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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Aaron Astor: The Spirit of 1861 - and 2011

It's like having two piles of laundry in your home and instead of deciding which to wash, you decide to burn the house down.
(Sam Harris about the debt ceiling fight)




Aaron Astor teaches history at Maryville College, Tennessee. He has this article in The Moderate Voice (an Internet hub for moderates, centrists, and independents, with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, and right):

From the moment John Brown led his failed raid on the Federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia on October 16, 1859 the American South went into battle mode. Decades of economic rivalry, mutual cultural denigration, tragicomic assaults on the honor of politicians, and tense negotiations over Western expansion had now reached a point of genuine crisis. To the slaveholding South, the election of a President whose party contained elements approving a large-scale, murderous slave insurrection meant the virtual dissolution of the Union.

Or so the argument went among the so-called fire-eaters in 1860.

The reality, however, was that most white Southerners had not yet come to the conclusion that the Union could no longer protect the vital social and economic institution unique to the South. Throughout 1860 a debate circulated back and forth in the Cotton States over whether or not the Southern states should secede immediately upon the likely election to the Presidency of Republican Abraham Lincoln, or whether or not the slave states should demand a series of Constitutional protections against the potential assault against the system of slavery.

But this debate was not one carried on by rational politicians. Instead, it was hijacked by fire-eaters like William Lowndes Yancey of Alabama, Robert Toombs of Georgia, and Robert Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina, who stormed out of the Democratic Presidential convention in Charleston and nominated their own candidate, Kentuckian John C. Breckinridge.

When the inevitable happened, and Lincoln won election with less than 40% of the popular vote – sweeping the North while not even appearing on most Southern ballots – the fire-eaters jumped into action. They had little trouble convincing South Carolina to take the lead on December 20, 1860. Georgia and five other Deep South states quickly followed suit. Alexander Stephens, a well-respected conservative Georgian, counseled repeatedly against secession as folly. While the South’s position was morally and ideologically right, according to Stephens, it was unwise and dangerous to blow apart the Union over principle. As legions of other conservative Southern Unionists argued, secession may be defensible in theory, but it would lead inevitably to Civil War and the likely destruction of the very social order that Southerners seceded to protect.

The conservatives lost that battle and most, like Stephens, threw in their lot with the new Confederate States of America. Four years later, the Revolution of 1861 ended in total catastrophe for the slaveholding South. The slaves were emancipated and the owners uncompensated; the land was physically ruined; much of the white male population was dead or maimed; and the dreaded industrial wage labor system began its march into the South.

Never before or since has a wealthy and powerful subset of America risked so much for ideological purity and honor – and lost it all in a fit of hubris.

Never, that is, until now.


The issues are obviously completely different. And I certainly do not mean to imply that the explosive issues of race and slavery are somehow at play again today. But the region leading the intransigence today – South Carolina, Georgia and the rest of the South – was the same that led the great disaster of 1861. I can’t explain why it is that the GOP delegations from the Deep South are the most opposed to the debt ceiling increase. But I can say that the folly these politicians are expressing rivals that of their ancestors.


The cost of failing to raise the debt ceiling is either catastrophic, confusing or some combination therein. What is certain, however, is that interest rates will spike as the US government will have effectively refused to pay its minimum balance on a credit card debt already accrued before today. Not only will this raise the likelihood of falling deeper into recession, it will make the Republican Party look completely amateurish and will hand full and complete power back to a Democratic Party committed to more of the same spending that infuriates the Tea Party right.


The saner conservatives – Fred Thompson and Charles Krauthammer, for example – loathe the large-scale spending. But they understand that the GOP has already gotten the best deal it could possibly get – a deficit cutting bill with no tax increases! Why throw that away in a pique of ideological purity? How could the Tea Party and the right wing of the GOP not see the benefit of compromise here today and fighting the larger fight tomorrow – and on ground that the Democrats have already conceded?


At the Andrew Johnson Historic Site in Greeneville, Tennessee, it is Fred Thompson who plays the voice of the great East Tennessee Unionist Senator in the museum’s orientation video. One can imagine Johnson – as Fred Thompson today – issuing the same warning against the folly of refusing to raise the debt ceiling just as he admonished Tennesseans in 1861 to eschew disunion.


Instead, we’ve entered the surreal phase where the Tea Party right demands even more delusional provisions, like linking a second round of debt ceiling increase to PASSAGE of a Balanced Budget Amendment by both houses of Congress. I would suggest that this is even more obscene than the pathetic Crittenden Compromise of early 1861, where the North was asked to agree to an unamendable Constitutional amendment recognizing the permanent right of states to maintain chattel slavery. Nobody expected the North to agree with that provision – and the South had already concluded the gig was up anyway. Does anybody really think a Balanced Budget Amendment is going to pass THIS Congress (or any Congress, for that matter)? The unseriousness of this proposal shows just how far off the deep end the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party has gone.

But it may be too late. The Tea Party has finally re-awoken the maverick John McCain and exposed huge rifts within the GOP. It has completely alienated Independents from the GOP. And it may have thrown the entire economy into a catastrophic death spiral. It will be up to the remaining adults in the room to clean up the mess, and leave today’s fire-eaters in the dustbin of history.



-----------------------------------


Well, here is a last-minute info:

In a last-minute stab at compromise, Republican congressional leaders and the White House made significant progress Saturday night toward a deal to avert a government default threatened for early next week, according to officials familiar with the talks.

Under the plan, the nation's debt limit would rise in two steps by a total of about $2.4 trillion and spending would be cut by a slightly larger amount, these officials said. The first stage — about $1 trillion — would take place immediately and the second later in the year
.

What to say? We are living interesting times. And I am very cautious when it comes to interesting times.

(Zoon Politikon)

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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Turkey: Top Military Leaders Resign


Turkey’s top commander, Gen. Isik Kosaner, together with the leaders of the navy, army and air force, simultaneously resigned in protest over the sweeping arrests of dozens of generals as suspects in conspiracy. It's a very important moment in the history of modern Turkey, so far characterized by the preeminence of the military as a controlling force over the state.





(Zoon Politikon)

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Friday, July 29, 2011

Arvid: Painting Finished



It's close to five o'clock. Master Arvid, I know that you are the wine guy par excellence, but what about a Hobglobin beer?

(P&C Art)

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Robert Henri: Dutch Girl in White



Like many late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century painters, Henri was influenced by the art of the old masters, especially the candid portraits by Diego Velázquez and Frans Hals.


(New York, New York)

Frans Hals at the Metropolitan

Merrymakers at Shrovetide
around 1616-1617
oil on canvas
Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art

I love the works of Dutch masters, and Frans Hals occupies a special place among them. Each time I am in a museum and it happens to see a painting by Frans Hals I feel a special joy. Usually it comes after seeing Rembrandt and then the encounter with Hals comes to fill the gapes: they are different and together they make a whole universe; the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of the Earth.

I found in today's NY Times a great review on a Frans Hals exhibition on view at the Met, and i captured here for you some images. Enjoy!





The Fisher Girl
year unknown
oil on canvas
Private collection
Credit: Private Collection and the Metropolitan Museum of Art




Study of an Old Man With a White Beard
around 1617-18
Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art



Young Man and Woman in an Inn
(Yonker Ramp and His Sweetheart)
1623
oil on canvas
Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art




The Smoker
cca 1625
oil on wood
Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art




Portrait of scholar Petrus Scriverius (Peter Schryjver)
1626
oil on wood
Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art




Portrait of Anna van der Aar (Petrus Scriverius' wife)
1626
oil on wood
Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art







Portrait of a Man
(possibly beer brewer and art collector Nicolaes Pietersz Duyst van Voorhout)
1636-38
oil on canvas
Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art




(New York, New York)

Thursday, July 28, 2011

American Hall of Wonders

Charles Willson Peale: The Artist in his Museum
1822
Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum

Charles Willson Peale (the father of Rembrandt Peale) created in Philadelphia in the early 19th century a cabinet of artifacts he had gathered along the years: from stuffed birds to parts of a mastodon skeleton. And the painting above is a selfportrait: the gracious aged gentleman is Charles Willson Peale himself, and he is figured lifting a heavy curtain to invite us into his cabinet of wonders.

This painting is welcoming today the visitors of The Great American Hall of Wonders, an exhibition open at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in DC, devoted to the 19th century American culture: art, science and invention.

I found a review of this exhibition in NY Times and too bad I am now too far away from Washington: it would have been a great joy for me to see all these paintings, and drawings, and sculptures, and documents, and objects.





Ernest Griset: The Far West — Shooting Buffalo on Line of the Kansas-Pacific Railroad
June 3, 1871
from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper
Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum



Albert Bierstadt: The Giant Redwood Trees of California
circa 1874
Credit: Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts






Andrew Joseph Russell: East and West Shaking Hands at Laying the Last Rail
1869
This photograph captures the moment when the transcontinental railroad was completed
Credit: Union Pacific Railroad Museum, Council Bluffs, Iowa




George Catlin: Bird's Eye View of Niagara Falls
circa 1827
Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum




(American Art and Portraiture)

Marston's Burton Bitter


What brands of beer to find in Bucharest? You can find this one, for instance: Marston's Burton Bitter. It comes from England. John Marston created it in 1834 when he established his brewery.

It is almost 1000 years since the beer making virtues of Burton's spring water was discovered by the Monks of Burton Abbey. The spring water does not come from the River Trent, it is rain water that has fallen on the surrounding hills, and percolated down through gypsum beds, forming an underground stream on the valley floor. It is these trace elements of gypsum (calcium sulfate) which help to make a clearer, brighter bitter.



(Bucuresti)

ivan I sciupac: Guiding Light

ivan I sciupac: Guiding Light



Strong diagonals and high-contrast black and white place this jogger in a compelling and dramatic composition.



(America viewed by Americans)

A Caribbean House That Time Forgot

(credit: Sophie Munro)

Raindrops seeping through the roof and floorboards creaking like old bones only add to the beauty and character of this 250-year-old home on Jamaica's St. Ann's Bay.

The landlord is an artist and if you walk through the rooms it's impossible to get it where art ends and house begins: each room is like a painting that has grown from itself.

Read more at:



(credit: Sophie Munro)



(credit: Sophie Munro)



(credit: Sophie Munro)



(credit: Sophie Munro)



(Blogosphere)

Monday, July 25, 2011

Hobglobin



What brands of beer to find in Bucharest? You can find this one, for instance: Wych Wood Brewery Hobglobin. It comes from England, it's 5.2% alc.vol. It's the legendary Ruby Beer, traditionally crafted.




The head brewer from Wych Wood describe it as full bodied and well balanced with a chocolate toffee malt flavor, moderate bitterness and a distinctive fruity character with a ruby red glow, and he is right, believe me. Well, it challenges the pale lager drinkers. If they keep to lager, it's their problem, not mine. They should at least give it a shot.




When Prime Minister Cameron and President Obama met at Toronto in 2010, they gave each other beer from their respective towns, with Cameron coming with twelve bottles of Hobglobin. Obama asked whether it was chilled! That's unpardonable! Strong ale should be drunk at room temperature!





(Bucuresti)

Anri Sala: Intervista (1999)


Two images at a distance of more than twenty years. A young film director discovers by chance in his apartment an old 16-mm film, the record of an interview his mother gave in her youth. The soundtrack is missing, so the son asks his mother what was she talking about. She doesn't remember. The son finds the producers of the film: they don't remember either. The son doesn't give up. He goes with the tape to a school for the deaf and asks the lip readers for help. This time he succeeds. Well, his mother was active in the Communist Youth League twenty years ago and her interview is full of all those slogans that now seem insane. Confronted with the words of the interview, his mother firstly denies everything, then tries in total embarrassment some odd explanations. Actually she cannot believe any more she was that way twenty years ago.

The film director is Anri Sala and the 26 minute movie (Intervista, released in 1999) is the personal story of him, and of his mother.

I looked for a copy of the movie: I haven't yet been able to find it. And I would like to watch it, as I wonder if the film itself is not somehow more generous with mother's past than it looks like from the storyline. I mean, an artwork should give a chance to each personage and leave the conclusions to the spectator. And from the other two movies of Anri Sala that I have already watched, I think that this film director is a too great artist to not let his artwork to live on its own, to not give each personage the freedom to unfold on her or his own.

And also, if we judge our past from today's perspective we run the risk of getting Manichean. Before condemning our past (or the past of our parents), we should understand that it belongs to us, it defines us, it's our identity. Our most important duty is to recuperate it. Not to condemn, not to defend, just that: to recuperate, with all its beauties and insanities. Elif Shafak has a great phrase: our past of beauties and atrocities!

And maybe Intervista is actually a work of recuperating the past. I would like so much to watch it!

Here are several links to web pages dedicated to Intervista:


(Anri Sala)

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The Long House

The Long House, where tribes dance, sing and exchange gifts with guests
Credit: Michael Hanson for The New York Times
(http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/07/25/us/20110725_CANOE-4.html)


A growing number of American Indians from tribes scattered across coastal regions of Washington State and British Columbia have climbed into traditionally designed cedar canoes and traveled for more than two or three weeks every summer.


(America viewed by Americans)

Andy Stinson: Sorting Through Old Photos


Andy Stinson is a chaplain in the US Army and currently he is serving in Khan Al Baghdadi, Al Anbar, Iraq.


(America viewed by Americans)

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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Anri Sala: Dammi i Colori (2003)


When I first showed the city footage in Poughkeepsie, Liam Gillick said to me, Anri, tell me the truth. Tell me that this city does not exist.

A post utopian project in Tirana, painting vividly festive the poorest city in Europe

During Communist regime freedom seemed Utopia. And Utopia came, in 1989, like a cataclysm, destroying the whole, and followed the next day by Post-Utopia. And over the junk that remained after the cataclysm what they got were the colors. The walls got colored, the TV programs got 24*7, the malls replaced the factories. Capitalism second hand is like fish with freshness of second degree. Fish can be either fresh or it stinks, there is no other way. However, colors bring hope and teach you to look for purpose.

Dammi i Colori (Give me Colors), a 15 minute movie made by Anri Sala. You can watch it at:




















(Anri Sala)

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Tragedy in Norway


The assassin kept a diary about his anti-Muslim convictions. I don't want to blame the right wing organizations and Christianity for these horrible crimes, as I never blamed Islam for the horrible crimes of Al Qaida. As I never blamed the left wing organizations for the horrible crimes of the Red Brigades.

I want only to say that anti-Muslim phobia leads to a much larger phobia, against the core values of our democracy, against tolerance and multiculturalism.

(Zoon Politikon)

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Anri Sala: Nocturnes (1999)

(http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/piece/?search=Nocturnes&page=&f=Title&object=2003.58)

Nocturnes, an 11 minutes movie made by Anri Sala, an exploration of universes of anxiety and loneliness. The experiences of two personages are intertwined. Each one tries to find an illusory world just to escape from a reality perceived as unbearable. One of them looks for solace near huge aquariums filled with thousands of small fish, just to find there the same fears as in the world of humans. The other guy lived the atrocities of war in 1990's Yugoslavia and now the addiction to a playstation allows a temporary escape from excruciating memories, while offering a fictitious universe of violence, the only one that makes sense for him any more.

As the film goes on the two stories, as different as they are, are becoming less and less distinct.




(Anri Sala)

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Anri Sala



Anri Sala, born in 1974 in Tirana, Albania, is a contemporary artist whose primary medium is video. He studied art at the Albanian Academy of Arts, video at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs, Paris and film direction in Le Fresnoy-Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Tourcoing.


(Contemporary Art)

(Filmofilia)

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Friday, July 22, 2011

Delea Veche, Delea Noua

Delea Veche, Delea Noua - in copilarie mi-am petrecut mult timp prin partea aceasta a orasului, Popa Nan, Tepes Voda, Delea Veche, Delea Noua, Calarasi, Theodor Sperantia. Bunica mea locuia pe strada Austrului, foarte aproape de Mecet, de Popa Nan. In timpul saptamanii mergea dimineata la Hala Traian, la intersectia dintre Traian si Calarasi. Vulturilor, Labirint erau putin mai incolo. Duminicile mergea la biserica Popa Nan.

Au trecut anii, cand am inceput sa invat engleza ma duceam sa iau lectii la cineva care locuia pe strada Dristor. Luam troleibuzul, Popa Nan, Delea Veche, Delea Noua, traversam Calarasii, Theodor Sperantia. Si imi aminteam cum, rar de tot, ajungeam cu bunica la Bariera Vergului, acolo unde Calarasii si Theodor Sperantia se intalneau.

Locurile acelea si-au schimbat de mult infatisarea. Toate blocurile construite prin anii 80, apoi sediile de banci cu nume cu rezonanta internationala, si firmele nenumarate... Odata am luat troleibuzul si am venit din nou pe vechiul drum, Popa Nan, Delea Veche, Delea Noua... si m-am mustrat in gand pentru ca niciodata nu ajunsesem sa intru in bisericile astea doua, cele doua Delii.

Azi de dimineata s-a intamplat sa am treaba prin zona, la o editura, asa ca mi-am luat si aparatul fotografic cu mine. Aveam de gand sa descopar si unde este mormantul lui Anton Pann, tineam minte vag ca undeva citisem ca Pann este inmormantat ori la Delea Veche, ori la Delea Noua.

Am ajuns mai intai la Biserica Delea Noua.


Biserica Delea Noua

Am intrat emotionat inauntru. Emotie pentru ca intram prima oara in biserica asta, dar si pentru ca acum cateva zile am aflat numele strabunicii mele. Si era prima oara cand intram intr-o biserica stiind numele strabunicii mele.

Bunica mea s-a nascut in 1874 la Gura Vitiorii, langa Valenii de Munte. Dela mama stiam ca pe tatal ei (deci strabunicul meu) il chema Ghioca. Lumea il stia de Ghioca Sarbul. Era Gheorghe, dar venise acolo din Bulgaria, iar pe bulgareste Gheorghe pare-se ca e Ghioca (sau poate ca Ghioca e un nume diferit, insa in romaneste cel mai apropiat de el este Gheorghe). Si fiind bulgar, lumea ii spunea Sarbul, pentru ca asa ii numeau romanii atunci si pe sarbi si pe bulgari, de-a valma, sarbi.

Insa nu stiam cum o chemase pe mama bunicii mele. Stiam ca murise tanara, iar bunica mea fusese crescuta de o mama vitrega. Ei bine, acum cateva zile o ruda de-a mea (care construieste un arbore genealogic al familiei) a reusit sa dea prin arhive de numele strabunicii: o chema Antona

Si era prima oara astazi de dimineata cand intram intr-o sfanta biserica si stiam numele strabunicii mele, Antona.

Am zabovit o vreme inauntru, staruind cu gandul la toate acestea, m-am uitat apoi la picturile de pe pereti (una sau doua din ele sunt atribuite lui Tattarescu). apoi am inceput sa ma uit pe istoricul bisericii, afisat la intrare. Si am aflat ca actuala biserica Delea Noua este putin mai veche decat actuala biserica Delea Veche.

Este a treia biserica construita pe locul acesta.

Spune istoria, intre anii 1750-1770, pe o portiune de teren din mosiile Pantelimon si Radu-Voda, s-au asezat in jur de 30-40 de familii de romani plugari, cunoscatori ai mestesugului postavariei si gaitanariei, care au intemeiat un catun pe care l-au numit Deluta, deoarece era asezat pe un deal nu departe de bariera orasului; cu trecerea anilor, extinzandu-se orasul, catunul a primit denumirea de Delea Noua, ca sa se deosebeasca de asezarea apropiata mai veche, care a devenit astfel Delea Veche.

Prima lor biserica era de lemn. Nu stim cand a fost construita, exista la 1761, iar Banul Mihai Cantacuzino o mentioneaza in 1774. Stim unul din ctitori, un anume Grigore Postavarul: era trecut intr-un pomelnic de proscomidie (astazi pierdut).

In locul bisericii de lemn s-a construit intre 1790-1798 o a doua biserica. Stim si aici unul din ctitori, un anume Nicolae Inima Rea (chiar asa!), logofat, paharnic si postelnic.

Biserica a doua a devenit la un moment dat neincapatoare, numarul de locuitori era din ce in ce mai mare, asa ca dupa vreo optzeci de ani, intre 1872 - 1875, s-a construit biserica actuala. Ca si la celelalte doua biserici, toti locuitorii au contribuit, insa si acum a existat un ctitor principal: arhiereul Calist Stratonichias (1800 - 1885), Vicar al Mitropoliei (si nascut, se pare, aici in mahalaua Delei Vechi).



Biserica Delea Noua - Arhiereul Calist Stratonichias


Arhiereul Calist a si sfintit biserica, pe 25 martie 1875, alaturi de episcopul Ghenadie Petrescu (care avea sa ajunga mai tarziu mitropolit al Ungrovlahiei).

Si tot Calist a adus iconostasul, dela manastirea Ghighiu din Prahova. Si tot el a infiintat un fond din care mai tarziu avea sa se faca un azil de batrani, azilul Calist. Se afla langa biserica, cladirea a fost daramata in anii 80 cand s-a facut sistematizarea intregii zone.

Biserica Delea Noua - Iconostasul
(adus dela Manastirea Ghighiu de catre Arhiereul Calist)
(http://www.crestinortodox.ro/biserici-manastiri/biserica-delea-noua-calist-67881.html)

Am intrebat daca nu era acolo si mormantul lui Anton Pann, mi s-a spus ca nu. Asa ca am plecat mai departe spre Delea Veche.


Biserica Delea Veche

Distanta dintre cele doua biserici este de vreo cinci sute de metri. Spre deosebire de Delea Noua, cea Veche este inca inconjurata de vechile case.

Biserica actuala Delea Veche a fost construita intre 1894 - 1896. Alaturi de enoriasi s-a implicat si mitropolitul Ghenadie Petrescu. Si aici a fost o biserica mai veche, avariata insa foarte grav la cutremurul din 1838.

M-a impresionat felul in care se ridica turla din naos, ii da intregului un echilibru elegant si iti sugereaza ca istoria sacra nu are sfarsit, istoria povestita de icoanele si picturile de pe peretii naosului, care continua cu picturile asezate cu maiestrie in turla, mergand tot mai sus.


Biserica Delea Veche - Naosul

Am intrebat si aici de mormantul lui Anton Pann. Nu, nu era. Ajuns acasa m-am uitat din nou prin cartile mele: Anton Pann este inmormantat la Biserica Lucaci!


(Bucuresti)

(Icon and Orthodoxy)

Lucian Freud Passed Away




He started from the Neue Sachlichkeit (Otto Dix, Georg Gross), fed also with much older masters (Albrecht Dürer, Hans Memling); he was briefly attracted by Surrealism, only to reject it decisively (I could never put anything into a picture that wasn’t actually there in front of me); and the encounter with the art of Francis Bacon proved decisive. Lucian Freud (who died yesterday, at 88) has been one of the great masters of Hyperrealism.

There is an article about his life and work in NY Times:























































si un rezumat pentru prietenii mei care nu stiu englezeste nici macar cat sa ma citeasca pe mine: Lucian Freud a pornit dela Noua Obiectivitate a lui Otto Dix si Georg Gross, hranit si din maestri mult mai vechi (Dürer si Memling); a fost tentat cateodata sa se aventureze si pe campiile suprarealismului (cine oare nu a fost?), ca pana la urma sa se scuture de el cu oroare (cum sa pictez ceva ce nu e acolo in fata mea?); intalnirea cu arta lui Francis Bacon s-a dovedit decisiva; cu femeile a avut el ce-a avut: nudurile sale nu sunt doar dezbracate, sunt obtruziv despuiate, goliciunea lor urla ca o rana deschisa din care se prelinge puroi, pana la punctul in care te prefaci ca nu o vezi si ii spui doamnei, 'va rog sa ma scuzati domnule, nu am stiut ca sunteti dezbracat'; a stiut insa sa fie si suav, dovada portretele primei sale sotii (care totusi a divortat de el, era in viata de toate zilele o pacoste); nici a doua nevasta nu a putut sa il suporte prea mult; a avut dupa aceea amante: era un romantic; totusi povestea ca el a dat foc scolii de pictura unde era elev este o legenda nedreapta; americanii s-au mirat multa vreme de unde pana unde faima lui de mare artist; pana cand la Hirshhorn a fost organizata o expozitie Lucian Freud; a urmat dupa aceea o expozitie la MoMA iar americanii au inceput sa il adore; asa sunt americanii, pana la urma baieti buni; daca ma intrebati pe mine, eu cred ca este genial: picteaza cu 'guts' (cum tot americanii zic) si spune in tablourile lui al naibii de bine tot ce are de spus; dar toate astea sunt incepand de ieri la timpul trecut; Lucian Freud ne-a parasit; ne raman capodoperele sale hiperrealiste, greu de inghitit pentru cei slabi; sunt patrunse si picturile lui, cum este toata arta veacuilui al douazecillea, de tensiunea insuportabila dintre imagine si realitate; asta este, ne-a parasit; sa se odihneasca in pace!


(Contemporary Art)

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