(An Appropriate Distance)

 

FROM THE MAYOR'S DOORSTEP

Mar 20, 2014 12:01 PM EDT

Yes, genius is a necessary condition, not a sufficient one. I believe that genius is not the only necessary condition as well. There must be a community that is close by, that prods, pushes, and provokes genius to do more than simply perspire. The perspiration must be inspired, and self-inspiration seldom works. I say this despite the assumption many artists make that they are the beginning and the end.

- John Link

Mar 20, 2014 12:19 PM EDT

Yes, at some point an artist needs a congenial milieu, and Nolde got that both in Dresden & in Berlin. But how about the years when he was living under virtual house arrestin Seebull, which is a hell of a long way from anywhere -- yet still managed to produce much fine work?

- Piri Halasz

Mar 20, 2014 12:07 PM EDT

About Poons and history: I have never understood the obsession to associate one artist with another from the past. Certainly, it is relevant from time to time. But all the time? Art historians have managed to confuse their discipline with getting art.

- John Link

Mar 20, 2014 12:27 PM EDT

I think it has to do, on the one hand, with perceiving how "original" the artist is (or isn't)--and on the other, with perceiving how distinguished is (or isn't) his or her lineage. In the first case it is (or can be) a subtle form of attack, and in the second,with a subtle form of praise. With Poons, I think it is mostly meant as compliment, by suggesting analogies with artists we all admire, but sometimes (as with Roberta) I think it's a suggestion that he has become too "familiar."

- Piri Halasz