MUSICAL DICTATORSHIP
On January 26, 1936, Joseph Stalin, who had decided to take an interest in Soviet opera, attended a performance of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. The composer was instructed to attend, which he did in a state of utter panic, and two days later the...
LET’S TAKE A LOOK UNDER THE HOOD! (1)
What can you tell us about your piece? Nothing What’s it about? Nothing Where did you get the inspiration or idea? I don’t know… nowhere Can you explain it to us? There’s nothing to explain, you just look at it This is an exchange I’ve been through a thousand times with students of...
RICHTER IN THE SKY / RICHTER EN EL CIELO
With teaching taking up most of my time lately I haven’t had much opportunity for reading, so this morning as the sun was shining I decided not to go to the studio and find a place to sit with my book instead. My skin hasn’t felt the sun for weeks and within minutes...
ARTIST STUDIO: HENRI MATISSE
Image: www.contentinacottage.blogspot.com _ What I love about this picture of Matisse in his studio/bedroom is the idea it gives of the magnitude of his immense creative drive. Old age, illness or convalescence were not enough, it appears, to stop Matisse from creating new work. _ Lo que me encanta de esta foto de Matisse en...
ARTIST QUOTE: GAO XINGJIAN
Gao Xingjian executing a splash-ink painting. Image: www.mclc.osu.edu _ “In order to create a pictorial space on a two-dimensional surface two different directions can be followed; the first consists of recreating real space, with perspective for example, to create the illusion of a third dimension; the other consists of admitting that the surface is flat,...
KAPUSCINSKI ON THE BEACH CHAIR / KAPUSCINSKI EN LA SILLA DE PLAYA
Photo: Simon Zabell So there I was late this morning, lying back on the beach chair in the studio, trying to chill from the frustration of not being able to straighten my ideas regarding what I want my blank canvas to turn into, by reading something totally unrelated to art, as I often...
All schools should be art schools.
