Figure 1: Woman With Umbrella
Knox
Mar 9
to me
wow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why does Knox Martin (www.knoxmartin.com) “WOW” this painting with one, two, three, four, five,…, hey, 30 bars? What has interested the great man so much for him to dispatch that extraordinary WOW?
What does an artistic genius see that an average viewer cannot?
That is the question, my friends! There are many question marks here but it all boils down to one question.
Let’s face it: whomsoever you have come across so far in life, with the title of “artist”, art critic, or “art professor” etc. are little more than boy/girl scouts in comparison with the maker of this thing which has elicited this extraordinary WOW from an extraordinary man at the heart of American art?
Time to meet the real trooper!
The short answer to that question is, it is a MASTERPIECE!
And why so?
Again, that answer is very simple,–very simple indeed!
Hear my explanation:
If you narrow your eyes and link up all the black together: starting from the umbrella going anti-clockwise to the woman’s hair, you go to her exuberant boob, then following the dog’s tail to the rest of the dog body,– when that pattern has been taken in as a whole, a fine tapestry comes into view: that is the very tapestry at the core of the poetic, or rather, the heart and soul of the calligraphic! That tapestry is more than enough to elicit many a bona-fide genius’ extraordinary “WOWs!”
Of course the composition must, first and foremost, satisfy the golden rules of a perfect composition before any deal can be finalized. What are those golden rules? Ahh, I must concede that it is a much harder thing to explain to the public! The closest I can get to is dispense Matisse’ time-honored observation: You cannot teach art! The fabulous truth is that I may know how to get there, yet there is no road map for me. In other words, there is no guarantee that I can get there at the end of the day, not even with intensive and sustained effort. I cannot re-create a similar deal without what is generally known as “inspiration.” So inspiration is not unlike a southerly breeze entering from an open window. It will not flutter your face with kisses simply because you desire it.
But then why shouldn’t a masterpiece be a most difficult thing to create,–even for the Alpha Seer, or even for the great Knox Martin himself?
It is time to meet the real trooper. It is time to turn your back on the fake, the imaginary,the wannabes,–AHH yes, the boys/girl scouts… . They are like junk food,–there is no nutritious value to it! And your personal soul is such beggarly! Your national spirit is dying of hunger!