Word: abstraction
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...alienum puto (I hold nothing alien from me that has to do with human nature), wrote the Roman poet Terence. This motto was lived out to the fullest degree by certain 19th century geniuses. Charles Dickens, with his insatiable interest in character and narrative, was one. In a more abstract way--music being an abstract art anyway--so was Beethoven, in his creation of equivalents for the human passions. And so, in the domain of the visual, was Goya--and there was no other painter in his time who even came near him in that respect...
...longer are monuments conceived of as abstract obelisks or as bronze men or bronze horses. No longer do people ask who's buried in Grant's Tomb. The trend toward common man memorials is said to have begun in 1884, with Rodin's memorial to the burghers of Calais who died in a 14th century siege. America's latest memorials carry the common man impulse further toward democracy by implying an equality of status of the living and the dead...
Most of the book, however, is not of this high caliber. Morin’s failure is most pronounced in the scenes in which Lois works on an abstract painting of a woman in white, an imperfect black square named Max and a garden. The triangular symbolism in her painting works too hard to imitate her life. Similarly, a subplot involving Maximilian, the Austrian Emperor of Mexico, and his white-clad queen is completely extraneous. The little history lesson could hardly be more boring or less relevant...
...upon a time in the land of Zoom..." and loved to tinker with cars, replayed his Modesto, Calif., adolescence in American Graffiti. Then he reworked the beloved comic books and B-movie serials of his youth into Star Wars, a film as stylized and sterile as a piece of abstract animation, yet an adventure potent enough to please mass audiences...
...finest option at the Sert Gallery Café isn’t gourmet at all—it’s the gallery. The exhibitions change fairly regularly and often feature artists of note. At the moment there is an exhibition of short-format abstract films. Upon entering one may view Bruce Nauman’s Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square, a 10-minute film wherein Bruce Nauman really does just walk along a taped-out square in his studio. Another offering is David Hammons’ Phat Free. The film...