NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS » On Art

Difference between magic and mediocrity

Nigel Beale — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:22:43 +0000

From here. A.O. Scott on the matter: Is there a meaningful distinction to be drawn between exercising the imagination and just making up a bunch of stuff? When it comes to children at play, probably not: the pleasure of inventiveness matters more than the quality of the particular inventions. But children’s entertainment, made [...]

Difference between magic and mediocrity is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Andy Warhol: “One of the Stupidest men I’ve ever met”

Nigel Beale — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:37:44 +0000

Two views of Pop Art Andy Warhol: “One of the Stupidest men I’ve ever met” is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Andy Warhol: “One of the Stupidest men I’ve ever met” is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Profile of Ottawa artist Adrian Gollner by Nigel Beale.

Nigel Beale — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:54:02 +0000

This from the latest issue of Guerilla Magazine, #23 Boldly creative and obsessively organized, Adrian Göllner is a man of two minds—and he draws upon both of them to win public art commissions all over the world. Story by Nigel Beale / Photographs by Rémi Thériault Several years ago I went through the Ron Mueck exhibition [...]

Profile of Ottawa artist Adrian Gollner by Nigel Beale. is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

William Merrit Chase’s extraordinary Women

Nigel Beale — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:35:21 +0000

Searching for an image of Whistler (see previous post), I happened across William Merrit Chase. What extaordinary talent to be able to capture so much emotional intensity in the faces of so many women William Merrit Chase’s extraordinary Women is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

William Merrit Chase’s extraordinary Women is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Ruskin-Whistler contra eachother

Nigel Beale — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:08:27 +0000

RUSKIN ON WHISTLER (1877) FOR Mr. Whistler’s own sake, no less than for the protection of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought not to have admitted works into the gallery in which the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly approached the aspect of wilful imposture, I have seen, and heard, much of the cockney impudence [...]

Ruskin-Whistler contra eachother is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Back by Popular Demand: Is Advertising Art, by Nigel Beale.

Nigel Beale — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:35:17 +0000

Some years ago I was on a TV panel with a self proclaimed 'advertising guru.' His all-knowing aura gave rise to my subsequently writing this: Oh Grand and Glorious Southern Guru, I am perplexed. What ails thee, my peabrained little grasshopper? My sleep has been short, my walls have been climbed, my hair has been pulled. [...]

Ladies and Gentlemen: Anish Kapoor

Nigel Beale — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:51:03 +0000

As mentioned previously, this work put me in another head space about a decade ago when it was on display at the National Gallery of Canada. Here's what Anish Kapoor's been up to lately: from The Guardian. And TimeOut: and, from the Brighton Festival, a slide show on his work: Ladies and Gentlemen: Anish Kapoor is a post [...]

Ladies and Gentlemen: Anish Kapoor is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Bacon, Titian, Good and Evil

Nigel Beale — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:52:15 +0000

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion” (1944) Dropped in on Charlie Rose's site as I am wont to do, and found this interview with the curator of this past summer's Francis Bacon retrospective at the Met. I happened to attend the exhibition. These were easily the most arresting of the works on [...]

Bacon, Titian, Good and Evil is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Stars and Stripes out of Canadian Donaros

Nigel Beale — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:36:26 +0000

I’ve always connected intelligence with a good sense of humour. By this measure, Ottawa artist/film maker Marc Odornato is one smart dude. I was reminded of this recently when I took this piece of his, purchased several years ago, out of storage. Yes. An American flag made out of Canadian money. $5 and $50 bills. $1200 [...]

Stars and Stripes out of Canadian Donaros is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Great BIG smalls V: December 3rd – December 24th, 2009

Nigel Beale — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:38:03 +0000

Ventured into Cube Gallery on the weekend. Came out with several smalls…and a big hankering for more…Each year proprietor Don Monet fills his gallery with a murder of small works by many mostly local established and emerging painters….65 in all this time round. All pieces while not quite stocking stuffers – $150-$600 range – designed to [...]

Great BIG smalls V: December 3rd – December 24th, 2009 is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

The Perfect Christmas gift for book lovers and bibliophiles…

Nigel Beale — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:31:22 +0000

A friend of a friend of mine is making the best gifts imaginable for book lovers and bibliophiles: book purses. A book conservator by training, she hunts down attractive titles…removes the (typically damaged) contents, and turns the remains into these exquisite fashion accessories. Here’s one for the lover of Anne of Green Gables …and another [...]

The Perfect Christmas gift for book lovers and bibliophiles… is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Laughter that Destroys all Pomposity

Nigel Beale — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:36:05 +0000

"No doubt Aubrey Beardsley was the more original artist; also the more limited. Even if he had lived I doubt if he would have gone much beyond his strictly linear style. Whereas Ricketts painted from a rich palette, and was also an accomplished sculptor in the manner of Rodin. From the point of view of [...]

Laughter that Destroys all Pomposity is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Greatest Painter of the Late 19th Century?

Nigel Beale — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:48:11 +0000

Some, including Charles Ricketts, thought Pierre Puvis de Chavannes the greatest painter of the late nineteenth century. Greatest Painter of the Late 19th Century? is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Greatest Painter of the Late 19th Century? is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Titian on Relative Aesthetic Value

Nigel Beale — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:17:57 +0000

Image from here. Took in the Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice Exhibition at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts on Thursday. I was most taken by the portraits room, free, as it was, from the clutter of all those cupids and clouds, columns, fawns and forests. The number above, apropos of our last post, suggests that the beauty [...]

Titian on Relative Aesthetic Value is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

John Ashbery on Francis Bacon: Ugly, Obscene, Terrifying, Human World

Nigel Beale — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:04:36 +0000

I plan to catch the Francis Bacon Centenary Retrospective at the Met next week. Here, from Reported Sighting, Art Chronicles 1957-87, by John Ashbery (yes, he wrote/writes about art) is what Bacon has to say about things: That is why real painting is a mysterious and continuous struggle with chance – mysterious because the very substance [...]

John Ashbery on Francis Bacon: Ugly, Obscene, Terrifying, Human World is a post from: NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS