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Category Archives: Art
BOOK REVIEW: Pulp: The Process Edition by Ed Brubaker
Pulp: The Process Edition by Ed BrubakerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Out: July 26, 2022
This is the “how the sausage gets made” edition of a popular standalone graphic novel, “Pulp.” It takes the reader through the various stages of the book’s development from conception through book “trailer,” drafting, penciling, coloring, and on to the final product. It offers explanatory notes by the author and artist at each stage along the way, in addition to showing the work at that stage of development. For the more substantial stages (e.g. drafting and final edition) it shows the full product, but for intermediary stages (e.g. inking and coloring) it just shows a few representative pages to give one the idea.
If you’re just looking to be entertained by a story, this isn’t the edition you want. Which isn’t to say that it’s not the book you want, “Pulp” offers a well-crafted and intriguing tale of a man, Max, who lived the gangster life in the wild west in the prime of his life (late 1800’s) and then “went straight” to become a pulp fiction writer in 1930’s New York during his senior years. The action of the story takes place in 1930’s New York, with flashbacks to violent episodes of Max’s past out west. It’s a take on “the life sucks you back in” storyline.
The main market for this edition is artists and writers interested in the comic writing / drawing tricks and techniques of seasoned professionals. I can also imagine actors, filmmakers, and those with cinematic interests benefiting from learning how choices are made with respect to how scenes are set and framed – i.e. to learn from the economy of the graphic novel format.
If you’re a creative type looking to work with comics or wanting to learn about how scene choices are made, give this book a look. If you’re just looking for an action-packed story, pick up the original edition of “Pulp.”
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BOOK REVIEW: Better Living Through Criticism by A.O. Scott
Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty and Truth by A.O. ScottMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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There’s a chasm between title and book. The title, which is clearly meant to play on the Dupont motto turned recreational drug user motto that substitutes the word “chemistry” in place of “criticism,” suggests a book that will be directed toward a reader, teaching said individual how to hone his or her skills of art criticism. This book, on the other hand, reads more like a review of the criticism industry that is meant to be received by an audience. In other words, it feels more like you’re in a Ted Talk than that you’re having a private lesson or conversation. It’s a fine book, witty, thought-provoking, and insightful by turns, but not the book one would expect from the title, subtitle, and blurb.
This essay (or collection of six shorter essays – if you prefer) examines the life and livelihood of art critics and how the endeavor has ebbed and flowed over the years. While the author is a film critic, he adeptly uses examples and stories from across the arts: poetry, paintings, music, theater, etc. In addition to the six chapters, there are three dialogues that are presumably meant to be reminiscent of Oscar Wilde’s essay / dialogue “The Critic as Artist,” a piece that is referenced and quoted in the book.
While the book is generally readable, it would probably benefit from more clarity of message while dialing down attempts to be witty and interesting. It seems like the author may have aimed to do what the films that film critics tend to love do, leave one walking away wondering what it is that one just consumed.
If you want to know more about the criticism “business,” i.e. who does it and how the job has changed (and continues to change,) you’ll enjoy this book. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a book that (as this book’s subtitle suggests) will help you better understand “how to think about art, pleasure, beauty, and truth,” then this might not be the book for which you’re looking.
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Quotations Stumbled Upon [Recently]
To survive in this world you have to be many times a coward but at least once a hero.
Adam Johnson, The Orphan Master’s son
The metaphysical assumptions upon which you want to build your life cannot be an inherited duty.
Patrick levy, Sadhus
It is true that if there were no phenomena which were independent of all but a manageably small set of conditions, Physics would be impossible.
Eugene wigner, the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences
I feel about literature what Grant did about war. He hated it. I hate literature. I’m not a literary West Pointer; I do not love a literary man as a literary man, as a minister of the pulpit loves other ministers because they are ministers: it is a means to an end, that is all there is to it.
Walt whitman, as quoted in Yone Noguchi’s the spirit of japanese poetry
Know that all the sects in existence are a way to Hell.
Nichiren, as quoted by yone Noguchi in the spirit of japanese poetry
It is so easy to convert others. It is so difficult to convert oneself.
oscar wilde, the critic as artist
If you meet at a dinner a man who has spent his life in educating himself — a rare type in our time, I admit, but still one occasionally to be met with — you rise from the table richer, and conscious that a high ideal has for a moment touched and sanctified your days. But Oh! my dear Ernest, to sit next to a man who has spent his life trying to educate others! What a dreadful experience it is!
Oscar wilde, tHE CRITIC AS ARTIST
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BOOK REVIEW: The Critic as Artist by Oscar Wilde
The Critic as Artist: With Some Remarks Upon the Importance of Doing Nothing by Oscar WildeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Free to Read Online
In this dialogue, the characters of Ernest and Gilbert reflect upon the value, nature, and limits of artistic criticism. Ernest serves largely as foil and questioner, taking the everyman view that critics are failed artists and that criticism is a puny endeavor that isn’t good for much. Gilbert, on the other hand, defends criticism of art as an art unto itself, and a difficult one at that, one that requires revealing elements and ideas of the artistic piece that the artist didn’t put in the piece in the first place. Throughout, Gilbert lays down his counterintuitive bits of wisdom about the job of the critic, the characteristics of good critics, and – also – about artists and art, itself. [Ideas such as that all art is immoral.]
Oscar Wilde was famed for his wit, quips, and clever – if controversial – turns of phrase, and this dialogic essay is packed with them. A few of my favorites include:
“The one duty we owe to history is to re-write it.”
“Conversation should touch everything, but should concentrate itself on nothing.”
“If you wish to understand others you must intensify your own individualism.”
“Let me say to you now that to do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.”
“Ah! don’t say that you agree with me. When people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.”
“…nothing worth knowing can be taught.”
This is an excellent essay, and I’d highly recommend it for anyone who’s interested in art, criticism, or who just likes to noodle through ideas. You’re unlikely to complete the essay as a convert to all of Gilbert’s tenets, but you’ll have plenty to chew on, mentally speaking.
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DAILY PHOTO: Gangtok Graffiti
DAILY PHOTO: Gompa Art, Ravangla
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Clouds & Bamboo [Haiku]
Beauty Lost [Haiku]
Buddha statues’
fine robes & bejewelment;
what would he have worn?
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BOOK REVIEW: Genius: A Very Short Introduction by Andrew Robinson
Genius: A Very Short Introduction by Andrew RobinsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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This book examines the myths and realities of that state of capability we call genius. It’s not about “geniuses” as individuals who test well on IQ exams, or who are eligible for Mensa membership, but rather about those luminaries who’ve made breakthroughs that changed the course of their discipline. It considers artistic and literary type geniuses (Shakespeare and Picasso) as well as scientific geniuses (e.g. Einstein and Darwin,) as well as discussing the differences (perceived and real) between these groups and the intriguing rarity of crosscutting figures (e.g. Da Vinci.)
The bulk of the book evaluates characteristics that are (rightly or wrongly) commonly associated with genius, including: heredity, education, intelligence, creativity, madness, personality traits, and discipline. Don’t expect clear and straightforward connections. That’s not the author’s fault. There just aren’t any traits unambiguously linked to genius in an uncomplicated way. One might expect education would be an unequivocal boon to genius, but it can be a hindrance to genius in its training of conformity. There may be a disproportionate number of geniuses with mental health issues, but there are even more without them. Hard work maybe a necessary condition, but it’s clearly not a sufficient one.
The book addresses a few other related subjects, beyond the traits associated with geniuses. For example, the degree to which genius can be defined and what it means if we can (or can’t) do so. Few individuals would be unanimously judged geniuses, and to the degree some are, mightn’t that say more about the public’s role in bestowing genius rather than the individual’s earning the designation. There is also discussion about eureka moments versus slow-builds.
This book is thought-provoking and raises intriguing and counter-intuitive debates. If you’re interested in the perception, the reality, and the interplay between the two with regard to genius, check it out.
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Tiger Riding for Beginners 