Archive for the ‘Commentary’ Category

The mystery is still stuck in the painting, waiting to be let out.

You may have seen this painting, “The Night Watch,” by Rembrandt already.  It’s one of Rembrandt’s most famous pieces.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tolstoy believed “David Copperfield” to be “the standard” for the English novel.

I’ve been reading David Copperfield on my headphones the past few days and thought the following scene was  one of the most empathetic scenes I have ever read.

Here’s a brief summary of what has happened thus far in the story for any who need it: Read the rest of this entry »

On finding a solution to building a website with a blog for web-code illiterate artists.

Three hours ago I set out to figure out how to add a “progress bar” to my blog showing where I am on my current project.  After searching for a bit, I was met with frustration and not for the first time since installing wordpress: there wasn’t a progress bar that suited my needs; I couldn’t find a way to add a simple, self-created image into my sidebar the way I would like; I’ve tried hiring someone else to do the coding for me and it didn’t work out the way that I had hoped.

Now what?

If you’re like me, here’s what you are looking for: Read the rest of this entry »

Giants in the fog.

In the spring of 2008, while I was working with Richard Solomon as an assistant, a giant crane broke off from its base and demolished our little office.





This image belongs to the New York Times, I believe.

We had no where to go, so Richard called up a friend at the Beekman Hotel on 49th Street.  His friend was kind enough to allow us to use their Presidential Suite, which was around twenty-five floors up and from there we saw many beautiful views of the Trump Tower (only half a block away) like this one:





Sometimes the fog in the city would get so thick that you could only vaguely see the shapes of dim, massive, dark buildings lurking around you, and the glowing lights of street cars swam around below you as well.  The view was so inspiring that we decided to do a video to showcase of our art going into large spaces like the Trump Tower.  (I’ve already posted it here.)

One of the best parts of putting together the film was getting to walk around New York looking for things to film.  In December I discovered for myself Bow Bridge.  It had been in so many films that I recognized it the moment I saw it.  I wanted to film there, and that was that.

But we were all leaving for the Christmas break in two days, so I had to get the filming done as soon as possible in order to be able to work on it over the break. The only time I was going to be able to film it was on Wednesday night at eleven o’clock, and I went–undeterred.

As I walked towards Bow Bridge through the park, a creepy guy started following me.  I had all of my computer and camera equipment (and I had not learned to make backups in those days) on my person.  I decided to walk in circles.  He followed me.  Then I turned back and he hid in the bushes.

I had a job to do and no nighttime murderer was going to stop me.

So, I called up Richard, my boss, and told him he needed to come film with me so that I would not get Shanghied or something.  Richard, growling and grumbling all the way, came.

The scene was unexpectedly prettier than I could imagine.





‘Now, why can’t I be here with a girlfriend rather than my boss,’ I thought.

The filming was going to go until one-thirty or later in the morning (I was doing a time lapse of twenty-two seconds and needed around four or five hundred frames), so another friend, Joel Richards, came to relieve Richard.  The final scene was excellent and we were all glad to have it in the final product.

Afterward, I became a little hooked on shooting the city just for fun.  Here’s another foggy night, this one of the Empire State Building:

A few of my favorite covers from “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by C.S. Lewis.

I love this book–it doesn’t matter the cover.  But not all covers made for it are equal.  Here are a few of my favorites and why.

Number #3 on the favorite scale is the original, by Derek Jacobi.  What I love about this is the innocence: the Pevensie children and Eustace exploring the island; Caspian looking ahead; the head of the Dawn Treader poking into the frame, built just the way the book describes it; and most of all Reepicheep tromping off ahead.  The simple shapes are indicative of the kind of art I used to read at my grandmother’s home as a child, so it has a nostalgic effect too.  The colors of the childrens’ clothes are bright and cheerful, while the dawn treader and the surrounding sea and grass are muted green, which gives the book a classy feel.

Number #2 is the cover which I was first acquainted with as a child, but that’s not the only reason why I like it.

I like the graphical nature of the shapes most of all: the strong silhouette of the sea serpent against the equally strong silhouette of the Dawn Treader; the Da Vinci “Mother and Child on the Rocks” styled islands poking up out of the water; one-brush-stroke waves; and the medieval design of the sea serpent.  (More on this in a future post).  The fact that the colors of the Dawn Treader are different in the book doesn’t bother me–the shapes are so strong that I’m free to change them as I read.

And number #1 is…

Ahh, sweet perfection.  There are countless other ways to visually imagine the series, but this one takes the cake from everything I have ever seen on the Narnia series.

First of all, the moment of the book is as good as it gets.  The children are sailing to the end of the world now (and Narnia is a flat world, not round like ours).  As they get closer and the sun becomes brighter and brighter they see before them a whiteness.  When they pull up to it, fearful that it is ice, they find instead that it is lilies.  They set off again, shifting the lilies aside to leave a trail in their wake.  What an incredible scene to illustrate!

And the cover brings a wonderful visual to the story: the beautifully simple shapes; the monochrome color scheme; the open composition; and the lazy, yet respectful mood.

Committed family woman and a fantastic artist too.

Growing up in my church I frequently saw paintings on the wall of my chapels which were loose, light in color, and never completely rendered.  They didn’t really stand out to me at that age (like most religious art), mostly because I was more enamored with “louder” or more attention-demanding things.  By the time I left to go study with Richard Solomon‘s group of artists in NY, I had so frequently seen and not appreciated Minerva’s work that I could walk by a painting without even noticing it.

Then, while studying in New York, I ended up serving in one of my church callings in a place where I passed by this painting from Minerva every time I walked in and out of the room:

Mary and Martha by Minerva Teichert

The “unfinished” nature of the work was what most grabbed my attention.  Read the rest of this entry »

Le Morte D’ Arthur by Thomas Malory

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Painted by Arthur Hacker

Malory’s rendition of the tale of King Arthur and the round table was thoroughly enjoyable. It was beautifully crafted, delicate in its transitions from fairy tale to verisimilar fiction, and masterful in its storytelling.

The scenes surrounding the attainment of the holy grail were particularly memorable. The image of Percival’s lifeless sister floating Read the rest of this entry »

Arnold Friberg (1913-2010)

Arnold Friberg, accomplished painter and one of my youngest influences, died recently at the age of 96.

I am a member of the same faith as Mr. Friberg and so grew up seeing his paintings in my copy of the holy scriptures.  His compositions, colors, and designs impressed upon the viewer the sacred nature of the prophets and their words.  Even when I was four years old and could not understand the words that they accompanied, I felt the spirit and truth clearly conveyed.  His work opened up doors for future LDS artists to brave the path of speaking to people through art.  We’ll miss him.

Greg Newbold, who had the opportunity of meeting him, wrote a wonderful and informative entry on his blog, which you may read here.

An early cookie monster encounter. Funn.

A multiplicity of ways to get ‘Pwned’ in the comments section.

So, you hit the “post” button on the youtube comment page and only later did you find out what you were in for. Within four minutes, a person named “vanderweelk” replied to your statement with a lengthy, heated opinion and expressed conviction that your statement was seditious, prejudiced, and evil.

What next?  Did you ignore him? Was your comment so insincere that you were not willing to defend it?  Could you walk away from what you said without regard to the possibility of error? Were you stating your opinion on the original discussion topic because that topic challenged your self-image, and did so in a way you were not willing to explore?  Were you not willing to defend your point of view in front of anyone who would later read this comment page and, seeing your cowardice, agree with “vandeerweelk?”  Would it have helped humanity for you to engage with him in the search for enlightenment? Was he not worthy of intellectual debate?

Ok, so you replied. You took a deep breath, checked your emotions, and eliminated personal biases and assumptions.  Then you looked over the merit in your opponent’s statement and pinpointed several errors.  You typed out how his argument was based upon non-linear thinking and, after re-examining his thought process, found a logical deduction clearly missing.  After offering a modest correction, you re-explained your point of view and then, in a show of good faith, finished by taking into account what you learned from him.  You hit the “post” button again and felt confident that appreciation, fellowship, or a more rigorous philosophical debate would ensue.

Three new people replied (“superhot,” “n0pr0bz,” and “gr1mreeperz”).  They filled up your email inbox.  They all sided with “vanderweelk.” One of the newcomers did not speak English except for several politically incorrect words.  You looked at the other arguments and tried to repeat the process of replying to each individual, yet for each new reply you gained a new opponent.  And “vanderweelk” never replied. Did you…