variousing

Hello again * R.B. Kitaj, during his seminal, interventionist exhibition programme of 1976, The Human Clay, said, '...There is much to be done. It matters what men of good will want to do with their lives...'. I like this. It approaches the analysis of human-kind from the other direction from Caldwell, but still manages a bit of poetic reduction. Kitaj is characteristically generous and inclusive; and there's a political, ideological strength in being so. The text itself was used in order to support and promote the idea of a doggedly figurative - non-Abstract, non-Conceptual - art practice, in which, literally, the figure of the person was always central. Kitaj believed that to diminish the sovereignty of the person, even in painting, was dangerous; even indicative of those crimes against humanity meted-out by the Nazis, etc. In other words, by constantly and consistently reiterating the human figure, one is over-and-over reaffirming its importance. Kitaj was, at the same time, seeking to express his own Jewishness, but the point is made generally. Caldwell, it seems, seeks to choke-off possibilities, in his creation of a rarefied ghetto of happy knowing creatives and happy innocent children. A good proportion of the latter, of course - according to Caldwell - are destined for unhappiness or less-happiness, since they will fail to be creative in adulthood. How can one be happy in the knowledge of that? It's like Logan's Run: a temporary utopia. Kitaj, meanwhile - like Sadowitz, in fact - seeks to give people an inalienable chance. As a starting point, he insists that all people are worthwhile, similarly-blessed, etc.; and that 'men of good will' should act in good faith. This matters. It is a structuring-element in human history at the same time on the grand scale and interpersonally. That is to say, that all human good and human bad is composed of human decisions; and one can act with good faith or with bad. To my mind, the new war - for us over-entertained Westerners - is against apathy, laziness, sophistry, top-sheeting, lack of real engagement. I hope my efforts here demonstrate my willingness to get-up-and-go with stuff passed my way! Best wishes, Anthony