A K :
Ah, Ben, in the email you sent re Munch, there
was
no attachment and no
link. So there was nothing to read, only your
laughter at nothing.
Self-proclaimed "geniuses" need to make sure
their
shoelaces are tied, just
like the rest of us mortals.
BEN LAU:
A K,
It is all in the news. They found the burglarized
munch etc. As a poor man, I work so hard and
don't have enough time to
sleep, A K. Leave those luxuries to the serious
academicians who raided the treasury of true
art......
A K :
Munch was a poor man too, and he lived his life
embracing painting, no
matter the difficulties. His work was a deep
inspiration to many other
artists, who loved him. The survival of his work is
as important as the
survival of your friend's mural. Lives are lived
always outside of history;
it's only the enshrinement that make them seem other
than your own.
A K
BEN LAU:
A K,
Thank you for your observation. But Munch is an
illustrator--that is all I know and is interested in.
there is www.trueartblog.com for a detailed explanation
, so there! and I don't want to repeat myself. As to
poor--the true geniuses cannot avoid that fate because
most people use their ears more than their eyes. When
I told you Knox Martin is a genius, did you bother to
find out why? Or are you just fixated on your list of
hearsays? A K, clearly you are not listening to Ben.
should he continue sending the broadcast or not?
You are always my friend, even though
there is limited space on my list. I have precious little
time for arguments, especially they are not about
paintings. When the Alpha Seers tell you something in all
sincerity and earnestness, it is your job to find out
why something is thus said. It is not arrogance on the part
of the Alpha Seer, as he is born to rule poetry!
--when you stubbornly refuse to find out why
that is real arrogance, since you cannot learn anything
new with that attitude. I am not asking you to believe.
I am asking you to verify. A good scientific mind is no different from
a good poetic mind.
KNOX MARTIN:
A K,
Ben Lau and I are very close, but do not throw us into a bin
together,
for this is tantamount to saying a=a=a.
Do perceive that there are artists who do not work out of
opinion
but from
a perception of an actuality: Titian, coming from Bellini and
Giorgione,
beget Tintoretto, Veronese and El Greco, who then gave birth to the
better
and
latter part of the Dutch school when they cognited on the terrible
havoc
wrought
by Caravaggio on art. If the truth be known, this perception belongs
to a
mature
master. Ann: it is vital to check out the following: Nicholas
Poussin
of whom
Cezanne has said "I want to do nature through Poussin. That is the
classic
I understand."
De Kooning who says "Everyone thinks I am a super cubist. It is
Cezanne
that I work through."
It is a mistake of ultimate magnitude to not listen to the major
artists.
If one has worked hard
enough to know who a major artist is. Do not take any authority's
opinion.
As to the nature of art and what it's doing, NICHOLAS POUSSIN HAS
SAID
"CARAVAGGIO WAS BORN TO DESTROY PAINTING."
Cutting edge art is the creation of reality of the world. It is never
a
reflection of an age.
"The poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling doth look from heaven to
earth
and from earth to heaven and from perception bodies forth the shapes
of
things unknown AND TO AIRY NOTHING GIVES A LOCAL HABITATION AND A
NAME."
Shakespeare
Mathematics is measure. Alpha art is not measure.
"In creation there is no a priori data. Creation exceeds existence
itself." Philo.X
The artist Barnett Newman has said "Esthetics is to an artist what
ornithology is to the birds."
Ann, sorry about the brevity of this. I did want to go
into the
Shang, Han, Tang, the Soong, Ming, and Ching as well as the influence
of
Islamic art on Venitian painting.
A K:
Sorry, but Caravaggio is my prooftest of painting,
as is Vermeer, as is
the
era of the Southern Sung, as is Rothko, as is
Pollock, as is (half the
time)
Picasso, as Poussin is not. As Cezanne is not.
There are artists of
structure, who seem to need to rebuild the
terrain under their feet over
and
over, and there are artists of skin, who are the
ones I most respond to.
Perhaps because I am a sculptor, I am not much
moved by painters of
structure. I'd rather look at Brancusi or Noguchi
than Cezanne any day.
One of the really irritating things about Ben,
and about your message
here,
is the patronizing tone. You both seem to imply
that anyone who disagrees
with you does so because they are deluded,
because they have been duped
by
this or that "authority." In regard to most
artists I know, that's
horseshit. Artists are usually their own
authority--I certainly am. We
pay a
lot for freedom of mind. Usually we use it.
Greater respect for the immense variety and
productiveness of the
artistic
mind is what seems to be missing from both Ben's
discourse and yours.
This
term "alpha" artist--this is evil nonsense.
Hasn't the 20th century given
us
all enough of a taste of the "alpha" personality
to give us permanent
nausea
in the presence of the word? At this point in
history, it's simply
childish
to hold to such a piece of patent nonsense,
especially when one denotes
oneself with it.
Enough already.
A K
Ben: A K, do you realize that with " Sorry, Caravaggio is my prooftest of painting..." you have
denied a great gift from the great genius Knox Martin and hold onto your superstition about Caravaggio
without further verification? You have stopped investigation dead right there. Shot with a magnum point-
blank! Why Caravaggio? Why not Walt Disney?-- since they are both illustrators alike? Why have you favored
one but ignored the other?
Caravaggio, destroyer of painting, had done great harm to art, murdered painting, Knox tries to point out.
Walt Disney on the other hand had made million of kids smile.
I would be all hands for Walt Disney while you pick a vile murderer. Would that not make one vile as well?
Without learning the painterly wisdom from the Alpha Seer, you cannot claim a readiness for the language of art
criticism. And yet I saw you write one article after another at mnartists.org.
Without going into their content since you have written with so many big words,
(I am miserably allergic to big words!) may I ask, "Are they truly art criticisms or just snake oils?
OLIVIA MARTIN: (to her Dad Knox Martin)
> Dad, it would have been better not to get into a
> thing with this person. Now
> this is out there for her to misuse.
> I had offered that your DVD's had the data. Better
> than you getting
> personally exposed.
BEN LAU:
MY INTENTION FOR THIS BROADCAST UPON MY FRIENDS' LIST IS TO
ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING FOR TRUE ART WITHIN OUR SMALL
COMMUNITY,--FOLKS I LOVE DEARLY AND ADMIRE.
IT IS MEANT TO ONE DAY BECOME THE THUNDER OF
A NEW ALPHA SEER,--ONE WHO IS AWAKE TO BEAUTY.
IN "KUNG FU HUSTLE", A RUBBISH CANTONESE FILM, I SALVAGED
THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF SPOKEN WISDOM, " FROM GREAT POWER
COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY!" SINCE I HAVE KNOWN KNOX
MARTIN TO BE A MAJOR ARTISTIC GENIUS,THAT KNOWLEDGE IS
GREAT POWER IN AND OF ITSELF.
MY DUTY FROM THAT POWER SHOULD NOT BE
TAKEN LIGHTLY,-- EVEN THOUGH THE TASK OF DISCLOSING IT
CAN BE A DAUNTING ONE.
I WOULD CONSIDER IT A BLESSING TO BE ABLE TO RECEIVE SUCH
WISDOM FROM AN ENLIGHTENED MASTER, BUT NOT EVERYONE
AGREES WITH ME. I DO NOT EXPECT EVERYONE TO.
SO JUST ASK ME TO PULL YOUR NAME OUT
FROM MY "FRIENDS' LIST"IF YOU HATE MY MESSAGES! I HAVE
COME TO YOU IN PEACE ,-- WITH GOOD INTENTION AND HOPE
THAT THE FRIENDLY GESTURE WILL NOT GO UNACKNOWLEDGED.
RANTING IN PUBLIC IS HARDLY A PROPER WAY TO GET OUT OF
THE LIST, BECAUSE HE/SHE IS CERTAIN TO BE BOOTED. NOT
A VERY HONORABLE DISCHARGE!
I DO NOT CARE IF EVENTUALLY ONLY ONE PERSON REMAINS BEHIND
TO HEAR ABOUT THE TAO OF ART. THE TRUTH WILL BE TOLD AS LONG AS I AM
HERE! AND AS LONG AS THE OTHER ALPHA SEERS ON OUR LIST, THE GREAT KNOX MARTIN ESPECIALLY,
DO NOT RAISE CONFLICTING VIEWS. TRUTH MUST BE UTTERLY TESTED.
ONLY IMPOSTORS ARE AFRAID OF SUCH A TEST!
LEANDER H., A YOUNG MAN I MET MANY YEARS AGO, SAW THE TAO AND WE
ARE STILL IN DIALOG TO THIS DAY. WHAT HAVE CAUSED
LEANDER TO STAY ON FOR SO LONG? IT IS HIS OWN
PROFOUND WISDOM. I CAN HARDLY CLAIM CREDIT TO THAT.
SO EVENTUALLY IT IS THE ART STUDENT'S OWN DESTINY THAT HE
MUST HOLD DEAR TO HIS/ HER OWN HEART. THE GIFT IS YOURS TO TAKE WHEN EGO
IS KEPT OUT OF THE DEAL! HUMILITY IS THE WAY TO GREAT KNOWLEDGE!
THE MCAD PROFESSORS HAD HEARD THE TAO, TOO WHEN I TRIED TO
NEGOTIATE MY MFA DEGREE FROM THAT INSTITUTE. (THE MFA HAS PROVEN TO
BE WORTHLESS AND I CANNOT GET A JOB ANYWHERE IN A WORLD FILL WITH IMPOSTORS)
ACTUALLY I HAVE TAUGHT THOSE ACADEMICS A THING OR TWO ABOUT THE TAO FOR WHILE
I WAS THERE. BUT OF COURSE, WITH SO LITTLE ENLIGHTENMENT IN THOSE HEADS, SUCH GOOD INTENTION
WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN APPRECIATED AND I FOUND MYSELF SPEAKING TO EMPTY VESSELS.
THOSE ACADEMICS CALLED THEMSELVES PROFESSORS, BRAGGED ABOUT THEIR
CREDENTIALS OR CELEBRITY BUT THEY HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER THEIR STUDENTS. ALL DAY LONG I HEAR
THEM MUTTERING NONSENSICAL STUFFS THE MEANING OF WHICH WERE INCOMPREHENSIBLE TO THEMSELVES.
THE IRONY WAS THAT WHEN I TOLD THEM THE TAO OF PAINTING THEY ALL FLEE FROM IT
AS IF IN IT THEY SAW THE DEVIL'S WRATH UPON THEIR VERY DELICATE WAY OF LIVING! WHAT MADE THEM
FEAR THE TAO TRULY BAFFLES THE MIND. WITH PRISTINE CLARITY DID I OBSERVE THE TAO SIMPLY
TERRORIZES AND ANNIHILATE THOSE MISERABLE SOULS WHO CHOSE TO LIVE IN LIES AND DECEPTION
ALL THEIR LIVES. SO MY ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE AT MCAD CANNOT BE SAID TO BE ENTIRELY FRUITLESS.
I HAVE NOT ORIGINATED THAT TAO. I LEARNT IT FROM THE GREAT EGYPTIANS
AND THE GREATEST ORIENTAL CALLIGRAPHERS EVER SO IT IS HARDLY ANYTHING NEW--
EVEN THOUGH IT IS ALWAYS REJUVENATED AND REVITALIZED WITH EACH NEW GENERATION OF ALPHA SEERS!
SEEING THE TAO ALWAYS TAKES PATIENCE AND A LOT OF HARD
WORKS. ONE MUST BE VULNERABLE LIKE A YOUNGSTER, LIKE AN INFANT SUCKLING THE MILK OF INNOCENCE.
EVIDENTLY, THE TRUTH ABOUT BEAUTY, I.E. THE TAO, IS NOT FOR SOMEONE
WHOSE MAIN FOCUS IN LIFE ARE BASEBALL GAMES AND BEERS.
DON'T GET ME WRONG: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH
BASEBALL GAMES AND BEERS. JUST THAT FOR THEM TO HAVE
BECOME THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS RATHER DISTURBING.
THE ROMANS WATCHED THE GLADIATORS EXTERMINATE EACH
OTHER AND THE DAYS DRAG ON WHILE THE GREEKS BECAME THE MASTERS
OF THEIR UNIVERSE AND TIME STOPPED FOR THEM, BREATHLESS AND MARVELING!
THE CHOICE IS THEN BETWEEN BEING HUMAN
WITH THE YEARNING FOR THE GODLY OR BEING JUST SEVERAL RUNGS
REMOVED FROM THE CHIMPANZEES WHOSE EXISTENCE IS NOT TO
REFLECT UPON NATURE THAT HAS HIM CREATED.