ARTSPEAK & ALL THAT JAZZ

     

WHAT IS ART, ANYWAY?

The late great Louis
Armstrong said: “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know”. Does that
apply to visual art––That you either know the real article in your bones, or
you don’t?

THAT IT SPEAKS TO
YOU OR IT DOESN’T?

 What I find so exhilarating and life enhancing about art in all its
forms is that it‘s an ongoing collaborative effort. We stand on the shoulders
of past and present masters.

 WHAT AND WHO MAKES ART HAPPEN?

 
1.
THE AUDIENCE: The person who eats
the gourmet dinner, who swoons in front of a Van Gogh, who joins in
thunderous
applause when the curtain drops–– who goes through a life-altering Art
Experience. 
 

2. The community of artists who share their ideas, their techniques,
their “good eye” in support. 
 

3. The
eloquence of the subject matter–– whether it’s the wonders of this tiny
blue planet, or the human landscape occupying it.  
After the quake in Port au Prince, I was  moved by the spirituality of
the Haitian people––how they lifted up their arms in prayer and were there for
each other.

When I painted
“Haitian Prayer” I found myself swept away by the passion of these
beautiful people, awed by their humble humanity. And in the painting process, I
felt myself attuned to the root of the dynamism that permeates Haitian
Art.  Whatever the merits of the
painting, I am grateful for that experience.      

WHICH BRINGS ME TO
THE ARTIST’S JOB.

What’s that? In my
opinion, the artist’s calling is to continually educate one’s self for total
artistic integrity, and then to know how to let the work go where it must go.
And to never, ever, ever fake it.

 IN THE END, THE GREATEST ART HAS TO BE
THE ART OF LIVING: TODAY IS A WORK OF ART IN PROGRESS.

I would like to
leave you with this (I wish I was the one who thought it up!) : “Each moment is
a bead on the invisible wire of God’s Grace”- Kamenetz. 

Wishing you good
moments,

Ruth Rifka.

FUTURE BLOGS:

*THE ART
SPIRIT  IMPULSE

*EXPERIMENTAL
EXPRESSIONISM

TECHNIQUE–– WITH
THE GRAIN/ AGAINST THE GRAIN

*GREAT ARTISTIC
THEMES

*KABBALAH AND THE
ART OF EVERYTHING

*ZEN AND THE ART
OF EVERYTHING

*THE ALLA PRIMA
PORTRAIT

 

 

 

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