huckelberry wrote:Blixa, I referred to the law of no sentimentalism, sometimes I exaggurate for fun, a forwarning for this post.
You are certainly correct Modern art is something of an aquired taste. I don't know that it is a required taste but am glad it is a part of my life. You pointed out physicality is important and might be missed if one is familiar only with reporductions. I see a lot of art in reproduction as I live in a small town in the northwest. However I have seen a lot of art first hand. I have been able to see various urban museums, MOMA and Chicago Art Instute stand out in my memory.
I have long liked Manet, that early shot across the bow of the modernist movement. Yet I was puzzled at the reports of the strong negative reactions. In reproduction they seem rather mild. I did experience a shock walking into a room of them at the Met. Raw phisical and agressive even to my 20th century eyes.
I was thinking on the other hand about a spiril jetty in the Great Salt Lake. It is certainly about physicality, rocks water sky but I am only familiar with it by way of Artform. Well I have seen the general area it is located in(very general) but never the actual thing which last I read was now under water. I think it is entirely possible however that it is a work actually intended for reproduction and speaking about. It might be said that the real version exists in the imagination. After all wouldn't it be correct that most people interested in it live in New York a long way from Deseret.
But I am wondering about it relationship to Mormon art. The spiril accesses the west of the imagination and the physical location of Salt Lake City is in some way an important part of Mormon imagination. (Am I exaggurating this from my childhood yearly pilgramages to SL and an identification of vast desert spaces and the SLC mountain skyline with the center of Mormondom?)
For a while this message board has inclined me to wonder about the relationship between religion and peoples mythic imagination. Music literature and art may be angles of looking at that relationship. Much modern art has tried to access mythic dimensions in our consciousness. Perhaps it does this to recreate or perhaps to demythicise. The west of the imagination might be a strong theme for Mormon art. It is a theme shared with the wider culture which might be a good thing. Christian art is stengethed I think in coversation with different ideas than Christian dogma just as Marxist influenced art you posted is stenghthened by being outside the dogmatic box.
But then would Mormon art be swollowed up by that larger west of the imagination?
I don't have time right this minute, but Spiral Jetty is an artwork deep at the center of both my "being" and my "intellectual" work on art. It is the Big One for me---the "location" under my avatar is the site of Spiral Jetty by the way. I have much, much, much more to say about it; possibly more than you will want to know!
I have an entry in my blog about my first trip to Spiral Jetty (its actually not under water at the moment, in fact its nearly entirely dry) that you might want to look at. Its "friends only" so I'll add your name right now. This "essay" explains the work's personal significance to me as well as the "miracle" of my finally being able to see it. A quick point---technically "Sprial Jetty" names three works that are parts of the overall whole: the land sculpture at Rozel Point, an essay about the piece and a film Smithson made about the construction of Spiral Jetty (both physically and conceptually). So, in a sense, it was a peice conceived to have multiple points of access for an audience, some of them "reproductions" as it were. Anyway, as much as I appreciate the liberatory possibilities of the mechanical reproduction of art, I still revel in the palpable physicality of objects. I find that experience the closest thing to the spiritual that I've encountered.
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
I never heard of the Spiral Jetty before you two talked about it.
From Wiki:
The Spiral Jetty, considered to be the central work of American sculptor Robert Smithson, is an earthwork sculpture constructed in 1970.
Built of mud, salt crystals, basalt rocks, earth, and water on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah, it forms a 1500-foot long and 15-foot wide counterclockwise coil jutting from the shore of the lake.
At the time of its construction, the water level of the lake was unusually low because of a drought. Within a few years, the water level returned to normal and submerged the jetty for the next three decades. Due to a recent drought, the jetty re-emerged in 1999 and is now completely exposed. The lake level rose again during the spring of 2005 due to a near record-setting snowpack in the mountains and partially submerged the Jetty again.
Originally black rock against ruddy water, it is now largely white against pink due to salt encrustation and lower water levels.
Smithson reportedly chose the Rozel Point site based on the blood-red color of the waters and its connection with the primordial sea. The red hue of the water is due the presence of salt tolerant bacteria and algae that thrive in the extreme 27 percent salinity of the lake's north arm, which was isolated from fresh water sources by the building of a causeway by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1959.
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. - Plato
If you like, Gaz, I'll add you to "friends" so you can read more in my blog. The wiki gives the basics, though, I take issue with the phrasing, "reportedly chose the Rozel Point..." in two ways. Minorly, it is simply Rozel Point, no "the" (also its usually just called Spiral Jetty, though Smithson does call it the Spiral Jetty a few times in his writing), and more majorly, there is nothing "reportedly" about his choice---he wrote about his search for a red body of water, how he narrowed it down to some bolivian playa and Utah and chose Utah for reasons of accessibilty (for building it as well as later viewing it). The colour was important to him, later he heard of pioneer myth and pre-pioneer myths of a whirlpool in the lake that also nicely dove-taled with his plans. Other aspects of the Utah setting were important and he writes and talks about them in the essay and film which are also part of "Spiral Jetty."
edited: I added you anyway. The post is titled, "The Happiest Day of My Life."
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
Its's primordial suggestion: blood, life force etc.as well as its atypicality and connection to industrial entropy (the red is a by product of conditions created by industrial use/misuse of the lake ...and I can tell you more later but this is getting way off topic. There may be some stuff in my blog entry...I can direct you to his essay as well...
I've seen it blood red, tomato soup and most usually mauve and sometimes light pink. It looks most red from the air (where I shot some pics on the blog). The photo you just linked to had tweaked the colour in the processing of the print -- I'm familiar with the series of aerial photos that the shot is taken from. Can't remember the nme of tge artist off the top of my head, though. I've done extensive, mostly documentary photography of SP and environs since 2002. I was last there a few months ago---there is a herd of wild horses in the area and other interesting wild life (owls, pelicans) that I've met over the years. Also lovely oil and tar seeps.
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
I'm sure Utah is a beautiful state, yet I've never felt compelled to visit. Viewing the Spiral Jetty through Blixa's experience, as outlined in her blog, has placed it on a list of things I must view and immerse myself within.
I had to scan this one, as theres no other image of it on the web. Its from the book "Jesus Christ and the world of the New Testament". The Book is a coffee table sized work that studies the culture of jerusalem at the time of Christ. The image is by an artist named Michael Coleman.
"Jesus on the Way to Jerusalem" by Michael Coleman
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. - Plato
If you're interested in a less representational "spiritual" or religious-inflected art, Gaz, you might check out another post in my blog entitled "Maybe I'm a Quaker" where I talk about the work of James Turrell. I was just visiting "Meeting" today.
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
Blixa, I enjoyed your descriptions of visiting the Spril Jetty. It fills out my imagination a bit. Perhaps I will find a time to get down that way and see it myself. I do not get to Utah often myself.
huckelberry wrote:Blixa, I enjoyed your descriptions of visiting the Spril Jetty. It fills out my imagination a bit. Perhaps I will find a time to get down that way and see it myself. I do not get to Utah often myself.
Thanks huck. I need to get around to writing about it---I'm probably apply for a residency at an artist's space on the Utah/Nevade border as a "outpost" for doing this and some other work on the Utah desert/land art/related issues. I shoud really put up some shots from my last visit in October---especially a nice portrait of an owl I ran across. Once again I got sunburned but the lake was too receded to do any skinny dipping. I want to kayak (or maybe even walk depending on the water levels) to Gunnison Island next time. Its almost directly across from the Jetty. Also a visit to Fremont Island to see Kit Carson's cross would be cool.
I'll be there in the summer, beforehand if I get the chance. I love the northern part of the lake and my fantasy is to live there in an streamline trailer with internet pick up.
From the Ernest L. Wilkinson Diaries: "ELW dreams he's spattered w/ grease. Hundreds steal his greasy pants."
