that, especially in a country that was still resisting the influence of what was long regarded as “the home country”.
These paintings are regarded as having a real sense of place and respected for that, especially in a country that was still resisting the influence of what was long regarded as “the home country”. Edited
by Brett Hill