The Studio Q Show LIVE! July 27, 2024 at 1000 MST Part 3
THE CREATIVE ANIMAL??
This week, Quinn will continue the series on The Creative Mind and Mortality, Part 3."This will address artist's unique perspectives on why they create art and the struggles they face in light of existential dread or mortality.
What does it mean to have a "creative practice"?
How does creating art help with the fear of death?
Do creative people process existential terror differently? If so, how?
Ernest Becker's "The Denial of Death" and Otto Rank's book "Art and Artist."
Stream Yard (LIVE): https://streamyard.com/jc28hrjyd2
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/VeLDm2Xv2K0?si=nUy1SRxfR75J481P
“Rocky Mountain Meadow Barley"—a whole-plate photogenic drawing. The plant was laid directly on the photographic paper (silver nitrate on salted paper) and exposed to direct sunlight for a couple of minutes. Then it was washed and fixed. This process was first used by Henry Fox Talbot in England in the 1830s.
The concept of the plant making direct contact with the paper appeals to me. The most important concept is contact. This image's elegance gives rise to an intriguing story in my mind. The sunlight that gave life to the plant also created this image. The "hair" emerges when the seed is released. I think the simplicity is beautiful.
Meaning in a Meaningless World
Peter Zapffe said, "Man is a tragic animal. Not because of his smallness, but because he is too well endowed. Man has longings and spiritual demands that reality cannot fulfill. We have expectations of a just and moral world. Man requires meaning in a meaningless world."
Like others, Zapffe was convinced that our consciousness was an evolutionary misstep. A mistake. To have a "surplus" of consciousness is too much for us to bear. We shrink from living and are afraid to die because of it. We don't necessarily fear death or dying, but rather the prospect of being forgotten—the consequences of dying. We fear impermanence and insignificance. That’s what’s unbearable to us; that’s what drives us to distractions, illusions, and denial.
Moreover, we find ourselves in a world that has no meaning. The only meaning is what we create for ourselves, and in the cosmic picture, it’s all meaningless. This idea is central to my work. This conflict creates anxiety that we need to buffer, and if we can’t buffer it, a lot of times it will manifest as anger or violence, and we will take it out on the person or people who are challenging our buffering mechanism (othering). In other words, if you challenge my worldview (my coping mechanism for death anxiety), I may lash out and want to convert you to my worldview or destroy you.
I’ve come to understand why I gravitate toward making art and having a creative life. Reading the works of the great thinkers and philosophers, it's clear to me what my attraction is to pursuing creativity versus other ways I could buffer my existential anxiety. Nietzsche said, "The truly serious task of art is to save the eye from gazing into the horrors of night and to deliver the subject by the healing balm of illusion from the spasms of the agitations of the will." That resonates deeply with me. My life has consisted of trying to unravel the problem of "othering" through art. Over the years, I’ve pulled on the threads of artists, thinkers, and philosophers before me (and those who are contemporary to me) and have used art to explore human behavior as well as buffer my own existential terror. I’m very aware of how I’ve intellectualized my impending death. Socrates claimed that the practice of philosophy in life is really a dress rehearsal for what comes in death: “… those who practice philosophy in the right way are in training for dying, and they fear death least of all men.”
When Nietzsche talks about the "truly serious task of art" being to save the eye from gazing into the horrors of night and deliver the subject from the spasms of the agitations of the will, he is speaking about the power of art to provide a form of psychological relief from existential terror.
Nietzsche believed that human existence was marked by suffering and that our awareness of this suffering could be overwhelming. In his view, the role of art was to provide a kind of escape from existential terror by creating a "healing balm of illusion" that would allow us to momentarily forget about our problems and experience a sense of peace and tranquility. I would add to that; I would argue that it allows the artist to transfer the anxiety to the work—to exercise it out of the mind, if you will. Peter Zapffe called this “sublimation”; he said it was rare but the best way to buffer anxiety. It’s rare because the majority of people choose not to have a creative life.
At the same time, Nietzsche recognized that the experience of art was not just about escaping from reality. He believed that great art had the power to transform our understanding of the world and to challenge our assumptions about what is real and what is possible.
In short, Nietzsche's comment about art's "serious task" shows how art has the power to both temporarily calm our existential terror and give our lives meaning—or at least an illusion of meaning and value.
Southern Utah University Art Insights Lecture
I've been invited to speak and to do a performative lecture at Southern Utah University (SUU). I just received this press release this morning.
If you're in the area, and you can make it, please join us.
Welcome To Wien (Vienna), Austria
Rolls Royce in Wien!We arrived in Wien last night. It was a longer drive than expected due to a 2 hour Stau in Germany. However, we survived.
We have a nice apartment right off of Simmeringer Hauptstasse. The S-Bahn and U-Bahn are close and we explored downtown Vienna a little bit tonight. I saw where Hilter was rejected from (Academy of Art) and made me wonder how the world may have been different had they let him in here - great novel/screenplay waiting to be written.
The workshop went very well today. One more day (tomorrow) and we'll wrap it up. The participants are motivated and off to a grand start! There are four students; Fritz, Reinhard, Stefan and Zoltan. Three are Austrian and Zoltan is from Budapest, Hungary.
Hypo versus KCN!
Remember, here in Vienna, I'm less than an hour from Bratislava, Slovokia and about 2 hours from Budapest, Hungary. I would like to take a week off and just go!
These are images from the workshop today. Showing the difference between sodium thiosulfate fix and potassium cyanide fix - amazing!
A sampling of the workshop plates.
Reinhard Reidinger
Evolving Theory About Art
I recently started reading, "Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images" by Terry Barrett. It's an excellent book, I highly recommend reading it. I've read it once or twice in the past, but it's one of those books that seem to change everytime you read it - you always find new and relevant insight.
Anyway, when I came across Allan Sekula's quote from "Dismantling Modernism" I was stunned. It was almost like I had thought that very thing but couldn't ever get it out (in written word). This quote sums up my theory about art and my purpose for making it. It's an evolution of understanding and it changes over time.
"Suppose we regard art as a mode of human communication, as a discourse anchored in concrete social relations, rather than a mystified, vaporous and ahistorical realm of purely affective expression and experience”.
Allan Sekula, “Dismantling Modernism” (1978)
Oh, and these are my new "Q" cards:
Quinn's new cards.
Montmartre am Main
Every once in a while, when you stop trying so hard to do something, it just shows up without you doing anything. I'm sure the gurus have a name for this kind of thing, I just call it ironic.
For many months, maybe I can even say years now (2 years plus), I've been sending our queries to German Kunstgalerie (Art Galleries) and various German artists that seemed to be interested in photography. All I've ever wanted is to find some kind of community and share/show my work with the German public. Until yesterday, nothing had happened in Germany for me.
Here's the backstory. Two weeks ago, I received an email from a very nice lady named Kathy. Kathy is an American artist that has been living and working Germany for many years. She, through many trials of her own, organized a group of artists to meet in Höscht, Germany to share and show work and mingle with the public. She asked me if I would be interested in attending and making some plates (do a demo/make some work). This was what I had been looking for through all my queries and begging for community - there it was, and she was contacting me. I had put an ad seeking Germans to sit for me for portraits in thelocal.de - Kathy saw the ad and emailed. I'm very thankful she did.
She said, "It's a totally open gathering of artists painting en plein aire along the riverside where a lot of Sunday strollers and bicyclers pass by. The artists attract a lot of attention and feedback." Her idea is brilliant and I want to support it as much as I can. I found this on a Frankfurt blog about Montmarte am Main:
The first "artspace" was probably back when Montmartre in Paris became the place for mostly unrecognized artists. Both Montmartre and Hyde Park were destined to symbolize the free artist together a group of like-minded but at the time, scorned artists. Now, Kathleen Schaefer is trying to start the premise of those two places in Germany where such a tradition was never tried out. It´s for all artists, especially the ones who are barred from galleries but who have earned through their talent the right to have their art be seen in public. At the same time an appeal is made to those "arrived" artists to support, by their presence at Montmartre am Main, the idea that the work of all artists the right to be seen. And, let's not forget the 99% of the population that does not feel comfortable entering an art gallery in the first place - they also have the right to see art in a natural and casual manner - just like at Montmartre am Main!
I totally agree. Here's her website.
Trudy, an artist set up next to me, did a wonderful sketch of me, I'll post it when can scan it. It was just a lot of fun to meet people, talk about art and make photographs.
Update: Here's the sketch she made of me - wonderful!
Quinn at Montmarre am Main - Frankfurt, Germany
Here are some of the portraits I made yesterday. I will use some of them in my project.
Helmut, a German painter.
Karin, a German painter.
Sandra, from Frankfurt, Germany
Trudy, a German artist.
Gabi, from Frankfurt, Germany
Florence, Italy
What do you think of when you think FIRENZE (Florence), Italy? Michaelangelo's David has been forever burned into mind. The 15 foot marble miracle is something that almost takes your breath away (unfortunately, they didn't allow cameras in the gallery). It's over 500 years old and it looks like it will stand for another 5000 years. You can see the metaphor he used in the work. The hands and feet seem huge and the meditative gaze of David, who just killed a giant, is powerful and strange. His nakedness and size is also an important metaphor. And, as Jean said as we were looking at the work, David also danced naked for God.
Florence's (Firenze's) claim to fame reads like a who's who from a college world history class. Da Vinci, inventor and painter. The Medicis, one of Europe's most ruthless ruling families. Danté, whose Inferno stabilized the Italian language and gave us metaphors we still use today. Savonarola, a Reformer a century too soon. Michaelangelo, history's greatest sculptor. Machiavelli, father of modern politicians. Galileo, who redefined the universe. Vespucci, a mapmaker who named a couple of continents. Artists, politicians, writers, explorers. The world would not be what it is today without Firenze. And you can feel that idea as you walk the streets of the city. It's a living, breathing city of art and history (gelato too).
We wish you all were here with us!! We are leaving Italy in the morning. We'll do a little bit of shopping today in Lucca and meet up with Fulvio this afternoon to go see some things off of the tourist track - Ciao!
There were several works in the Piazza della Signoria that were amazing!
Benvenuto Cellini's statue Perseus With the Head of Medusa in The Loggia dei Lanzi gallery on the edge of the Piazza della Signoria.
What do you think of when you think of Firenze? Michaelangelo's David has to be at the top of the list - that and the Firenze Duomo!
We had to get get tight to get the shot, but we did it! This is the fake David, we did see the real one in the Accademia -
A detail of the Duomo - incredible and beautiful!
The Duomo from another angle.
One of the most amazing sites in Firenze is the Duomo - the center of the city. It's amazing and the photographs do it NO justice. The detail and size it truly mind-blowing.
Poppa and Summer sharing Sumer's Ipod on the train back to Lucca.
" Merda" means shit in Italian - I've always liked stick figures.
Momma and Lucky on the train back to Lucca.
A constant reminder everywhere in Europe is that the current administration has really made it hard for Americans living (and traveling) abroad.
Florence's (Firenze's) claim to fame reads like a who's who from a college world history class. Da Vinci, inventor and painter. The Medicis, one of Europe's most ruthless ruling families. Danté, whose Inferno stabilized the Italian language and gave us metaphors we still use today. Savonarola, a Reformer a century too soon. Michaelangelo, history's greatest sculptor. Machiavelli, father of modern politicians. Galileo, who redefined the universe. Vespucci, a mapmaker who named a couple of continents. Artists, politicians, writers, explorers. The world would not be what it is today without Firenze. And you can feel that idea as you walk the streets of the city. It's a living, breathing city of art and history (gelato too).
We wish you all were here with us!! We are leaving Italy in the morning. We'll do a little bit of shopping today in Lucca and meet up with Fulvio this afternoon to go see some things off of the tourist track - Ciao!
There were several works in the Piazza della Signoria that were amazing!
Benvenuto Cellini's statue Perseus With the Head of Medusa in The Loggia dei Lanzi gallery on the edge of the Piazza della Signoria.
What do you think of when you think of Firenze? Michaelangelo's David has to be at the top of the list - that and the Firenze Duomo!
We had to get get tight to get the shot, but we did it! This is the fake David, we did see the real one in the Accademia -
A detail of the Duomo - incredible and beautiful!
The Duomo from another angle.
One of the most amazing sites in Firenze is the Duomo - the center of the city. It's amazing and the photographs do it NO justice. The detail and size it truly mind-blowing.
Poppa and Summer sharing Sumer's Ipod on the train back to Lucca.
" Merda" means shit in Italian - I've always liked stick figures.
Momma and Lucky on the train back to Lucca.
A constant reminder everywhere in Europe is that the current administration has really made it hard for Americans living (and traveling) abroad.
Viareggio, Italy
Today started with a long, hard rain storm. It cleared by 1000 and we were on the road to Viareggio, Italy by noon. It was only 30 minutes from the hotel and a very nice drive.Viareggio, Italy is on the west coast. The Mediterranean Sea is gorgeous and most of it in Viareggio is exclusive (private beaches). However, we didn’t know that. So, the first place we went was the beach called “Perla del Tirreno” (see photo below). We were on a private beach taking pictures, picking up seashells and basking in the sun when a young man approached Jean and told her that this was a private beach and dogs weren’t allowed. It was ok, we were ready to go anyway. It was fun and beautiful! Although, there were people in Speedos and Bikinis there that shouldn’t have been (no, not me!).
After the beach, we wandered the beach walk and ate lunch then did some shopping. Just a WONDERFUL time all around and a giorno bello!
A street painter in Viareggio. It seemed he was teaching these two young ladies how to paint. It smelled wonderful.
Isn't this a cute picture!!!??!!
This is the private beach we "used" - gorgeous!!
Another "sexy-beast" shot (at least that's what Jean calls them).
How dramatic!! Our young Drama Queen!!
Summer braids my hair now. This is random but relavant. You know why!
Is that the Med Sea behind us?? Yes it is!!! (sorry Lucky).
This is the play Jean and Summer went to in Firenze!
This is the way to live!! Bella, Bella Bella!!!!!
After the beach, we wandered the beach walk and ate lunch then did some shopping. Just a WONDERFUL time all around and a giorno bello!
A street painter in Viareggio. It seemed he was teaching these two young ladies how to paint. It smelled wonderful.
Isn't this a cute picture!!!??!!
This is the private beach we "used" - gorgeous!!
Another "sexy-beast" shot (at least that's what Jean calls them).
How dramatic!! Our young Drama Queen!!
Summer braids my hair now. This is random but relavant. You know why!
Is that the Med Sea behind us?? Yes it is!!! (sorry Lucky).
This is the play Jean and Summer went to in Firenze!
This is the way to live!! Bella, Bella Bella!!!!!
Köln, Germany & The Netherlands
I needed to take break from writing my thesis/portfolio this weekend. Jean, Summer, Denise (a friend), Lucky and I took a trip to Köln, Germany and then went into The Netherlands to Maastricht.
The weather here has been in the 80s and very beautiful so the drive was gorgeous. It was a 1.5 hours to Köln and another 45 minutes or so to Maastricht. It’s amazing to cross (country) borders without even stopping!! In that way the EU is very cool.
We left Viernheim at about 8AM and got to Köln at 9:30AM so we decided to people watch and have a cup of coffee. Köln is a wonderful city. The people are friendly and the city is extremely “art friendly”. The waitress asked where we were from and I made some crack comment about Denise being a hillbilly from "West Virginny, USA" (she's not, she's from Washington D.C.) and the waitress said something like, “It doesn’t matter to people in Köln, we accept everyone” – Whoaaa! That blew me away, that’s not the Germany I know! I knew Köln was very different the minute I drove in.
August Sander (1876-1964), a well-known photographer of the 20th Century was born in Köln and did a lot of work here, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to see the city. He created a body of work called, “People of the 20th Century” – I have it. It’s a seven volume set of books, some 1400 pages. He classified the German people into groups. For example, “Artists”, “Farmers”, “Scientist” etc. and then made portraits of them. His seventh and last volume is called “Die Letzten Menchen” or “The Last People”. This is what I am most interested in. I wanted to know what it was like to see Die letzten Menchen on the streets of Köln like Sander did. And I did. Unfortunately, his portrait work is on tour. We only got to see a small collection of his landscape work. It was nice, but not in the league of Die letzten Menchen!
I haven’t been to a city or village in Europe I didn’t like yet. Köln is a place I will return to for sure. Simply for the fact of its connection to photography/art and it’s friendly vibe. The beer is good (Kölsch) and is exclusive to Köln, we had a nice lunch at an open air café called Casablanca and we saw a few of the more popular sites of the city (Köln’s Gothic Catherderal, Köln Turm, etc.) too.
Then it was onto The Netherlands. The border was about 20 minutes from Köln and you could tell you were in The Netherlands immediately. All of the signs were in Dutch (of course), it is a strange and difficult language to hear, read or speak (I tried years ago). In other words, you can’t even begin to guess what the road signs are saying. On top of that, the landscape changed, the look of the houses, the colors, everything – it was wild! The Netherlands are beautiful and the people are very, very friendly. They are an open and progressive people. We had a family (husband, wife and daughter) sitting next to us at a café telling us about how the Dutch feel about Americans. They said the Dutch people will never forget what America did for The Netherlands in WWII and believe that most Americans are good people. However, they don’t care for the current administration and have serious concerns about Iraq etc. but I think even most Americans are waking up to that fact now. We had a nice conversation with them about current world events and national identity. Very enlightening!
Onto the photos....
Yes, you can legally smoke hash, and marijuana in The Netherlands. The places are called "Coffeeshops". They are all over The Netherlands.
I really liked this cup. One side DREAMS, the other side CONFLICTS - this embodies the feeling of the cities in The Netherlands - very creative and art friendly.
Are we in Holland yet? Where are the bicycles???
Dutch signs... an easy read!
I couldn't resist this "Winnogrand" moment in Maastritch! I love this image!
A license plate.. hmmmm, why did I put this here?? It's different from ours in DE.
"Die letzten Menchen" - Heribert, on the streets of Koeln. I could only make out a few words... he was listenign to music and shared some with me. He handed me an earbud covered in blood.
I'm not sure what he was drinking... whatever it was, it was strong.
This seems out of palce, but this is the only thing we drank. Great beer! Made in Koeln.
The "new" RCA Dog in Media Park in Koeln. Lucky loved it and Jean and Summer thought it was kool too!
The August Sander Museum is in this building. They had a Lee Friedlander show and a Wessel show going.. no photographs allowed. This is where we saw Sander's landscapes.
This is another image I really like... the refelctions of two women in the glass, the red hair of the woman next to Denise and Denise's expression.
Starting our day in Koeln with coffee, chocolate muffins, brownies and people watching.
The weather here has been in the 80s and very beautiful so the drive was gorgeous. It was a 1.5 hours to Köln and another 45 minutes or so to Maastricht. It’s amazing to cross (country) borders without even stopping!! In that way the EU is very cool.
We left Viernheim at about 8AM and got to Köln at 9:30AM so we decided to people watch and have a cup of coffee. Köln is a wonderful city. The people are friendly and the city is extremely “art friendly”. The waitress asked where we were from and I made some crack comment about Denise being a hillbilly from "West Virginny, USA" (she's not, she's from Washington D.C.) and the waitress said something like, “It doesn’t matter to people in Köln, we accept everyone” – Whoaaa! That blew me away, that’s not the Germany I know! I knew Köln was very different the minute I drove in.
August Sander (1876-1964), a well-known photographer of the 20th Century was born in Köln and did a lot of work here, that’s one of the reasons I wanted to see the city. He created a body of work called, “People of the 20th Century” – I have it. It’s a seven volume set of books, some 1400 pages. He classified the German people into groups. For example, “Artists”, “Farmers”, “Scientist” etc. and then made portraits of them. His seventh and last volume is called “Die Letzten Menchen” or “The Last People”. This is what I am most interested in. I wanted to know what it was like to see Die letzten Menchen on the streets of Köln like Sander did. And I did. Unfortunately, his portrait work is on tour. We only got to see a small collection of his landscape work. It was nice, but not in the league of Die letzten Menchen!
I haven’t been to a city or village in Europe I didn’t like yet. Köln is a place I will return to for sure. Simply for the fact of its connection to photography/art and it’s friendly vibe. The beer is good (Kölsch) and is exclusive to Köln, we had a nice lunch at an open air café called Casablanca and we saw a few of the more popular sites of the city (Köln’s Gothic Catherderal, Köln Turm, etc.) too.
Then it was onto The Netherlands. The border was about 20 minutes from Köln and you could tell you were in The Netherlands immediately. All of the signs were in Dutch (of course), it is a strange and difficult language to hear, read or speak (I tried years ago). In other words, you can’t even begin to guess what the road signs are saying. On top of that, the landscape changed, the look of the houses, the colors, everything – it was wild! The Netherlands are beautiful and the people are very, very friendly. They are an open and progressive people. We had a family (husband, wife and daughter) sitting next to us at a café telling us about how the Dutch feel about Americans. They said the Dutch people will never forget what America did for The Netherlands in WWII and believe that most Americans are good people. However, they don’t care for the current administration and have serious concerns about Iraq etc. but I think even most Americans are waking up to that fact now. We had a nice conversation with them about current world events and national identity. Very enlightening!
Onto the photos....
Yes, you can legally smoke hash, and marijuana in The Netherlands. The places are called "Coffeeshops". They are all over The Netherlands.
I really liked this cup. One side DREAMS, the other side CONFLICTS - this embodies the feeling of the cities in The Netherlands - very creative and art friendly.
Are we in Holland yet? Where are the bicycles???
Dutch signs... an easy read!
I couldn't resist this "Winnogrand" moment in Maastritch! I love this image!
A license plate.. hmmmm, why did I put this here?? It's different from ours in DE.
"Die letzten Menchen" - Heribert, on the streets of Koeln. I could only make out a few words... he was listenign to music and shared some with me. He handed me an earbud covered in blood.
I'm not sure what he was drinking... whatever it was, it was strong.
This seems out of palce, but this is the only thing we drank. Great beer! Made in Koeln.
The "new" RCA Dog in Media Park in Koeln. Lucky loved it and Jean and Summer thought it was kool too!
The August Sander Museum is in this building. They had a Lee Friedlander show and a Wessel show going.. no photographs allowed. This is where we saw Sander's landscapes.
This is another image I really like... the refelctions of two women in the glass, the red hair of the woman next to Denise and Denise's expression.Starting our day in Koeln with coffee, chocolate muffins, brownies and people watching.