"Like the study of science and art, accounts of historical events can be intrinsically fascinating. But they have a wider significance. I believe that people are better able to chart their life course and make life decisions when they know how others have dealt with pressures and dilemmas---historically, contemporaneously, and in works of art. And only equipped with such understanding can we participate knowledgeably in contemporary discussions (and decisions) about the culpability of various individuals and countries in the Second World War. Only with such understanding can we ponder the responsibilty of human beings everywhere to counter current efforts at genocide in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia to bring the perpetrators to justice."
"...we humans are the kinds of animals who learn chiefly by observing others---what they value, what they spurn, how they conduct themselves from day to day, and especially, what they do when they believe that no one is looking."
----Howard Gardner, from The Disciplined Mind, published in 1999

Friday, August 3, 2007

Pictionary, Abstract Expressionism Edition; or, More Signal to Noise


http://en.easyart.com/art-prints/Mark-Rothko/Untitled-Violet--Black--Orange--Yellow-on-White-and-Red-135567.html

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Easy on the mind and on the eye. The softness of this piece gives me permission not to try and focus.

neroli said...

Exactly!
(I've been thinking a lot more than usual lately in pictures---probably in direct proportion to the increase in reading/writing/listening of words I've needed to do---and most of the pictures I've been thinking are coming up Rothko.)

captain corky said...

It's really pretty.

neroli said...

Welcome, Captain---glad to oblige!

Everyone, here's a locator for all Rothkos on public display in the US:

maphttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/powerofart/view.php?page=locator

:-)

Pelicano said...

I became engrossed in reading about different types of noise after following the white-rabbit-Brownian-motion-link, but found my way back...

Your last post reminded me of two films that I've seen: Sex, Lies and Videotape and The Butterfly Effect. Though I personally found the latter to be a bit redundant in favour of a felicitous finale, still I feel that these films exemplified this liquid-like dance in which we all participate.

neroli said...

Pelicano, thanks for providing us with a location of another rabbit hole---this link to noise!
Your description of the fluidity of things, this is a wonderful image (sound? fill in the sensory blank :-)
Thank you!