Maximalization

In my last post I talked about complexity specifically in the work of  Oliver Vernon . His work is merely one example, and lest I appear like a detail junky or something, I should say that the work does come off as a bit epistemically barren. I wouldn't say it's only formalist in its concerns though. Maximalism is interesting in itself as a concept.

Although I could say....

... and that would be interesting. But for something different I thought I'd mention a piece we discussed in Modern Chinese Art History class the other day.

Cai Guo-Qiang "Borrowing Your Enemy's Arrows" 1998

 The work of Cai Guo-Qiang's work is fascinating. This piece in particular is based on an ancient Chinese fable about two armies. During a great battle in the 3rd century (I think) one army ran out of arrows. So they devised a clever trick to send over an empty boat in the dead of a foggy night. When the boat reached the other army they reacted and shot innumerable arrows at it. Somehow the first army got it back and retrieved the arrows to use in the next battle.

Underground

I realize I haven't blogged for a while, but there's going to be a machine gun blogging style here for the next couple weeks....

I don't typically write about polotics or particularly topical news items. The hurricane, however, had a rather universal effect on the tri-state area and further. For one thing, it caused schools to be cancelled not only because of the storm itself, but the extended loss of power that followed.