Tag Archives: art

Writing or Art? Mel Bochner’s “LANGUAGE IS NOT TRANSPARENT” (1970)

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Santi Tafarella

Is it art? Is this the sort of art one passes by impatiently as not really art? Notice that it has no conventional images in it, such as, say, a Madonna with child. Where Mary and the baby Jesus might … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What’s It Feel Like For Your Existence To Precede Your Essence? Monochromatic And Abstract Expressionist Paintings Suggest An Answer

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Santi Tafarella

God’s death (and essentialism’s) represented in art. Above is a monochromatic artwork by the French artist, Yves Klein (1928-1962), but what do monochromatic and abstract expressionist paintings mean? Matthew Israel’s recent essay on Klein suggests an answer: [W]hen [Yves] Klein started painting seriously … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Half Dome On Fire–Or Maybe Just Clouds? And Is The Photographer Who Caught The Image Skillful, Or Just Lucky?

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Santi Tafarella

Half Dome in Yosemite isn’t really on fire here, it’s just a cloud being hit by sunlight, but I like this photo because it: (1) illustrates aspect seeing (as in psychology textbooks, where the eye can’t decide if it’s looking … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Art Students Recreate Nude Masterpieces

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Santi Tafarella

The following link is interesting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/20/artsy-nudes-sva_n_6913694.html

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Charles Darwin vs. Thomas Aquinas: What Follows from Our Nature?

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

At his blog recently, Thomist philosopher Edward Feser wrote the following: “For Aquinas, what is good for us is necessarily good for us because it follows from our nature. As such, even God couldn’t change it, any more than he … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Between Gods And Animals, The Sweet Spot

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

From the vantage of the Greco-Roman pagans, because we’re neither gods nor exclusively animals, human beings are in a very, very sweet spot. Arguably the best spot. Think about it. The gods can make choices; they can fight and have … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vivian Maier: The Emily Dickinson of Photography

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

I’m super interested in seeing this documentary.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons Get a Towel Snap

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

From Leon Wieseltier at The New Republic: At the conclusion of his poems about the rescue of the Ghent Altarpiece [from a salt mine after WWII], Kirstein wrote: “How marble molds itself into flesh, paint kindles gold in shafts / Makes me witness salvation … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Henry Rollins Tells His Compelling Life Story

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

The story Henry Rollins tells himself: __________

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Monet’s Waterlilies and Some Free Association

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Santi Tafarella

A nice image of Monet’s waterlilies, c. 1915, via Wikipedia Commons: __________ The feel of this image for me is not of tranquility and coolness, but of heat and melting. First there is the white flower echoing a fried egg; … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Improvisation, Nude: The Emperors of Contemporary Art and Art Criticism Have No Clothes. Is that Okay?

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

Would somebody please, please, please save the art world from itself? Jed Perl, the great art critic, recently gave it his best shot, writing an Emperor-has-no-clothes piece for The New Republic: The cash registers are ringing and that’s the only … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

We’ve Entered the Atheist Holiday Season

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

___________ Magician and atheist James Randi magically levitates a holiday bird with occult powers given to him by Satan. Via James Randi at Facebook.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Saint Ranieri, Meet George Jetson: Deconstruction Illustrated with a Catholic Painting

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

__________ What is deconstruction? In postmodern theory, deconstruction (in a nutshell) is the undoing of an author’s controlling intentions by time and audience reception. This can only happen because texts are made of parts, not coherent wholes. Over time, parts … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Film Worth Seeing?

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

Blue is the Warmest Color, a lesbian coming-of-age film, is three hours long, but Richard Corliss of Time calls it unmissable.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ayn Rand’s “Sense of Life” as a Tool for Aesthetic Reflection

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

Ayn Rand, concepts, and art. Two novels-of-ideas by Ayn Rand (1905-1982)–The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957)–and the individualist and pro-capitalist political positions that Rand laid out over the course of her lifetime, have had an outsized impact on the contemporary conservative movement … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Hegel for Beginners

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

Outer v. inner direction. The philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) had a decisive influence on Karl Marx, and he continues to exert influence on intellectual thought today. For this reason, it’s good to know the gist of Hegel’s theorizing … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nietzsche in a Nutshell

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

__________ Once you perceive that you are flung into a cosmos in which God is dead (or silent), and your ultimate questions are unlikely ever to be answered, it’s time to stop worrying about who or where you are really—what the truth is—and just, say, make lion-man totems … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 34 Comments

A Tribute to Architecture, Old and New, in Europe

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

__________ Looking at the above video, it makes one wonder about what the human species really is, and where it’s headed. And, of course, we already live in a grand and bejeweled cathedral. __________ The Hubble Deep Field image itself … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Ghost Army Trailer

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

This documentary, soon to be aired on PBS, looks really good. 1000 people–some of whom would go on to have careers in art, fashion, and design–were commissioned to do a head-fake on the Nazis late in World War II, simulating … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

An Interview with Charles Hood

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

__________ Poet and photographer Charles Hood’s most recent book, South x South, based on a trip he made to Antarctica in 2011, has just been published by Ohio University Press (2013). Jordan Davis, poetry editor of The Nation, writes the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment