May 2001
The Wittig Report - on the interface between Life and Art
Welcome to the Wittig Report. On the one hand
there is ‘Art,’ and on the other hand, there is ‘Life,’ and somewhere in the
middle, they meet.
April was a month devoted to three paintings,
two of them medium sized alkyd (this is like oil, only quicker drying), and one
24” by 36” oil. Also, the usual assortment of writings, and my participation in
the ‘Night Visions’ event, which took up all of my weekends, and was the basis
for one of the paintings, and one of the papers.
I am leaving the following statements as they
stood last month, since we have a substantial number of new readers this month,
and it is not often that my monthly statement is as to the point as this:
There is an aspect to painting that most people
are at best only subliminally aware of, and that painters know all about, but
rarely mention. When a person paints, they wind up spending most of their
waking life alone, in a room, with the paint. School has no bearing on learning
to paint, it is what some painters do before they begin the actual process of
learning to paint. One learns to paint alone… in a room… with the paint.
The
silliest question I have ever been asked is, ‘What are your credentials?’
Silhouette of an apple tree, against a background of snowy orchard and sky: http://www.robertwittig.com/full203.html
Painting of a bed, the stage set for the recent
Chicago performance of a group of short, dream-related plays: http://www.robertwittig.com/full204.html
Monochromatic oil painting of another Michigan
apple orchard, my favourite of the month: http://www.robertwittig.com/full205.html
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The
Art of the TV Drama
“The box sits right there in my living room,
across from the sofa. It is full of all sorts of stuff; advertisements, talk
shows, 'real TV', news, educational channels, sitcoms, and drama shows. Today I
am going to pick on the last category. Some people might say, 'Well, if you don't
like it, why don't you just turn it off, instead of watching,' but I disagree
with that attitude. I would rather watch, and criticise, and besides…”
To read the article,
click here: http://www.robertwittig.com/paper24.html
“The event took place in a rough but clean space called 'Heaven Gallery', one long and dingy flight of stairs up from the busy and only partially gentrified stretch of Milwaukee Avenue just south of North Avenue, the Wicker Park Business District. Bars, art galleries, panhandlers and yuppies, all milling around together in the way common to such areas, where wealth rubs elbows with homeless, and patrons rub elbows with the arts; not those nice, sanitized arts that one encounters on Michigan Avenue, or in River North, but something newer, rougher, still with dirt under its fingernails... still hungry…”
To read the article, click here: http://www.robertwittig.com/paper25.html
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Global Warming vs. The
Population Bomb
“The age of human innocence is dead, as it has never been dead in the past. We can go ahead and continue to reproduce ourselves at the present increasing rate, and suffer all of the consequences that such a reproduction strategy brings with it, or we can attack global pollution at its source... us…”
To read the article, click here: http://www.robertwittig.com/paper26.html
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The Inspire Website
This is an interesting site from Kingsbury Australia, which focuses on the work of creative people with disabilities.
To visit the ‘Inspire’ Website: http://www.inspire.melb.net/
Questions, comments,
submissions
I’d be glad to hear from you. If you have any
questions, comments, rebuttals, ideas for future articles, or submissions of
your own, contact me at wittig@robertwittig.com and I will reply
promptly, and include your response in an upcoming issue, where appropriate.
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For further exploration, my website address is: http://www.robertwittig.com/
, or simply click the ‘Home’ link at the bottom of any article you have
accessed. thanks, -wittig