excerpt
It struck me that there was a point in fairly recent history when we
changed from being artisans to becoming the modern idea of the artist. That
moment came with the death of van Gogh. He had played a major role in
getting the world to look at new forms of art, which had much to do with
the impressionist movement. I had read considerably on it. Van Gogh sold
just one painting in his lifetime. I think in large part he was too busy, he was
moving things ahead and I think he had a vision that very much included
the future – and that idea excited me a lot. What is art? It isn’t just something
pretty. Art is something that changes the world and it can only be done
one piece at a time.
My understanding of art, relative to my new country, was forged at this
moment. Art and politics were inextricably entwined. Van Gogh had a most
peculiar and unhealthy relationship with his brother, Theo. They corresponded
every day so we have an immense pool of information. Van Gogh
wasn’t mad at all. He was very ill and became sicker as he grew older. I
think he had many things wrong with him, including epilepsy. After he cut
off his ear, and eventually shot himself and took three days to die, a friend
of Theo’s, a well-known journalist in Paris, asked if he could see some of the
correspondence. Theo agreed. After the fellow researched a goodly amount of
it, he asked if he could write some articles. Theo agreed – and those articles
created damnation for the artists of today, because van Gogh was presented
as a madman and a victim. It so hit the sensibility of France that he became
the grand, tragic figure, and the model for how all artists would be viewed
in the eye and the mind of the public. And because the world in those days
looked to Paris for matters artistic, the story spread like quicksilver. To my
mind, that was the birth of the modern perception of the artist.
Ken compared the “artist as victim” mythos with the Renaissance
view of artists, when people like him commanded the attention of kings,
queens, princes and Popes. Pleased with the clarity of his thoughts, he
picked up his fishing rod and got back to the business at hand, promising
himself that if he did nothing else in his life he would never join that
anaemic club of modern day artists. He would be an artist in the tradition
of the Italian Renaissance. If he were to follow in anyone’s footsteps, it
would be in those of Michelangelo. He would be a warrior artist.
To burn off some of the restless energy that possessed him since returning
home, he began to play tennis, at the courts in Stanley Park,
where he met Helen Michaelchuck, a local teacher. He also studied real
estate investing, which seemed to him like a false-fronted building in an
old black and white western movie. It was an empty concept set up to
make money – no value traded hands. No service was purchased. But he
wanted at least two or three million dollars to tell the story of the Arctic
Mayanaam
vequinox
Manolis 