Thoughts on Hopper.

I have been looking at a lot of Hoppers painting more closely lately .What an amazing artist this man was,when you examine the painting technique it's plain that technically Hopper was not a virtuoso ,but that's immaterial ,he uses images of every day physical manifestations to give form to an idea or more commonly an emotion or phycology, such as isolation, loneliness .Hopper is such a master that for me the idea or emotion is more present in the work than the means used to convay it.The emotion is the more powerful content in the painting.To quote Hopper himself " I believe that the great painters,with their intellect as master,have attempted to force this unwilling medium of paint and canvas into a record     of their emotions .I find any digression from this large aim leads me to boredom".

Rothko paintings.

It's interesting to note how completely Rothkos method of painting and producing images,so completely identifies with his aesthetic conception and subject matter.Rothko method of using thin washes,that dematerialise into the weave of the canvas,the complete fushion of surface and paint and the simplicity of form create a medative mood in the viewer. The subject matter is one of universal immateriality, in which the presence of artistic gesture is completely absent, and therefore so is the artists presence. At this stage Rothko describes the feeling of " the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea,and between the idea and the observer" The images eliminate the iconography of cultural and historical  memory .Rothko states that he is for the " the simple expression of the complex thought". Jonathen Fineburg describes the subjective experience of the viewers encounter with the indescribable painted object ,provides a foundation for the defining of object and self and how they relate.The work does not describe experience the works are an experience .Due to the large scale of the work the viewer is in and surrounded by the image. " We are for the large shape because it has the impact of the unequivocal to quote the artist.

The sublime in Abstract Expression

Some interesting quotes with regard to the sublime aspect in Absract Expressionism and Newman and  Rothko in particular.Dominique de Menil patron of Rothkos last murals ,said the work invoked " the tragic mystery of our perishable condition . The silence of God, the unbearable silence of God. Newman describes his artistic motivation in the following words ......" We are reasserting mans natural desire for the exhalted.".........The image we produce is the self evident one of revelation, real and concrete, that can be understood by anyone who will look at it without the nostalgic glasses of history." Jonathan Fineberg when discussing Casper David Friedriches painting Monk by the Seashore 1809-10   describes, The small scale of man against the endless space of the heavens and the sea evokes a breathtaking apprehension of the infinite , a sense of cosmic boundless ness , and by contrast a profound realisation of one own insignificance and mortality.                                                                  This statement would cause me to reflect that when we see how religion has been such a fundamental feature of human society in all cultures, that the sense of cosmic boundless ness described above may well be the root of mankinds religious experience throughout history.

Necessary Illusions

classes. Through the construction of this marketplace, western governments forged firm and enduring links between socioeconomic position and ideological power, permitting upper classes to use each to buttress the other ... In the United States, in particular, the ability of the upper and upper-middle classes to dominate the marketplace of ideas has generally allowed these strata to shape the entire society’s perception of political reality and the range of realistic political and social possibilities. While westerners usually equate the marketplace with freedom of opinion, the hidden hand of the market can be almost as potent an instrument of control as the iron fist of the state.15.                                           Interesting extract from N,Chomsky ,Necessary illusions

Willem de Kooning.Excavation 1950

De Koonings painting Excavation 1950 and his use of newsprint in the in the creation of this painting,anticipates Rauschenburgs use of found images and texts in his own work ,has made me realise that the modern environment,especially the urban environment is virtually a living text.This text is not necessarily narrative in nature.Just as John Cages symphonies utilises the arbitrary way sounds interacts with our senses,the modern media and message saturated environment,with its colidescope of images and text.Each one competing for our attention as we journey through the streets and hi ways of our modern cities is completely arbitrary in its power to work on our perceptions.This is a completely new phanomonom unique to the 20th and 21st century.The modern city dweller is spoken to and enticed daily by images and texts,each random turn of the head exposing him to a new message.

Benjamin Ginsberg. Market place of ideas.

western governments have used market mechanisms to regulate popular perspectives and sentiments. The “marketplace of ideas,” built during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, effectively disseminates the beliefs and ideas of the upper classes while subverting the ideological and cultural independence of the classes. Through the construction of this marketplace, western governments forged firm and enduring links between socioeconomic position and ideological power, permitting upper classes to use each to buttress the other ... In the United States, in particular, the ability of the upper and upper-middle classes to dominate the marketplace of ideas has generally allowed these strata to shape the entire society’s perception of political reality and the range of realistic political and social possibilities. While westerners usually equate the marketplace with freedom of opinion, the hidden hand of the market can be almost as potent an instrument of control as the iron fist of the state.

Clash of civilisations Samuel Huntington

In his book Clash of Civilisations,Samuel Huntington articulates the political theory that,with the sensation of the Cold War,ideology ,and the clash of ideologies is no longer the predominant factor in shaping the world we live in.Huntington believed that the source of future conflict in the world will be between cultures eg. Islam, consumerist western culture etc.The author believes these cultures have their origins in ancient historical civilations of the old world.This is an interesting idea,we see the populations of western democracies, being increasing moulded into a political and cultural consensus by the media.But what is notable is the resistance of Islamic cultures to this manufacturing of consent.what is more interesting is that cultures are no longer confined to geographical locations.Culture is no longer predominantly idetified with nationality.Clashes between cultures can take place within nation states.