tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post4219199622924591242..comments2024-03-26T10:07:14.049-04:00Comments on Painting: The nihilist condition and provisional painting a la RubinsteinMartin Mugarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-69840141400132048482024-01-04T11:15:44.249-05:002024-01-04T11:15:44.249-05:00From Rubinstein's recent publication of essays...From Rubinstein's recent publication of essays. This is the start of the fourth essay in the collectionMartin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-36014289425411052032024-01-04T11:04:35.754-05:002024-01-04T11:04:35.754-05:00Weak Thought, Strong Painting
(Gianni Vattimo)
In ...Weak Thought, Strong Painting<br />(Gianni Vattimo)<br />In a 2014 post titled "The nihilist condition and provisional painting à la<br />Rubinstein," artist-blogger Martin Mugar confessed to being "astonished" that<br />I didn't mention nihilism in my two articles on Provisional Painting, adding<br />that Gianni Vattimo's "weak thought' would be a perfect concept to encapsulate<br />where painting is in Rubinstein's provisional world" Although I had been<br />aware of Vattimos ideas since I encountered Arte Debole, an early 1990s<br />movement inspired by his work, I confess that as of 2009 I had yet to read any<br />of his writings (a failing since corrected). Vattimos absence from my articles<br />meant that I missed the opportunity to weave my ideas about provisionality<br />into current philosophical debate, and vice versa. In a belated effort to make<br />up for that lacuna, let me attempt, as briefly as possible, to outline Vattimo's<br />concept of "weak thought" as it might apply to painting and to art in general.<br />When Vattimo was a professor of aesthetics at the University of Turin<br />in the late 1970s, a number of his students who had been arrested for their<br />alleged involvement with Italian "extra-parliamentary" leftist movements<br />such as the Red Brigades wrote letters from prison that Vattimo found<br />distressingly doctrinaire and filled with what he called "metaphysical and<br />violent rhetorical subjectivity." His students had, he feared, misunderstood<br />his teachings and misinterpreted Nietzsche and Heidegger. As an antidote<br />to their embrace of violence, he developed his notion of "weak thought'<br />Believing that it was an insistence on the existence of definitive truths and<br />belief in a unitary history that had led astray not just his students but Western<br />philosophy as a whole, Vattimo argued that it was not a question of finding a<br />new ground for philosophy, replacing, say, as Derrida urged, the metaphysicsMartin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-22421162184455195852024-01-03T08:07:53.353-05:002024-01-03T08:07:53.353-05:00This essay got through to Rubinstein as my influen...This essay got through to Rubinstein as my influence is cited in essay four of his new collection of essays . https://raphaelrubinstein.com/Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-84741042134418622802020-10-10T10:12:25.908-04:002020-10-10T10:12:25.908-04:00Nietzsche:The wasteland grows.Nietzsche:The wasteland grows.Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-45947841326900985362020-10-10T10:04:56.531-04:002020-10-10T10:04:56.531-04:00It’s sort of my philosophy—looking for the nothing...It’s sort of my philosophy—looking for the nothingness. The nothingness is taking over the planet.<br />—The Andy Warhol Diaries<br /><br />Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-83532498326323993422020-10-10T10:04:16.200-04:002020-10-10T10:04:16.200-04:00Got this from the beginning of the review of Gopni...Got this from the beginning of the review of Gopnik's Warhol by Gary Indiana.<br /><br />"It’s sort of my philosophy—looking for the nothingness. The nothingness is taking over the planet."<br />—The Andy Warhol Diaries<br /><br />Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-36509340083246314802016-03-21T10:40:08.796-04:002016-03-21T10:40:08.796-04:00Some comments from twitter:
"even Guyton or K...Some comments from twitter:<br />"even Guyton or Kassay. They found a way to approach #painting in a new/ novel way, but making (any) #art is still positive."<br /><br />"I disagree w/ characterizing #artists as nihilistic; I dont think anyone approaches making #art with the fatalism the label implies"Brian Duponthttp://www.briandupont.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-75950111685945104332015-03-29T10:47:47.066-04:002015-03-29T10:47:47.066-04:00I recently was sent this by Carl Belz (March 2015)...I recently was sent this by Carl Belz (March 2015)and it seems apropos of Pocaro's remarks above:<br /> "It occurs to me at times that looking at certain kinds of painting may have become generational, like kids who don't know how to look at a clock that's not digital. I saw a FB comment on a Joan Snyder stroke painting from around 1970, it said the painting was facetious, a response that had never entered my mind, nor anyone else's that I know. I know from sports, for instance, that younger people think the NBA et al began a decade ago at most. Is that the case with art's history now, with contemporary, for instance, that it only goes back 10 years? That's certainly become the case with museums, but is it also what's taught in art school?"<br />Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-3904061355385813102014-04-18T22:33:04.685-04:002014-04-18T22:33:04.685-04:00I write about the theosophical here:http://martinm...I write about the theosophical here:http://martinmugar.blogspot.com/2013/03/busapagliatheosophy-and-peggy-lee.htmlMartin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-42188037326116459792014-04-18T15:07:50.491-04:002014-04-18T15:07:50.491-04:00There must be various streams of abstraction. The ...There must be various streams of abstraction. The origin of abstraction is probably in the theosophical that interested Mondrian and Kandinsky. I wrote a blog on that last year.There is the will to power stream in deKooning and early al held.But the malevich stream that pops up in early Stella seems to feed the art I talk about in Zombie art.It is a kind of bureaucratic coinage that is self referential.Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-1193444256304427602014-02-24T06:37:34.864-05:002014-02-24T06:37:34.864-05:00Dear Martin,
I just wanted to send you a note to ...Dear Martin,<br /><br />I just wanted to send you a note to thank you for your comment on my essay at Abstract Crtical, but most especially because of its link to the excellent posts on your own site. <br /><br />It is refreshing to read considerations of art that are grounded in the understanding that western philosophy extends past the 1960s and is in fact deeply intertwined in our state of being. I am avidly making way through the posts on your site.<br /><br />Very Best Wishes,<br /><br />Alan PocaroAlan Pocarohttp://abstractcritical.com/note/provisional-painting-three-hypotheses/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-32519759037129557852014-02-23T10:04:05.796-05:002014-02-23T10:04:05.796-05:00This comes from an essay on abstractcritical and i...This comes from an essay on abstractcritical and is a response to this essay:<br /><br />As to nihilism’s role in all of this, I think there’s a great deal to be said for that, Martin. Recently, I was discussing a particular “culture-war issue” here in the United States and a poll was cited as an example of “American’s increasing acceptance” of this said issue.<br /><br />But the fact is, the poll was only evidence of increasing nihilism. American’s simply no longer care, nor believe enough in anything to resist cultural change for good or ill.<br /><br />Secular-Humanism is a vastly more profitable enterprise than sincerely-held belief systems that place something other than the self at the center of the universe. Since capitalism cannot abide barriers to profit whether they be physical or psychic, it uses nihilism as a kind of cultural steam-roller.<br /><br />Clearly this is a long way out from my essay, but I think there is a relationship between widespread nihilism as cultural force and an acceptance of very raw, visually impoverished art, as good.<br />Alan Pocarohttp://abstractcritical.com/note/provisional-painting-three-hypotheses/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-57837096550929643952014-02-23T09:52:45.230-05:002014-02-23T09:52:45.230-05:00Spot on.I am motivated by the same need to underst...Spot on.I am motivated by the same need to understand.It has the strange sense of the eternal return of the same. Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-15735514331167475832014-02-23T09:27:19.080-05:002014-02-23T09:27:19.080-05:00nice work. just a quick thought... the idea of exh...nice work. just a quick thought... the idea of exhaustion is spot on and one I hadn't considered enough with this generation. <br />The nihilism is clear and overt - an SNL world where nothing is really serious or important (because it'll change, self destruct or offend us tomorrow). The exhaustion part though comes through an insane rush of mixed messages...being built up and let down day after day and also in a constant conflict of caring and not caring. I'm not defending the bad painting (you know that). Just trying to understand it.Paul Pollaronoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-59073902605391506072014-02-22T08:15:19.209-05:002014-02-22T08:15:19.209-05:00John Bunker said…
This appeared on "Abstract ...John Bunker said…<br />This appeared on "Abstract Critical"<br /><br />Hi Martin,<br />Many thanks for your thoughts on nihilism. Your blog entry instantly reminded me<br />of the spat between TJ Clark and Michael Fried during the 80s. Fried was arguing that Modernist art was an essentially positive development from one aesthetic discovery to another, a process of refinement and clarification negotiated between a succession of ‘great artists’. Clark argued that the ‘great’ art of Modernism was fuelled by a nihilistic vulgarity, peculiar to the alienation and violence wrought upon individuals and societies by Capitalism. Modernism anarchically smashed its way through one aesthetic cul de sac and social taboo after another.<br /><br />So could it be argued, that nihilism, far from being a inherently post modern pose, has always been part of Modernist art’s “cultural force”? How might abstraction generally be part of that? Are Provisional strategies evolving from this particular strand of Modernist DNA?<br /><br />“Artists today[xviii] are confronting an increasingly ramshackle future where aesthetic, political, economic, and ecological promises have been revealed as failures. If they are seeing a future where issues of scarcity become more urgent, materials must be recycled or scavenged from surplus[xix], and long-held political standards become increasingly irrelevant, it would seem natural to see trends in painting (re) emerge that question formal equivalents of these standards.”<br /><br />Brian Dupont’s full text is here. http://briandupont.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/a-provisional-explanation/<br /><br />I’m taking these words by Brian Dupont out of context but they ring true to my experience. Is it still possible or desirable to re-imagine an idea of abstraction as a ‘cultural force’ that connects with and possibly redefines some idea of resistance to the onslaught of ‘Spectacular’ culture?<br />Posted at 10:51 am on February 22, 2014<br />John Bunkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-73704103011841319612014-01-17T08:00:49.223-05:002014-01-17T08:00:49.223-05:00I enjoyed bringing Flannery O'Conner into the ...I enjoyed bringing Flannery O'Conner into the discussion.Glad you enjoyed that as well.It helped make my point that we swim in the sea of nihilistic thinking and it shapes us no matter how much we try to ignore it.Thanks for your comments.Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-4289144962241616602014-01-15T17:36:42.524-05:002014-01-15T17:36:42.524-05:00Good to hear from you. Glad your comment made it t...Good to hear from you. Glad your comment made it the second time around.I remember some years ago being encouraged by Bernie Chaet to contact classmate Dave Row,who is mentioned in this article, to get him to recommend galleries in NYC where I might submit work.He replied by quoting our teacher Al Held, who had told him in his inimitable way that you could give BJs to every dealer in New York, but if your work was not in vogue then you would not get shown.I think he had trouble in the 90's in that regard .He was truly an artist in the high modernist tradition.I write these blogs in part to get a feel for the trope of art scenes and to try to accept that there is a rhyme and reason to what gets shown.I thought that Rubenstein gets into trouble when he sees every provisional mark in artists, who are truly classical like Matisse and Bonnard as proof of their being predecessors of the school he has described as provisional. Glad you accept my classification of your work. It is one that I feel at ease putting my work in,although I am closer to the materiality of Richter, which I talked about in the Stella to Colen blog post.Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-59895980878901915922014-01-15T14:14:17.827-05:002014-01-15T14:14:17.827-05:00Typed out some long response yesterday and it seem...Typed out some long response yesterday and it seems to have disappeared! See if I can get back in the groove. I really enjoyed this line of thought and any essay on Nihilism that begins with Flannery O'Connor certainly gets my attention. Ironically, I appreciate the sincere way in which you've really engaged Nihilism. I also appreciate the mention of my work and I think you get it pretty right. I am quite taken by Rubinstein's thoughts on Provisional Painting, and, it (PP) challenges my own ideas and comfort in a rich way. You're correct in placing my work as a remnant of High Modernism. I am currently attempting to address the more central conversation (center of the cultural radar) through painting as installation, that is, playing out various possibilities of paintings (including the provisional) within an installed grouping of paintings. craig stockwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08228943298221523072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-37716797534328539862014-01-13T16:13:27.267-05:002014-01-13T16:13:27.267-05:00From facebook:
Sarah Walker:
"I love a goo...From facebook: <br />Sarah Walker: <br />"I love a good shoot out."Sarah Walkerhttp://sarahwalker.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-36696819006138959862014-01-13T16:11:30.779-05:002014-01-13T16:11:30.779-05:00With the last three posts I feel I am involved in...With the last three posts I feel I am involved in a shootout at the OK Corral.Martin Mugarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12799696151828817646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987736854176165487.post-8586689692461110032014-01-11T08:23:54.778-05:002014-01-11T08:23:54.778-05:00A comment from artist Sarah Walker from facebook:
...A comment from artist Sarah Walker from facebook:<br />This essay is fantastic as well- lots of great putting of words to perceptions- real tools for dealing with this particular form of creeping rot.Sarah Walkerhttp://sarahwalker.org/noreply@blogger.com