Monday, December 30, 2019

How To Be A Student of Aesthetics


Walter Pater writes in the preface to The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry that the aim of the true student of aesthetics is to define beauty. 

And that to see the object (e.g., poetry, literature, pictures, etc.) as it really is is the aim of all true criticism. And one does this by asking the following questions:

"What is this [object of art] to me?"
"What effect does it really produce on me?"
"Does it give me pleasure?" and if so, what sort or degree of pleasure?"
"How is my nature modified by its presence, and under its influence?"

Consequently, the abstract definition of beauty will be of no interest to the student of aesthetics.

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Instagram Face: Full Lips & Big Buttocks ARE Attractive


Jia Tolentino relates in her New Yorker piece "THE AGE OF INSTAGRAM FACE: How social media, FaceTune, and plastic surgery created a single, cyborgian look" that in the last decade there has been a: 

[...] gradual emergence, among professionally beautiful women, of a single, cyborgian face. It’s a young face, of course, with poreless skin and plump, high cheekbones. It has catlike eyes and long, cartoonish lashes; it has a small, neat nose and full, lush lips. 

A class of celebrity plastic surgeons has emerged on Instagram, posting time-lapse videos of injection procedures and before-and-after photos, which receive hundreds of thousands of views and likes. 

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Americans received more than seven million neurotoxin injections in 2018, and more than two and a half million filler injections. That year, Americans spent $16.5 billion on cosmetic surgery; ninety-two per cent of these procedures were performed on women. 

Thanks to injectables, cosmetic procedures are no longer just for people who want huge changes, or who are deep in battle with the aging process—they’re for millennials, or even, in rarefied cases, members of Gen Z. Kylie Jenner, who was born in 1997, spoke on her reality-TV show “Life of Kylie” about wanting to get lip fillers after a boy commented on her small lips when she was fifteen.

1900 William H. West Minstrel Show Poster

But what is additionally (extremely) interesting about these developments is that not too long ago, having "
lush lips" was proclaimed to be unattractive and was used to racially stereotype African Americans. But thanks to the Kardashians, non-whites are free to openly admit that full lips and buttocks are actually attractive.


Kylie Jenner Lip Fillers | Before and After

Coincidentally, this weekend's edition of the metro (New York City edition) included an article on the spike in lip injections around the holidays.


Friday, November 22, 2019

Kjaerholm's PK80 Leather Benches at the MoMA


Whenever we go to the MoMA, in addition to the abstract art, we're drawn to the benches. Not only to take a rest upon, but, for years, we've been trying to determine if the benches are upholstered in leather. And it turns out that they are! 

Here's what is posted on Modern Design Interior about the leather benches:

Poul Kjaerholm PK80 Bench: a modernist masterpiece™ by Stardust.com™. The distinctive minimalist PK80 Bench was designed by Poul Kjaerholm (Danish spelling is Poul Kjærholm) in 1957 and is produced by Fritz Hansen in Denmark. In typically Scandinavian fashion, Poul Kjaerholm opted for steel as his primary furniture construction material but combined it with wood and leather to give it an understated luxurious elegance. 

Poul Kjaerholm's PK80 is a sculpture by itself, but with an understated, subtle quality that makes it ideally suited for accompanying art. PK80 was specified by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York where it is used as a museum bench. Claude Monet's Water Lilies (1914-26) and Jackson Pollock's One: Number 31 (1951), look absolutely stunning when observed from the equally iconic PK80 bench.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Does Good Writing Equal Poor Speaking?

Caroline Wright's speaking writing

Vladimir Nabokov shared in the foreword to Strong Opinions: "I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child." 

Thus, Nabokov considered himself a good writer but a poor speaker. So much so, that his lectures and interviews were pre-written. Nabokov shared:

"Throughout my academic ascent in America from lean lecturer to Full Professor, I have never delivered to my audience one scrap of information not prepared in typescript beforehand and not held under my eyes on the bright-lit lectern."

"The interviewer's questions have to be sent to me in writing, answered by me in writing, and reproduced verbatim. Such are the three absolute conditions."

We suspect that Nabokov is not an anomaly in this regard. What about you? As your writing improved, did you seen a decline in your speaking ability? 

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Public Art: George Condo's "Constellation of Voices" & Carmen Herrera: Estructuras Monumentales

 George Condo's  "Constellation of Voices" @ Lincoln Center Plaza

Before daylight savings time kicks in this weekend, we used the daylight to view some public art. 

Our first stop was Lincoln Center Plaza to see George Condo's  "Constellation of Voices", which is exhibited on the terrace of the Metropolitan Opera's facade. If you're intrigued by the sculpture's color, it has a 24-karat-gold-leaf surface.

Untitled Estructura, 1966/2018

Then we hopped back on the Downtown A to Chambers to see the Carmen Herrera: Estructuras Monumentales exhibit in the City Hall Park. The exhibit is Herrera's, who is 104-years-old, first large scale exhibition of her outdoor aluminum sculptures.

Amarillo Tres, 1971/2018
Estructura Verde, 1966/2018
Angulo Rojo, 2017
Carmen Herrera: Estructuras Monumentales  ends November 8th.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Red Increases Attractiveness, But Can It Increase Book Sales




Recent research showed that individuals are perceived as more attractive when presented with the color red.

Elliot and Niesta (2008) found that men consistently rated women as higher in attractiveness when a border of red framed their photographs or when they were presented with a red shirt compared to other colors. This red effect was also found for women perceiving men (Elliot et al., 2010; Roberts, Owen, & Havlicek, 2010). 

Red color, for example, represents a sexual signal that might have evolved from our biological heritage. This reasoning is supported by research showing that nonhuman female primates exhibit red coloration for example as indicator of fertility (Elliot & Niesta, 2008). [...] Thus, it is most likely that the meaning of the color red also has a biological background [...] Nonetheless, societal learning seems to have turned the originally pure sexual meaning of red color into a more romantic association: red equals love. 

Bearing in mind that people are likely to associate (i.e., learn to associate) wearing red with being attractive, we now propose that the color red can heighten individuals’ self-attractiveness. 

Judging oneself as more attractive, when the desire for a sexual intimacy is increased (through the color red), seems to be an efficient strategy to attract potential partners.

In sum, given that the meaning of red has such genuine biological roots and is bolstered through societal learning, we argue that wearing red affects individuals’ self-attractiveness judgments, because the color shapes their look and they are inclined to base inferences on their appearance (Bem, 1967). Accordingly, the color red should be influential when inferring one’s sexual receptivity and self-status. We assume that those two variables mediate the effect of color on self-attractiveness, as was found regarding the perception of others (Elliot & Maier, 2012; 2014). 

Thus, based on the results of this study, red increases one's self-attractiveness and attractiveness, but can a red book cover increase sales? Interestingly, red enhances men’s attraction to young, but not menopausal women. And we know a red bearded New York based author who gets complemented consistently on his barbe rouge.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Introvert = [Good] Writer?


When Boris Kachka interviewed Bari Weiss at the Lambs Club during the launch party for her first book, he told her that, "[...] she seemed unusually extroverted for a writer [...]", Weiss agreed and shared that she would love to be an agent, because she loves "[...] making matches with people." Whereas an introvert generally wants to avoid people.

Jenn Granneman related on the blog Introvert, Dear that John Green, The Fault in Our Stars author, opined: “Writing is something you do alone. It’s a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don’t want to make eye contact while doing it.”

Although, Granneman admits that not all writers are introverts (e.g., Hemingway), she lists three reasons why introverts make great writers:

1. Good writing is good thinking. And who thinks more than introverts?
2. We’re comfortable with solitude.
3. We’re keen observers of people, places, and details.



Sunday, September 8, 2019

A Summer Pastime: Viewing Public Art in NYC

Ryan Sullivan | High Line Art

Sadly, summer is ending along with one of our favorite summer pastimes, which is viewing public (abstract) art. To name a few, we were fortunate to view Ryan Sullivan's paintings exhibited on the High Line.


Joseph La Piana Tension Sculpture C, 2019

Joseph La Piana's Tension Sculpture(s) on Park Avenue. 

Mark Manders: Tilted Head 

And Mark Manders' Tilted Head in Central Park.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Does Fiction Reveal Writers?


Do you agree with Naipaul? We say that "never" and "totally" are hyperbolic, but we generally agree with Naipaul. And Naipaul's quote is interesting in light of Henry Miller's and Vladimir Nabokov's oeuvres. 

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Best Books About Writers


This excerpt from Katy Waldman's New Yorker review of Andrew Martin's Early Work confirmed one of my concerns about white people who listen to hardcore rap:

"Yeah, I'm pretty into monotonous drug rap right now," she said. "I mean, like everybody. I guess it's the usual racist thing, where white people like it because it takes their worst suspicions about minorities and confirms them in lurid and entertaining ways?"

However, while reading the novel, I found the references to writing, novelists, poets, books, and publishing intriguing, which reminded me that the best books and films about writers/artists are the ones that depicts the writers writing. (Interestingly, Early Work's narrator opined that Balthus' perverted paintings of girls and cats are "wonderful".)


Unlike Olivier Assayas' Something in the Air (2012) and Personal Shopper (2016), I was disappointed with Non-Fiction (2018) [French: Doubles vies] because, although the dialogue about writing and publishing was extremely interesting, the writer wasn't shown honing his craft - not one time.

For the record, our top three books and films about writers/artists are:

Books
The Tenants Bernard Malamud
Transparent Things Vladimir Nabokov
Look at the Harlequins Vladimir Nabokov

Films
The Tenants (2005)
Something in the Air (2012) 
Personal Shopper (2016)



Saturday, July 27, 2019

Writer's Block = Lazy Writer?


I've written a number of books, and I've never suffered from writer's block - thank God. 

But I don't know if I would subscribe to Tom Clancy's notion, in Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), that writer's block is synonymous with laziness (i.e., the antithesis of grit).

Tom Clancy: "I don't subscribe to the notion of writer's block."
Female Admirer: "You never experience it?"
Tom Clancy: "Writer's block is a term invented by the writing community to justify their laziness. My success is nothing more than that I have the determination and stamina [i.e., grit] to sit and get the work done."





Friday, July 26, 2019


Universe Size Comparison (3D)

I am one person out of (over) 7,000,000,000 people on the planet Earth.

Earth is one out of eight planets that are orbiting the the Sun.

The Sun is one star out of 300,000,000,000 stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

The Milky Way is one galaxy out of (over) 200,000,000,000 galaxies. 

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

National Museum of African American History: GOOD TIMES


We recently visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C..  Although a bustling and entertaining city, we had no intention on returning to D.C. any time soon;so, we perused the entire library in one visit! Overall, it was an enlightening experience, but three exhibits stood out:

1. The New York Conspiracy, 1741 where enslaved Africans and poor whites conspired to torch New York City, execute affluent whites, and appoint a new king and governor. The interracial rebels set firer to the governor's mansion and around NYC . Ultimately, a number revolters were accused of conspiracy and were harshly punished. 

2. Jimmie Walker's hat, Good Times, 1974-1979

April 4 by Sam Gilliam
3. And the abstract art in the Visual Art & The American Experience room

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Review: Apple News+ | For Voracious Magazine Readers


We're avid readers of The New YorkerNew York MagazineVanity Fair and the Arts section of The New York Times, but unless we can find an Instagram deal, the subscriptions can be cost prohibitive for most New York City based writers. 

That's why we signed up for Apple's News+ where we get subscriptions to the The New YorkerNew York Magazine, and Vanity Fair for less than $10 per month. And since subscribing, we've started reading The Hollywood Reporter for intriguing news about the film, television and streaming industries and Adweek for inside news about the advertising industry. 

Admittedly, it took us some time to get used to reading avidly on an iPhone, and we still have to get The New York Times via a relative's (free) student account, but if you're a voracious magazine reader, News+ may be a good investment. 


Sunday, May 26, 2019

Was Shakespeare a Woman?



In her June 2019 Atlantic essay, Elizabeth Winkler asked "Was Shakespeare a Woman?" I won't get into the reasons that Winkler gave for Emilia Bassano possibly being the real Shakespeare, but I'm going to share her reasons for why Shakespeare possibly wasn't Shakespeare.

Their doubt is rooted in an empirical conundrum. Shakespeare’s life is remarkably well documented, by the standards of the period—yet no records from his lifetime identify him unequivocally as a writer. The more than 70 documents that exist show him as an actor, a shareholder in a theater company, a moneylender, and a property investor. They show that he dodged taxes, was fined for hoarding grain during a shortage, pursued petty lawsuits, and was subject to a restraining order. The profile is remarkably coherent, adding up to a mercenary impresario of the Renaissance entertainment industry. What’s missing is any sign that he wrote.

No such void exists for other major writers of the period, as a meticulous scholar named Diana Price has demonstrated. Many left fewer documents than Shakespeare did, but among them are manuscripts, letters, and payment records proving that writing was their profession.

A wealthy man when he retired to Stratford, he was meticulous about bequeathing his properties and possessions (his silver, his second-best bed). Yet he left behind not a single book, though the plays draw on hundreds of texts, including some—in Italian and French—that hadn’t yet been translated into English. Nor did he leave any musical instruments, though the plays use at least 300 musical terms and refer to 26 instruments. He remembered three actor-owners in his company, but no one in the literary profession. Strangest of all, he made no mention of manuscripts or writing.