Marguerite Bennett's Blog, page 23
September 27, 2017
jordanparrished:
So somebody on my Facebook posted this. And...
So somebody on my Facebook posted this. And I’ve seen sooooo many memes like it. Images of a canvas with nothing but a slash cut into it, or a giant blurry square of color, or a black circle on a white canvas. There are always hundreds of comments about how anyone could do that and it isn’t really art, or stories of the time someone dropped a glove on the floor of a museum and people started discussing the meaning of the piece, assuming it was an abstract found-objects type of sculpture.
The painting on the left is a bay or lake or harbor with mountains in the background and some people going about their day in the foreground. It’s very pretty and it is skillfully painted. It’s a nice piece of art. It’s also just a landscape. I don’t recognize a signature style, the subject matter is far too common to narrow it down. I have no idea who painted that image.
The painting on the right I recognized immediately. When I was studying abstraction and non-representational art, I didn’t study this painter in depth, but I remember the day we learned about him and specifically about this series of paintings. His name was Ad Reinhart, and this is one painting from a series he called the ultimate paintings. (Not ultimate as in the best, but ultimate as in last.)
The day that my art history teacher showed us Ad Reinhart’s paintings, one guy in the class scoffed and made a comment that it was a scam, that Reinhart had slapped some black paint on the canvas and pretentious people who wanted to look smart gave him money for it. My teacher shut him down immediately. She told him that this is not a canvas that someone just painted black. It isn’t easy to tell from this photo, but there are groups of color, usually squares of very very very dark blue or red or green or brown. They are so dark that, if you saw them on their own, you would call each of them black. But when they are side by side their differences are apparent. Initially you stare at the piece thinking that THAT corner of the canvas is TRUE black. Then you begin to wonder if it is a deep green that only appears black because the area next to it is a deep, deep red. Or perhaps the “blue” is the true black and that red is actually brown. Or perhaps the blue is violet and the color next to it is the true black. The piece challenges the viewer’s perception. By the time you move on to the next painting, you’re left to wonder if maybe there have been other instances in which you believe something to be true but your perception is warped by some outside factor. And then you wonder if ANY of the colors were truly black. How can anything be cut and dry, black and white, when even black itself isn’t as absolute as you thought it was?
People need to understand that not all art is about portraying a realistic image, and that technical skills (like the ability to paint a scene that looks as though it may have been photographed) are not the only kind of artistic skills. Some art is meant to be pretty or look like something. Other art is meant to carry a message or an idea, to provoke thought.
Reinhart’s art is utterly genius.
“But anyone could have done that! It doesn’t take any special skill! I could have done that!”
Ok. Maybe you could have. But you didn’t.
Give abstract art some respect. It’s more important than you realize.
September 26, 2017
cielrouge:
masrekaya:
legacysam:
hmwhatthehell:
do u ever feel like you’ve accidentally tricked...
do u ever feel like you’ve accidentally tricked certain people into thinking you are smarter and have more potential than you actually do and do you ever think about how disappointed they’ll be when you inevitably crash and burn
Fun fact: Impostor Syndrome is ridiculously common among high-achievers, particularly women. If you identify with this post, odds are pretty good that you’re exactly as smart as people think you are, and the failure you’re afraid of isn’t inevitable at all.
and don’t forget this is one of the psychological barriers placed in by thousands years of patriarchy and male supremacy.
elodieunderglass:
keyconservation:
You guysssss this is one of...
A post shared by Key Conservation (@keyconservation) on Jun 23, 2017 at 12:37pm PDT
You guysssss this is one of the cutest things on the internet. Happy Friday! | Repost @theberry |
caitallolovesyou:
uppityfemale:
The President charges his own...
The President charges his own Secret Service to use his golf carts.
The Secret Service also had to move out of their floors in Trump Tower because they couldn’t afford the lease.
THE PRESIDENT IS MAKING MONEY OFF OF HIS PRESIDENTIAL SECURITY DETAIL.
THEY ARE REQUIRED BY LAW TO PROTECT HIM AND HE’S CHARGING THEM AT HIS PRIVATE BUSINESSES TO DO SO.
The Secret Service is almost out of money. Trump spent in one year on travel what Obama spent in eight (not to mention profited off of it). They can’t afford to pay people their people to cover Trump’s huge family as they travel for work and go on vacation every week.
This is corruption.
This is unethical.
This is something we should all be mad as Hell about.
This was actually so insane to me that I figured I HAD to make sure it was real before reblogging it with no sources. It seems to be totally real.
sources:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-clubs-charge-60k-to-rent-carts-to-secret-service-as-agency-runs-out-of-money-2017-08-21
http://www.businessinsider.com/secret-service-trump-tower-rent-command-post-2017-8
(and there are many more if you googlefu, but most of them weren’t sources I particularly like or trust so I’m not linking them here.)
Anyway yes, this is like textbook corruption. This is our tax dollars at work, people!
wovlerines:
[ One scene sees Wolverine swearing at top of his...
[ One scene sees Wolverine swearing at top of his voice at the 11-year-old. ] Jackman revealed: “I just yelled, ’SHUT THE F*** UP!’
“At the end of 40 minutes of this I said [to Dafne’s mother], ‘Maria, I’ve got an 11-year-old and I’m just really sorry.’
“Maria said, ‘Aw don’t worry, she just called you a c***. In Spanish.’”
calledtotherevolution:
“This argument is solid, and weighty, but...
“This argument is solid, and weighty, but it is neither rational, nor convincing.”
believersdie:
We Regret to Inform You That The Person Being Racist Ironically Is In Fact Just Racist
We Regret to Inform You That The Person Being Racist Ironically Is In Fact Just Racist
September 25, 2017
visibilityofcolor:
visibilityofcolor:
visibilityofcolor:
I hate it when people are so against...
I hate it when people are so against teaching young white kids to recognize their racism. Like people will literally say shit like “oh they’re too young to be taught about racism, that’s harmful!” but like children of color are never too young to face racism from white people who were never taught to recognize their racism as children. Start teaching white kids (boys AND girls) to recognize their racism; the problem starts when they’re young.
Sr because the butthurt white people took over this post again.
Re blogging in light of this Charlottesville shit. Please teach your white kids to recognize racism so they don’t think this shit is okay or patriotism.
Marguerite Bennett's Blog
- Marguerite Bennett's profile
- 366 followers
