March 2014

POTD: Mono-Mondrian #4

POTD: Mono-Mondrian #4Mono-Mondrian #4 Headwaters State Park, Montana 2014

The silence in regard to my musings about the artistic meaning and significance of these image is defining! 🙂 So I’ll just shut up, which is o.k. because I’ve run out of things to say about it anyway (at least for now). I will say that this more close-up and less busy image is one of my own personal favorites from the series.]]>

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POTD: Mono-Mondrian #3

POTD: Mono-Mondrian #3Mono-Mondrian #3 Headwaters State Park, Montana 2014

 Early on in the development or evolution of his abstract painting style Mondrian had this to say about the significance of his work:

I construct lines and color combinations on a flat surface, in order to express general beauty with the utmost awareness. Nature (or, that which I see) inspires me, puts me, as with any painter, in an emotional state so that an urge comes about to make something, but I want to come as close as possible to the truth and abstract everything from that, until I reach the foundation (still just an external foundation!) of things…

I believe it is possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic forms of beauty, supplemented if necessary by other direct lines or curves, can become a work of art, as strong as it is true.

In my simple mind I don’t understand the thought process that would lead someone to find truth in an abstract painting, or a representational painting either for that matter. That skepticism aside, the issue begs the question as to whether, to the same or similar extent as in an abstract painting, is there some expression of some truth to be found in an abstract photograph as well? I have not had time to read it yet, but maybe there’s some hint of an answer to be found here, or perhaps there would be if more than one page was accessible on the link.]]>

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POTD: Mono-Mondrian #2

POTD: Mono-Mondrian #2Mono-Mondrian #2 Headwaters State Park, Montana 2014

To the artistically unsophisticated (a descriptor that fits me more than some people might think–or maybe it’s obvious to everyone), the paintings of Piet Mondrian are hard to appreciate. While I certainly find them puzzlingly interesting from an intellectual standpoint, I at best waffle in regard to their value when assessed from a purely visual art appreciation point of view. I purposely don’t evaluate art visually in terms of some measure of “beauty,” but do figure a piece of art ought to move me in some emotional sense–however ill-defined–before I label it a success on that dimension. Modrian’s paintings generally don’t move me visually. But here’s what has me perplexed. I like these photos of peeling paint I’m referring to as Mono-Mondrians. (If it’s not obvious, I use that name because I see a structural similarity between the geometric patterns of the paint in these images and those defined by the line grids in Mondrian’s paintings.) Furthermore, I see interesting differences across the various images in this series, i.e., it is not redundant to show quite similar yet varied arrangements of the paint patches. It has not escaped my notice that the redundant yet different versions of these photos parallels the redundant yet different grid paintings produced by Mondrian. So, if I definitely see some visual merit in these variations on paint patches, i.e., they somehow appeal to me emotionally, why am I not able to get a similar degree of emotional response from Mondrian’s famous paintings. Beats me–I’m obviously not artistically sophisticated enough to figure that out!      ]]>

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POTD: Snow Shadows #1

POTD: Snow Shadows #1Snow Shadows #1 Yellowstone National Park, Montana 2014

I’m feeling a little minimalist today–O.K. maybe a lot minimalist. There’s something quite serene about staring out over rolling swells of snow with clouds passing over the sun casting various shadows that change minute by minute.

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