The Invisible Dragon by Dave Hickey

Image source: photo by the artist

Reading Reflection written September, 2022

The way Dave writes is spicy, that intense all-electrifying heat that gives you a euphoric high; albeit not a flavour everyone would enjoy (or have the stomach for). 

If you haven’t at least dipped your toe into the realm of art history, I don’t think you’d be able to appreciate this book in its entirety. Even if you’re a self-proclaimed art history addict like myself, if you’re not turned on by definitions then this book probably would be frustratingly incomprehensible. 

To explore the concept of an ‘image’ (where people create things as a form of communication), gives birth to such an interesting concept of transactional relationships between the artist, artwork and the viewer. I wonder if other artists consciously think of art as a therapeutic institution? This book rips apart the archaic submissively-elitist term of fine art to reveal its transformation through to the ‘modern’ era. What ambiguous terms ‘contemporary’ and ‘modern’. It’s no surprise that current popular depictions of people in the art world are turtleneck-wearing eccentrics holding a glass of wine, speaking at each other in verbose terminology. I’d love to be in a social setting with Dave’s punchy art lexicon cascading throughout the room; I’d love even more to experience the live reactions of people drenched in his opinions. 

Read this book when you want some art history porn. Read again and again when you feel like bathing in the depths of literal and figurative imagery.

The Sublime Documents of Contemporary Art by Simon Morley

Image source Amazon

Reading Reflection written December 2021

Maybe it's easier to experience the sublime than explain it. 

In the words of John Machlis from The Enjoyment of Music: An Introduction to Perceptive Listening (I must finish this book next, move to the top of my to-read list), 'art like love is easier to experience than define'. This quote springs to mind after reading this book. 

I definitely don't know enough about the sublime to speak on this topic but I am intrigued enough to want to listen to others who do know alot about this concept. I need to investigate further. Prior to reading this my initial thoughts were, what could be more stimulating than beauty? Why would people choose fear over a state of calmness? I do resonate with the sublime found in nature, this I can understand, but to me there’s diffused lines where the intersection of beauty and the sublime meet.

I remember my Grandpa (Pa) using the words sensational and sublime interchangeably and thinking, ‘oh he means beautiful or good’, after reading this I don't think Pa knew how deep the roots of those words grew.

There are so many raw artworks in here that are pure expressions or responses to nature and are conceptual/ephemeral. It remains a new challenge to interpret a physical artwork from a text version without tangible pictorial representation. It takes a certain kind of brain power to be stimulated by the description of an artwork without tangible visual representation; to envision these types of artworks (such as environmental artworks which to me could be described as natural-performative--ephemeral-artworks), it requires the most elevated level of imagination. I'd love to unpack this subject more and weave throughout my artworks.

Read this book if you're enamoured by the things we are attracted and repelled by. Read again and again when you'd like a broader understanding of what's beyond beauty?

Apollos Angels A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans

Image source Amazon

Read via physical book and Audible (Narrated on Audible by Kristen Potter)

Reading Reflection Written July, 2021

Now I truly appreciate ballet dancers as living masterpieces of memory and repetition.

Their dedication to their art is beyond admirable. I wonder if they ever slouch in private or their unapologetic perfection trickles throughout their entire being. Reading this feels as if I'm suspending time with such supernatural acrobatic grace as the dancers themselves. I somehow feel connected to these dancers, even though I could never do what they do; I’m truly inspired by their dedication. Listening to the intricacies of a performance is a storytelling format which arouses a new type of stimulation. The curtain is lifted highlighting why dancers have continued this painfully-pleasurable tradition for centuries. I crave to travel back to pantomime days to experience the theatrics of ancient performers. Just to fantasise about a world without mobile phones makes me smile, a time where creators and performers were free from social media and all the pressures that come with playing this game. There's something hopelessly romantic about the idea of rewinding through antiquity, to a time where raw-innovative entertainment was the screen-time equivalent. Revolutionary and ballet are not often heard in the same vein, yet how truly poetic that through the grace and wit of ballet, minorities have dissolved societal and political oppression; who ever heard of an abused group of people defeating injustice with performance as their main weapon. This book makes me realise how powerful the vehicle of ballet is and how persuasion comes in many forms.

Read this book when you feel as if your art has no voice. Read again and again when you need momentum.

Beauty A Very Short Introduction by Roger Scruton

Image source Audible

Narrated by the author on Audible

Reading Reflection written August 2020

If flowers are the universal archetype of beauty (that oh so golden ratio), capable of inciting divinity and the paradigm of ethics, also ponder this, that stamped flower icons adorn toilet paper. It seems there is no scenario in which a flower (beauty) isn’t out of context.

The contemporary focus on beauty is designated for the cosmetic industry and what beauty looks like and not how beauty makes humanity feel; what beauty gives us? How can something so vast and influential lay dormant in stimulating discussions? Such a large portion of people/artists vehemently reject the importance of beauty/aesthetics in their life/art. I’m not sure I will ever understand why some seem to focus primarily on the problematic nature of beauty. Whenever I hear that popular saying ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, or that other ubiquitous paraphrased version ‘beauty/art is subjective’, my jaw clenches with irritation. Nine times out of ten these truisms are a dead weight to any further interesting conversation.

I haven't heard anyone speak about beauty as eloquently and in depth as Rodger does. There are so many references in this book I must return to. This book deserves to be elevated to theatrical form. Just imagine this rhetoric coming to life as characters illuminate concepts of: art, life, the sacred, desire, sexual pleasure, aesthetics, evilness, human nature, objects, sensory interest, rational thought and culture. If this book was a performance, it might cure my craving of being in an audience to passionate and dedicated lectures, an itch hard to scratch since uni. I miss being surrounded by passionate speakers, watching online is never comparable. Twice is nowhere near enough to have read this book, I could read this over and over and forever uncover new insights. 

Read this book when you want to become lost, actually, more catapulted through the rabbit hole of why life is worth living. Read again when you need a slap of passion.

Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

Image source Audible

Narrated by Alfred Molina on Audible

Reading Reflection written August 2020

If I could share an intimate dinner with anyone, dead or alive I would choose to dine with a ripe old aged Leo. Well, Leonardo Da Vinci but by the end of our warm candle lit encounter, through our garnet stained lips, I imagine I’d affectionately call him Leo and he’d call me Sam.

I don’t care that this dream is most likely considered an unoriginal choice by contemporary artsy crowds as Leo's image and burnt umber sketches have been distributed to death. Leo’s artworks now seem to evoke a stale apathy towards European art history. In many ways I can relate to Leo, the endless stashes of unfinished artworks which will probably never see the light of day until I’ve decomposed. Leo was a late bloomer, I too started professionally painting around 30. Leo wasn't driven by money or patrons, I too avoid painting things when my heart’s not in painting’s purpose (even when I suspect people will open their wallets for a certain subject matter). I find comfort in Leo’s successes despite him not having a conventional-family and not knowing his paternal father like myself. I also relate to him growing up without money and surrounding himself with successful people. Leo treated curiosity as a verb, he’s a true intellectual-Artist; he's an enigmatic symbol of triumph through perseverance. Leo is a symbol of hope for all weirdos who feel the world’s oyster is only for those born into society's cool-club. 

Read this book when you need reminding that when you are extraordinary, you will lead an extraordinary life.