pLog Pith XVIII

 There is magic to the mystery, but there is no mystery to the magic.

– TJA

pLog Pith XVII

If the big things aren’t right, the small things won’t matter.
Make it so that small things matter.

Updated on October 16th, 2023:
If the big things aren’t right, the small things won’t matter.
Make it so that small things matter… and matter in a big way!

– TJA

pLog Pith XVI

You follow rules to go somewhere.
You break rules to go somewhere else.
You ignore rules to go nowhere.
—TJA

pLog Pith XV

We need to be reminded: there is no beauty without rules and there is no better rule book than nature.
—TJA

pLog Pith XIV

Dogma is the illusion of power.

Craft is the power to create illusion.

—TJA

pLog Pith XIII

Religion requires the suspension of Reason.

Little Good is unreasonable.

—TJA

pLog Pith XII

Where there is Dogma, there is a Devil.

—TJA

 

pLog Pith XI

Dogma empowers the Charlatans.

Craft empowers the Sincere.

—TJA

 

pLog Pith X

Where Velázquez is Grace, Caravaggio is Guts.

Where Velázquez is Economy, Caravaggio is Ambiguity.

pLog Pith IX

First, find the structure, then find the skin.

And never underestimate the power and beauty of a one inch wide hog bristle brush.

—pre-dishwashing thoughts after a long rewarding day in the studio.

pLog Pith VIII

A few words now about technique, so that there may be no misunderstanding as to its importance.  It is a poor thing that cannot be abused, and I do not want you to be afraid of the word, or to surround it with mystery. Read more

pLog Pith VII

Why is it that those so quick to believe man-made absurdities are the first to deny Nature’s rich mysteries?

pLog Pith VI

It is this deep sincerity, this deep appreciation of the significance of things that makes one picture great among a thousand lesser ones, and causes us to feel, when we behold it, that we have thought and felt that way all our lives.

– John F. Carlson, from Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting, circa 1929.

pLog Pith V

If you want Warhol
walk the aisle of a supermarket

If you want Koons
watch VHS porn

If you want Hirst
visit the morgue

But

If you want Caravaggio
build a bonfire in a cave

If you want Velazquez
plan a trip to the moon with a sliderule

If you want da Vinci
hike the highest mountain in Abruzzo in May

– TJA

pLog Pith IV

Da Vinci tells us to take a 2 dimensional surface and make it 3 dimensional.

Modernism took a 2 dimensional surface and made it 1 dimensional.

– TJA

pLog Pith III

Socrates said you are only educated when you’ve understood how ignorant you are.  You can only find that out by questioning and doubting all the time.

– Christopher Hitchens, in a recent debate with Rabi David Wolpe.

pLog Pith II

You can play bloodhound for months on end and always discover something new.

– Christoph Waltz during an interview with Charlie Rose, talking about his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds

Name a painting that has the same effect.

pLog Pith I

We each must choose our conversation… and with whom to have it.

– TJA