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Jul. 9th, 2012 11:01 pmIf you're very lucky, one day you'll find your way to a bit of writing that changes you.
The artist David Batchelor's book Chromophobia has quite literally changed how I see the world. I see colour differently, I look at the world differently, I'm more conscious of the "extreme prejudice" against colour in Western culture.
Usually, my serious academic reading tends towards the mercenary. I don't think I'm unusual in this: pick up book, find paragraphs useful to me, take citations, paraphrase to prove my own point, move on.
But a few months ago Batchelor gave an artist talk in the department, shared some of his work (I'm particularly taken with "Magic Hour"), and pointed out a few simple truths about the way colour has been regarded since the Ancient Greeks. He wonders why, since there is so much colour in the world, has there been such an effort to convince refined, educated, aesthetically sophisticated Westerners that the mark of refinement, education and sophistication is the absence of that same fundamental characteristic. ( More! And quotes! )
I'm sympathetic to those North Americans melting in the heat. Today I had on a long-sleeved t-shirt under a light cardigan to catch the 7pm bus from campus. When the Olympic torch relay came through town last week, more than one person was in a knitted sweater. Writing this, I'm in a sweatshirt and flannel pj pants. What I'm saying is, any time summer wants to start, I know a few islands in between the North Sea and the North Atlantic that would be down with that.
I mean. As much as I like those coats I bought yesterday, I don't really want to wear them yet.
The artist David Batchelor's book Chromophobia has quite literally changed how I see the world. I see colour differently, I look at the world differently, I'm more conscious of the "extreme prejudice" against colour in Western culture.
Usually, my serious academic reading tends towards the mercenary. I don't think I'm unusual in this: pick up book, find paragraphs useful to me, take citations, paraphrase to prove my own point, move on.
But a few months ago Batchelor gave an artist talk in the department, shared some of his work (I'm particularly taken with "Magic Hour"), and pointed out a few simple truths about the way colour has been regarded since the Ancient Greeks. He wonders why, since there is so much colour in the world, has there been such an effort to convince refined, educated, aesthetically sophisticated Westerners that the mark of refinement, education and sophistication is the absence of that same fundamental characteristic. ( More! And quotes! )
I'm sympathetic to those North Americans melting in the heat. Today I had on a long-sleeved t-shirt under a light cardigan to catch the 7pm bus from campus. When the Olympic torch relay came through town last week, more than one person was in a knitted sweater. Writing this, I'm in a sweatshirt and flannel pj pants. What I'm saying is, any time summer wants to start, I know a few islands in between the North Sea and the North Atlantic that would be down with that.
I mean. As much as I like those coats I bought yesterday, I don't really want to wear them yet.
