the aim of art . . .

is to represent not the
outward appearance of things,
but their inward significance.
(Aristotle)

Van Gulik

Robert Van Gulik (Dutch diplomat and authority on Chinese history and culture) wrote the Judge Dee mysteries in the 50's and 60's.

These stories are set in Imperial/Confucian China during the T'ang dynasty (about 1300 years ago). The mysteries themselves are intriguing, but the society & culture that surrounds each crime is what really makes these books worth reading. The University of Chicago Press began reissuing them beginning in the early 90's, and most can be found on amazon.com.

Colin Glassey has a nice page on which he describes and lists some of the Judge Dee mysteries.

protea

Saturday I watched a DVD called Never Not an Artist about Richard Tuttle & his art. I love so much of his work & am intrigued by the works I don't care for, or maybe more correctly, that I don't get. It's fascinating that he dares to put these works out there and call them art. They fly in the face of everything I was taught about 'good art' and 'good practices'. I would recommend this short film for anyone interested in art or poetry. Thank you Robin, for creating this blog &, for now, publishing my posts. I always enjoy visiting your blog & the links to your art community. I love the global art aspect of this small piece of cyberspace. Thanks again for suggesting that I do this & then making it happen.

NOTE: Evidently there is a new blog glitch on Blogger which prevents my blog from receiving comments. I hope this issue will be resolved very soon!

grist for the mill

Humans have made marks since the beginning of time - to decorate the body, or record events and monetary transactions. These marks were not random. These marks had meaning.

The marks made by today's artists have meanings as varied as the artists themselves. Some marks are made to contain the minotaur.