Our friend Rob’s 51st birthday Our friend Rob’s birthday is 9th April. He will open our (Geoff & Steve’s) birthday card which Steve bought at the Bloomsbury Group exhibition at York Art Gallery. The card has two graphically decorated doors by which to open up its front. These are based on those designed for the … More Our friend Rob’s 51st birthday

Early Spanish still lifes, those of Sánchez Cotán (for instance), can be interpreted as promoting the value of ‘a framing space’ in which to place singular objects.[1] However, later examples of the ‘genre’ emphasise, in Antonio Arellano’s words about Tomás Hiépes, the ‘copious’ fulfilment of that space.[2] This blog sets out to suggest that this … More Early Spanish still lifes can be interpreted as promoting the value of ‘a framing space’ in which to place singular objects. However, later examples emphasise, in Antonio Arellano’s words about Tomás Hiépes, the ‘copious’ fulfilment of that space. This blog reflects on still lifes currently in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland: from Reflections and Discussions in my free time on some of the Paintings, as part of a personal learning project related to the Golden Age of Spanish Painting (No.5).

Speaking of Claudio Bravo’s rejection of ‘abstraction’ as an aim in aesthetic creation, Edward Lucie Smith summarises the artist’s view by saying: ‘the human mind is trained to look for images and will find them in the most unpromising places’.[1]  However this blog suggests that it is the fact that the artist leaves the viewer … More Speaking of Claudio Bravo’s rejection of ‘abstraction’ as an aim in aesthetic creation, Edward Lucie Smith summarises the artist’s view by saying: ‘the human mind is trained to look for images and will find them in the most unpromising places’.  However this blog suggests that it is the fact that the artist leaves the viewer to detect for themselves stories, ‘iconographic meaning’, symbolic reference or influence from past masters which makes Claudio Bravo’s art into queer art.

Despite the concentration of most on the extremities of intense interpersonal but external drama and violence in Jusepe Ribera’s art, Havelock Ellis valued it in terms of its ‘essential tenderness’: saying that in the ‘power of rendering loving devotion, of tender abandonment, associated with religious emotion, Ribera not only surpasses all his countrymen, but is … More Despite the concentration of most on the extremities of intense interpersonal but external drama and violence in Jusepe Ribera’s art, Havelock Ellis valued it in terms of its ‘essential tenderness’: saying that in the ‘power of rendering loving devotion, of tender abandonment, associated with religious emotion, Ribera not only surpasses all his countrymen, but is scarcely excelled outside Spain’. This blog reflects on works by Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) currently in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland. Golden Age of Spanish Painting (No.4).

If we take drama back to its basic elements – without the clothing and properties indicative of illusions of power – then both directing and enacting Shakespearean history must understand how to create ‘men’ large enough to fulfil the expectations of the huge roles they are given to play in life and art. In those … More If we take drama back to its basic elements – without the clothing and properties indicative of illusions of power – then both directing and enacting Shakespearean history must understand how to create ‘men’ large enough to fulfil the expectations of the huge roles they are given to play in life and art. This blog reflects on a rehearsed but performance-ready version of ‘King Henry VI Part One’ screened by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) – seen on the Durham Gala’s Screen One on 23rd March 2022. 

‘It occurred to me I might be dead and I think it’s possible that I was, that I’d crossed the line or was crossing it, was in some kind of limbo, where the brain is busy trying to make sense of what it doesn’t understand at all, trying to see itself, what’s wrong, then doing … More ‘It occurred to me I might be dead and I think it’s possible that I was, that I’d crossed the line or was crossing it, was in some kind of limbo, where the brain is busy trying to make sense of what it doesn’t understand at all, trying to see itself, what’s wrong, then doing what it always does, putting together a story of some kind, however unlikely’.’[1]  This blog reflects on Andrew Miller’s (2022) ‘The Slowworm’s Song’

‘ I’d only say someone was gay if I feel they’re comfortable with who they are. The sadness is I don’t think he [Charles Causley] was ever comfortable with who he was’.[1]  This blog reflects on a brilliantly intelligent novel on, it argues, the definition of ‘being gay’: Patrick Gale’s Mother’s Boy (2022) London, Headline … More ‘ I’d only say someone was gay if I feel they’re comfortable with who they are. The sadness is I don’t think he [Charles Causley] was ever comfortable with who he was’.  This blog reflects on a brilliantly intelligent novel on, it argues, the definition of ‘being gay’: Patrick Gale’s ‘Mother’s Boy’ (2022)

‘ “… You should be in three places at once, and I loathe having to wait my turn.” …, George expressed in concrete terms the complexities of their multi-level polyamory’.[1]  This blog reflects on imaging queer lives and interactions in the light of the concept of polyamory. The blog uses as its case study, Allen … More ‘ “… You should be in three places at once, and I loathe having to wait my turn.” …, George expressed in concrete terms the complexities of their multi-level polyamory’. This blog reflects on imaging queer lives and interactions in the light of the concept of polyamory. The blog uses as its case study, Allen Ellenzweig’s (2021) George Platt Lynes: The Daring Eye

Whenever you go to works conferences someone is sure to have a ‘fun’ idea to get people involved. in this one each table had to chooses a painting from a group in a packet to represent their table. Though I love the painting, I would not have chosen that one. I favoured a modern semi-abstract … More My poem on Singer Sargent’s ‘Crucifix’: The Auckland Project (TAP) Staff / Volunteer Conference Event: a little exercise

‘a formidably intelligent and well-acted prison movie and also a love story – or perhaps a paradoxically platonic bromance, stretching from the end of the second world war to the moon landing.’ (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian 9 March 2022 [online]).  This blog reflects on Sebastian Meise’s   Great Freedom [Grosse Freiheit] (based on seeing it for … More ‘a formidably intelligent and well-acted prison movie and also a love story – or perhaps a paradoxically platonic bromance, stretching from the end of the second world war to the moon landing.’ (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian 9 March 2022 [online]).  This blog reflects on Sebastian Meise’s ‘Great Freedom [Grosse Freiheit]’ (based on seeing it 12th March 2022 at the Roxy Screen, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle). 

 An exploration by an ignoramus of where it might be useful to say that some effects in the art of Murillo tend towards demonstrating that he ‘dissolves the boundaries between art and reality’, and could ‘break down notions of time and space.’[1] : This blog reflects on Works by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617 – 1682) … More An exploration of where it might be useful to say that some effects in the art of Murillo tend towards demonstrating that he ‘dissolves the boundaries between art and reality’, and could ‘break down notions of time and space.’ : This blog reflects on Works by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617 – 1682) currently in the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland (No.3).

Hockney’s life-long challenge to the facilitation by the Art Establishment of the ‘puritanical, abstract and conceptual’ is just one of the ways that he has wished to move the focus of the stories we tell to characterise modern art. This blog looks at different ways in which a ‘moving focus’ was an apt way to … More Hockney’s life-long challenge to the facilitation by the Art Establishment of the ‘puritanical, abstract and conceptual’ is just one of the ways that he has wished to move the focus of the stories we tell to characterise modern art. This blog reflects Helen Little’s (ed.) wonderful 2021 book ‘David Hockney: Moving Focus: Works from the Tate Collection’ London, Tate Publishing.