"Clear Seeing Place"

                                  


                   I've been reading a book that I've just bought by the New York based artist Brian Rutenberg (see the April 2016 post "Artists of influence".)
                   The book called "Clear Seeing Place"is a companion to his popular You Tube series "Brian Rutenberg Studio Visits"and is "a love letter to painting written by a painter".

                    Brian's views on art and art history make compelling reading and one section in particular captures the essence of an often held view of abstract art.
                     Whilst visiting the studio of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner at Springs, Long Island he has this to say about Pollock's work:-


                                "Whether brush ,knife, squeegee, or broom, a tool is simply an extension of the body and intellect of the artist. Paint is not only the delivery system for ideas, but the flesh and blood of them, as William Carlos Williams wrote ,"No ideas but in things". That said , Pollock's control of materials was stunning, and any Bozo that says "I could do that is full of clown shit!" They couldn't, and more importantly , they didn't. I want to unroll eleven feet of unprimed duck on the cold  floor, give them a gallon of black enamel and a stick and say, "O.K. dazzle me".

             www.brianrutenbergbooks.com
             www.brianrutenbergart.com

                                         

  
              Acknowledgements to the artist