details

when artists i admire make statements about art in general i listen hard but am usually a little suspect. i don't know why. i guess there is always a real gut decision at the base of my character judgement. I'd like to imagine that the care an artists takes in the way they interact with people, or the way they deal with stress, for example, is as important as the work when I'm considering what i think. everyone probably has something of a tendency towards this. maybe its like meeting val kilmer or something and finding out he's actually pretty down to earth. I'd be more inclined to go watch his movies if that were the case than if he turned out to be a dick. then after that it would be difficult to step back from a performance and really judge objectively. like making an assumption about his ability to stand the tests of time like jimmy stewart, ronald reagan and sean connery. these are ridiculous examples.

for me it is all in the details. when i look at work i imagine the person who makes it. i imagine if they would be interesting to hang out with. would they listen to anything i had to say? i would like to sit a few rows back from them on the bus and watch. then i would make my decision.

even making these judgements often seems so self righteous. who am i to judge? but as i'm sitting here scrutinizing my own aesthetic i am weighing other's for comparison sake. i don't guess that makes it right but it seems like what i'm supposed to be doing here in grad school. it does make the everyday decisions i face unfold a little smoother with a quick reference guide of who and what i like most close at hand.

i have always thought that jasper johns was an ass hole since i saw a documentary of him installing his work when he's old and he was bossing everyone about. pretty cruel. now i just think of that when i see his paintings. but i like rauchenberg. they were pals so maybe i'll give him another chance. he was probably cooler when he was younger and not as drunk. and i think baldasari would be a hoot to take a class from so i tend to like his work. (maybe not all of it but most)