Sunday, June 9, 2013

IFFY





Given the renewed hue and cry erupting, flowing, sneaking and surveilling in the direction of "Tea Party types," one wonders what today’s "powers that be" would make of a really iffy personality like Max Ernst?


Iam glad not to know.  I would hate for Mr. Ernst to let me down (as most of our creative artists eventually do) by being co-opted, brought to heel, in pages of People or Vanity Fair celebrity coverage.


And as a Quaker and, I hope, a good American, I would dislike seeing the full force of Ernst’s art and power make the surveillers heads explode like Scanners.




2 comments:

  1. Max Ernst is my favorite artist. I'm glad I missed whatever you're referring to as it sounds unpleasant. I don't think he could ever do as Dali did, he's not even slightly pop. I do imagine that he did some designs for parties in his time though. Makes me want to investigate that.

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    1. Max Ernst was only slightly iffy-er than most genius artists I can think of, but he could be extremely unkind. If you would read his son, Jimmy Ernst's autobiography, or even that famous book published about a decade ago about Peggy Guggenheim (a piece of work herself), you'll see what I mean. He lived an extraordinary life and faced terrible challenges during the course of two world wars. I love his work also and would have loved to have met him. Curtis

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