tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807469356676934317.post6410500622735843280..comments2024-03-25T10:50:11.187-07:00Comments on Gods and Foolish Grandeur: Trying to Balance the WorldStephiliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08562830870365561419noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807469356676934317.post-22004984375682015012012-07-11T13:10:05.186-07:002012-07-11T13:10:05.186-07:00Wow, thank you so much, Ronnie. It's lovely t...Wow, thank you so much, Ronnie. It's lovely to hear kind things about my work, but it means so much more when the comments are so insightful and so well said. I very much appreciate it.<br /><br />Have fun with Stephen, tomorrow. He's a delightfully odd fellow [hi, Stephen!], but - very - kind. And the house and garden are pretty damn sublime. [sigh] <br /><br />Thanks again, Ronnie!Stephiliushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08562830870365561419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807469356676934317.post-57428183072033701112012-07-11T09:46:31.368-07:002012-07-11T09:46:31.368-07:00Mr. O'Donnell, I learned of your work from Ste...Mr. O'Donnell, I learned of your work from Stephen Rutledge, whom I am to meet for the first time tomorrow in his garden. I am terribly nervous, for various personal reasons. Anyway, he wrote a blog post about your work the other day and ever since I've been poring over your work and your blog, and your wife's blog too (what an amazing person she seems to be). I hadn't intended to comment, I'm a terrible lurker, but this post forced me to say something. Your work is so gorgeous as to be mesmerizing, simply on a surface level the pictures are breathtaking, but what has made me think about them so much lately is the subject matter, the "silly" element, that silly element is precisely what gives the work its strange power, a power to disorient and shake up the viewer's preconceptions about gender, masculinity, every aspect of persona and even, dare I say, identity itself. It's these destabilizing, suggestive components embedded in such traditional surface beauty that gives your work its peculiar but powerful effect. This is what art is for, and this is what your art does. One function of art is to trigger a fresh re-engagement with "settled" questions, to provoke a new, more complex relationship with the world. To make something beautiful is certainly a worthy goal, yes, and you do succeed at that, it goes without saying. But your work does much more. By not trying to "say" anything "meaningful" about the world, by pursuing beauty and your own obsessions, you produce work that is much more meaningful than artists who attempt more topical or political themes. I could go on and on! Sorry for being long-winded.<br /><br />RonnieSimonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06803021510554313816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807469356676934317.post-85912904725296775432011-03-01T20:12:28.266-08:002011-03-01T20:12:28.266-08:00Lovely, sweetie. I won't try to add anything t...Lovely, sweetie. I won't try to add anything to what you've said. Just - yes.Gigi Littlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10131015556565657324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807469356676934317.post-6012590538469532412011-03-01T11:23:19.859-08:002011-03-01T11:23:19.859-08:00Thank you so much, BP. "Guide them to find s...Thank you so much, BP. "Guide them to find something previously un-found." Thank you for that, especially.Stephiliushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08562830870365561419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807469356676934317.post-51782731646414656572011-03-01T11:06:19.319-08:002011-03-01T11:06:19.319-08:00oh man, i don't know where to begin, so i'...oh man, i don't know where to begin, so i'll just say that i agree - the cold grim realities of the world cannot be undone by one painting of a man in a dress. this however does not invalidate the painting or by extension the painter. honesty and authenticity are in short supply. your work/s contain them. whether today, years hence, centuries hence, said authenticity will still remain in the work. 100 years from today someone could see your painting and identify with it, connect with it profoundly - it could bring them back from the edge or toss them a rope in a deep well; it could aid them, guide them to find something previously un-found. please continue doing what you're doing.Brian Padianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05806223047453147976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807469356676934317.post-65836533909110141212011-02-27T19:05:07.354-08:002011-02-27T19:05:07.354-08:00Lovely. You are - too - kind, sir! Merci bien.Lovely. You are - too - kind, sir! Merci bien.Stephiliushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08562830870365561419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807469356676934317.post-80693291399857218842011-02-27T15:10:28.118-08:002011-02-27T15:10:28.118-08:00There are not words to express my admiration for y...There are not words to express my admiration for you & your work.Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05967985806955115917noreply@blogger.com