Since I decided to concentrate on art for these posts, I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries. A recent one I enjoyed was episode five of Masterclass – in which a group of young artists talk to Julian Schnabel in his studio. It was filmed around the time Schnabel was finishing work on The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (2007) (Schnabel won best director for the film at that year’s Cannes Film Festival). I was really struck by Schnabel’s generosity of spirit, the way he put the students at their ease and his desire to entertain them. He reminded me of the feeling I’ve had about art since I first encountered it as a concept.
In 1975, I was at Gorsemoor Middle School in Ferndown, Dorset, which in retrospect was a free-thinking, experimental place – we were exposed to The Beatles, Bowie, and Mike Oldfield in music lessons and there were posters of works by Warhol, Lichtenstein and Richard Avedon dotted about the premises. The teachers were easy-going and hippy-ish. In art class we were not expected to produce representational drawings and paintings, but to explore ideas which, although not strictly current, were forward thinking for nine-year-olds. In one lesson we were introduced to Pop Art and invited to produce paintings based on the tins and packets the teacher had brought into the classroom. Although the powder paint ran on my can of Heinz Baked Beans, it was accepted by the teacher and the class, I was included, and I saw a door to somewhere else.
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Sudden Death, Save Us and Helen of Troy are tracks eleven, five and two respectively of John Cale’s album, Helen of Troy (1975). I have a critical blind-spot when it comes to John Cale, so I wouldn’t know a bad album if I heard it. This one contains a really beautiful song, I Keep A Close Watch, which reminds me of Gorsemoor School – I suppose it’s possible I heard it there.
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I believe that a picture, a work of art, lives and dies just as we do. That is, it lives from the time it’s conceived and created, for some 50 or 60 years, it varies, and then the work dies. And that is when it becomes art history. So, art history only begins after the death of the work, but as long as the work lives, or at least in the first 50 years of its life, it communicates with people living in the same period who have accepted it or rejected it and who have talked about it. These people die and the work dies with them. And that is where the history of art begins.
(Extract from an interview with Marcel Duchamp, reproduced in The Art Newspaper, 1993)
Richard, I am saving all your wonderful links for the week-end, more time! I adore your Save Us shot for so many reasons, open and closed at the same time, a reflection of so much . . .
Thanks so much, Patti! Glad you like it. Schnabel’s a bit of a controversial figure I think – he was the focus of a lot of umbrage when I was at college…hope you enjoy the stuff.
Where would any artist be without a decent dose of umbrage?
Richard, I love this post.
I particularly like the first image and the last.
The title of “Sudden Death” seems very apt to me.
I was surprised to hear of Schnabel being generous – he copped a lot of flack for his movie based on Jean-Michel Basquiat partly for the gratuitous positioning of some of his artwork, amongst other things. I liked the movie but …
Thanks so much, Ashley. Now, that you mention Basquiat, I remember that – strange kind of jockeying for position maybe, or perhaps it was just cheap set dressing. I liked the movie too – David Bowie was hilarious (particularly when he was with Dennis Hopper). I’m going to have to watch it again now, along with Slaves of New York – have you seen that?
No, I’ve not seen that, though I remember it was very popular when it was released and that might have put me off.
A terrific tapestry of ideas you’ve basted together here Richard, not the least of which is your “Sudden Death”. Great post, marvelous images.
Thanks very much, Elena!
Love all three images particularly the first and third, nice blog with them to. Poster paint brings back some memories.
Ah, yes, sloppiest, dribbliest, least luminescent of all paints – it was great wasn’t it?
Especially love “Save Us”– totally surreal and such an interesting composition with all the various components– reflections, signs, etc.– so much going on! And “Sudden Death” seems ominously apt.
Thanks very much, Ellen – I’m really glad you like Save Us – I took about twenty shots over two days and that was the best one – the people who own the restaurant must have wondered what I was up to.
I loved your post – and pics – but do not fully agree with Duchamp’s view of how art lives and then dies and then becomes art history. But it is an interesting view!!
also, it sound alike your school was an amazing place
and I like the way your worded this
“…it was accepted by the teacher and the class, I was included, and I saw a door to somewhere else.”
Thanks very much, Y! I’m really glad you like the post. Yes, I’ve been including the quotations to spark discussion – I love hearing people’s different opinions.
well thank you for doing that – because not only does it spark stuff 🙂 – but it gives us a feel for the artist from their real words – which adds to the poster’s view or opinion.
nicely done.
Poster paint and a can of Heinz baked beans. love it Richard! Sounds like a beauty of a school. Duchamp has got me thinking. I might have different ideas about ‘energy’ than him but quite provocative and intellectual concept from him as always.
Yes, apart from my year on Foundation, Gorsemore’s my favourite bit of education. Unfortunately, the school has gone now – I don’t suppose it could have survived today anyway, being more about education than targets and budgets.
Duchamp’s a real mine of provocative quotations – I have to resist the temptation to use him every time, ha, ha. Thanks very much, Steven.
A lovely post.
If I am honest, I tend to avoid a lot of these Masterclass-type programmes. I’m not a major fan of those type of shows, partly because I feel they might expose the reality of an actor I have a passion for, or because they are of someone I have not heard or have no interest in. Having said that, I can understand where you’re coming from in an individuals generosity of spirit.
You know that music touches at the depth of my soul, and I understand the reaction and memories of a particular song or piece. (I have also had blind spots to musicians in the past, so recognise that too!)
It’s a great post, Richard, and a nice way to open up art and music to people who wouldn’t normally lap up those styles or genres. 🙂
Thanks very much, Richard!
Ah, yes, the programme’s probably mainly of interest to people who are interested in Julian Schnabel, although I found the young artists’ attitudes fascinating.
I’m enjoying this format of post, although I think I need to stretch myself a bit more.
ciao! crossing at an intersection in soho (ny), in front was JS in a turquoise antique convertible- a chevy perhaps. we chatted a bit, he was quite open and i was taken at his extension. john cale is a favorite and so like your art connection. in particular helen of troy. oh yes, md’s observation is of interest but i do believe that ‘art work’ lives when it is communicating with any group of people at any time in history.
thebestdressup
It’s great you met JS – it’s always so interesting to attach a person to your experience of their work. There are so many I would have liked to have met: Duchamp, Twombly, Klein, Man Ray, Picabia, Michaelangelo Pistoletto, Rauschenberg, Warhol, Beuys to name a few.
I agree with you about the Duchamp quotation – works come and go over time, they die, are revived, die again etc. The quotations are there to spark discussion – I love hearing what everyone thinks.
Thanks for a great comment!
Gorgeous photographs, and I love the artistic aspect of these pieces, (I wish I’d had a forward thinking middle school, that sort of support stays with you throughout life) Great work as always, Richard.
Thanks very much, Cheryl. Yes, the middle school was great, so when we moved to Winchester it was a huge shock – the schools there were a lot more conservative – it was like going backwards.
I bet! Yes I’ve been to Winchester a few times, there’s a lot of very old houses and that mock Round Table in the Great Hall, beautiful place though, although it sounds like you were fortunate to experience such a liberal environment before you moved there. I wonder if that school or anything like it exists now? I suppose it depends on the teachers…
Yes, it’s a beautiful city, and I’m sure it’s changed a lot since I lived there. Gorsemoor, the school in Ferndown doesn’t exist any more – it’s now Ferndown Middle School. I suspect nothing like Gorsemoor exists now, because of the national curriculum, OFSTED and other tools of the creepy right-wing state. I miss the hippies.
*Shivers* Ah, yes Right-wing tools. Don’t mention the E@il Michael Gove. *twitches*
Oh, dear, no. That’s a tool too far.
Did you go to that school or is that piece also an extract from the interview with Marcel Duchamp? Anyway it seems like a nice environment where one can open up to experiencing art and the creative process.
I disagree with Duchamp: I think that most works of art don’t live to become 50 or 60 years: they don’t even become teenagers before they die and when that happens they don’t make it into heaven and become a part of art history. They just rot away in their early graves.
Yes, I went to the school and it was really great.
Ha, ha, love your comment! There’s definitely a grain of truth in it, although I’d say they are prey to grave-diggers occasionally.
Your posts are a place to dwell for a while. Entrancing words and images, Richard. Superb!
Thanks so much, Karen – that’s a huge compliment! I’m really glad you like them.
Nice images. My favourite is Save Us, really nice composition. That does sound like it was a very forward-thinking school. All I got at my school was church hymns, even in music lessons.
Thanks very much, Stevie. Yes, it was a great school – the secondary school I went to was not so good – like going back to the stone age.
nice introduction to art
Yes, it was a very nice awakening – I’m extremely grateful to my teachers.