Saturday, August 12, 2017
This New Technology Lets You Grow Trees In Harsh Environments
A new planter technology called COCOON is creating planting and forestry opportunities for people living in arid climates and in areas afflicted with degraded land. The COCOON system has been designed by the land development group, Land Life Company, who has recently won the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge award for sustainable innovation in the Netherlands. The company plan to use the prize money to launch pilot projects in Mexico, Spain and California.
COCOON is a low-cost, biodegradable and water-efficient planting technology, designed to restore dry and deforested land where there is no affordable or maintainable substitute. It is made up of four components: a water reservoir, mycorrhizal fungi supplement, an evaporation sheet and a tree shelter.
Together, these elements foster hardy trees with strong root systems that are resilient to extreme conditions associated with drier regions. The water resevoir, made from bio waste, is only filled with water once during planting, and creates a moat around the plant, which proceeds to draw the water through absorbent bamboo wicks. As the reservoir is emptied, a basin area is created around the plant to catch rain and as the reservoir degrades, it provides nutrients for the plant.
The fungi supplement increases the surface area of the roots by 100 to 1000 times, rooting the plant and helping it catch hard-to-reach nutrients. The tree shelter is used to protect the plant against harsh weather and small animals, and the biodegradable evaporation sheet sits below the topsoil, but above the resevoir to eliminate evaporation of water and prevent the growth of weeds in the soil.
Thanks
http://www.designindaba.com/
Thanks
90களில் எஸ்.பி.பியின் குரல் எப்படியாக இருந்தது
எண்பதுகளில் ராஜாவின் இசையில் பெரிய போட்டியின்றி பல பாடல்களைப் பாடும் வாய்ப்புகளைப் பெற்றவர் எஸ்.பி.பி. சம வயது ஆட்கள் என்பதால் தொடர்ந்து பயணித்த அவர்களுக்குள் இயல்பாய் வாடா போடா தோழமை உருவானதில் ராஜாவின் இசையில் எஸ்.பி.பி தன் குரலில் பல வித்தைகளை பயின்று பார்க்க எதுவாக அமைந்த காலகட்டம் அது. எனினும் ராஜாவின் பிடியில் மூக்கணாங்கயிறு இருந்ததையும் கவனிக்கலாம்."எனக்கு இதெல்லாம் வேணும் , அவற்றைக் கெடுக்காமல் நீ எப்படி வேணா பாடிக்கோ" என்று ஒரு வரையறுக்கப்பட்ட சுதந்திரத்தை ராஜா எஸ்.பி.பிக்கு வழங்கியிருக்கிறார் என்பது போன்ற உணர்வைக் கொடுப்பவை எண்பதுகளில் ராஜாவிடம் எஸ்.பி.பி. பாடிய பாடல்கள்.
90-களில் எஸ்.பி.பி இந்திய சினிமாவில் பல மொழிகளில் டிமாண்ட் இருந்த உச்ச நிலையை எட்டிய வளர்ந்துவிட்ட பாடகர். சினிமா பாடல்கள் பாடுவதில் இசையமைப்பாளர்கள் சொல்வதைத் தாண்டியும் தனது கற்பனைகளால் சிம்பிள் மெட்டுகளையும் சிலாகிக்க வைக்கும் வகையில் மெட்டுக்களை தனதாக்கும் வல்லமையை அவர் தனது அனுபவத்தால் பெற்ற காலகட்டமாய் என்னளவில் பார்க்கிறேன்.
எண்பதுகளிலேயே அவருக்கு அப்படியான திறமை கைகூடிய ஒன்றுதான் என்பது 'ஆடி மாச காத்தடிக்க' ,' சிங்காரி சரக்கு ','ஏஞ்சோடி மஞ்சக் குருவி' போன்ற சில பாடல்கள் காட்டிக் கொடுக்கும் எனினும் அவர் அத்தனை சுதந்திரமாய் இயங்கவில்லை என்பது தொண்ணூறுகளின் பாடல்களை ஒப்பு நோக்க உணரலாம். கவனிக்க, இங்கே தொண்ணூறுகளின் பாடல்களுக்கும் எண்பதுகளின் பாடல்களுக்கும் ஒப்புமைப்படுத்தவில்லை, எஸ்.பி.பியின் குரலின் மாற்றங்கள் இவ்விரு காலகட்டங்களில் எப்படி இருந்தது என்பது மட்டுமே பேசு பொருள். போக மற்றொரு குறிப்பிடப்பட வேண்டிய விஷயம் , தமிழை தனது தாய் மொழிக்கு நிகராக உள்வாங்கி பிரதிபலிக்கும் இயல்பும் தொண்ணூறுகளில் கூடி வந்திருப்பதையும் கவனிக்கலாம்.
பல மொழிகளில் பாடும் வாய்ப்புகளால் எண்பதுகளைவிட தொண்ணூறுகளில் எஸ்.பி.பி தமிழில் பாடிய பாடல்கள் எண்ணிக்கையில் குறைவு. இந்த இடைவெளியில்தான் எஸ்.பி.பிக்கென இருந்த பல வாய்ப்புகளை ராஜா மனோவிற்கு வாரி வழங்கத்தொடங்கினார் என்றால் மிகையில்லை. எனினும் அவ்வப்போது குறிப்பிடும்படியான பாடல்களை எஸ்.பி.பி பாடிக்கொண்டு ராஜாவிடமிருந்து பெரிய இடைவெளி விழுந்துவிடமால் பார்த்துக்கொண்டார். அப்படி பாடிய பாடல்கள்தான் சுந்தரி கண்ணால் ஒரு சேதி, ஓ பட்டர் ஃப்ளை, போவோமா ஊர்கோலம் போன்றவை.
மேற்சொன்ன பாடல்களிலும்கூட ராஜாவின் மெட்டுக்களை மிகக் கவனமாக கையாண்டிருப்பார் எஸ்.பி.பி. ஆனால் இதே காலகட்டத்தில் ராஜாவின் பல சிம்பிள் மெட்டுகளில் எஸ்.பி.பியின் அதகளங்களை ரசிக்கலாம். மூக்கணாங்கயிறு தன்னிடமிருந்து நழுவதைக்கூட மறந்து ராஜாவே எஸ்.பி.பியின் ரசிகனாய் மாறி 'அவன் போக்கிலேயே போகட்டும்' என்று விட்டுவிட்டாரோ என்று தோன்ற வைக்கிற அளவிற்கான சுதந்திரத்தை எடுத்துக்கொண்டு பாடிய பாடல்களாக என் ரசனையில் சில பாடல்கள் உண்டு. இவை எல்லோருக்குமான ரசனையில் இருக்கும் மெட்டுக்கள் என்றெல்லாம் சொல்ல முடியாது. ஆனால் நிச்சயம் எஸ்.பி.பியின் குரல் ஜாலம் என்ற அடிப்படையில் அணுகினால் இனி உங்களுக்கும் அவை பிடித்துப் போகும் பாடல்களாகிவிடும் என்பது உறுதி.
'வைகாசி வெள்ளிக்கிழம தானே ஒரு ஜோரான திருநாளு' ராசா மகன் படத்தின் இந்த பாடலில் ஆரம்பம் முதல் இறுதிவரை என்ன என்னவோ வித்தைகளை காட்டிக்கொண்டே இருப்பார் குரலில். சங்கீத ஜாதி முல்லைப் போன்ற கடினமான பாடல்களைக் கூட கல்லூரி கல்ச்சுரல்ஸ் தொடங்கி சூப்பர் சிங்கர் போன்ற தொலைக்காட்சி இசை நிகழ்ச்சிகளில் எளிதாய் யாரேனும் அச்சு அசலாய் பாடிவிடுவதை கேட்டும் பார்த்தும் கொண்டிருக்கிறோம்.சிம்பிளான மெட்டு என்று எளிதாய் கடந்துவிடும் வைகாசி வெள்ளிக்கிழமை போன்ற பாடல்களை இம்மாதிரி பாடல் நிகழ்ச்சியில் தேர்வு செய்ய மாட்டார்கள். ஆனால் இந்த பாடலின் ஆரம்பத்தில் தந்தன தந்தான தந்தனன என ஒரு வித துள்ளலுடம் எஸ்.பி.பி ஆரம்பிக்கும் அந்த ஆலாபனைப் போன்ற பகுதியை எஸ்.பி.பி பாடியதில் பத்து சதவிகிதம்கூட வேறு யாராலும் கொண்டுவந்துவிட முடியாது. மெட்டு சிம்பிள்தான் ஆனால் இந்த பாடலில் எஸ்.பி.பியின் விஸ்வரூபம் ஆச்சர்யமூட்டும் வகையிலானது.
'கோழி கூவும் நேரத்தில கோலம் போட்டு பாக்கலாமா' வண்ண வண்ண பூக்களின் இந்த பாடலில் குரலிலேயே சரசத்தை நூறு சதம் கொண்டு வந்திருப்பார். காட்சி வடிவம் பாலு மகேந்திராவா என கேட்க வைக்கும் அளவிற்கு கேவலமாக இருக்கும். பிரசாந்ந்தின் செத்தவன் கையில் வெற்றிலைப் பாக்கு முகபாவத்தையும் மீறி பாடலின் சூழலை நிலை நிறுத்தும் எஸ்.பி.பியின் குரல். இந்த பாடலில் 'கேக்கலாமா','பாக்கலாமா' என்கிற வார்த்தைகளை எஸ்.பி.பி உச்சரிக்கும் தொனியைக் கவனித்தால் நிஜமாகவே அவர் காமத்தில் முயங்கி முணகுகிறாரோன்னு தோண்றும் வகையில் அத்துனை தத்ரூபமாக இருக்கும்.
'தளுக்கி தளுக்கி வந்து ' கிழக்கு வாசலின் இந்த பாடலில் கடகடவென ஓடும் தாளக்கட்டில் மண் மணக்க தமிழனாகவே மாறிவிட்ட எஸ்.பி.பியை ரசிக்கலாம். தமிழின் ல,ள,ழ, ர,ற,ன,ணஅத்தனை நெளிவு சுளிவு உச்சரிப்புகளையும் தடதடக்கும் மெட்டில் அசால்ட்டாய் பாடியிருப்பார். 'மஞ்ச வாத்து நடைய பாத்து' ,'கொஞ்ச வார புளியங்காத்து' என்று இப்பாடலில் வரும் இடங்களில் எஸ்.பி.பியின் உச்சரிப்பிற்காக ரிவைண்ட் செய்து கேட்க வைக்கும். 'கேளடி கண்மணி பாடகன் சங்கதி' பாடலை இசைக் கல்லூரிகளில் பாடமாய் வைக்க வேண்டும் என்பது போல எஸ்.பி.பி ஒரு முறை சொல்லியிருந்தார். ஆர்கஸ்ட்ரேசன் மற்றும் மெட்டிற்காக அவர் ராஜாவைப் புகழ்ந்து அப்படி சொல்லியிருந்தார். அதே போல மிகச் சாதாரண மெட்டுகளை எப்படியெல்லாம் மெருகூட்ட இயலும் என்பதற்கு பாடமாய் இந்த தளுக்கி தளுக்கி பாடலையும் பாடமாய் வைக்கலாம் . அந்த அளவிற்கு இப்பாடலில் ஒவ்வொரு வரியிலும் ஒவ்வொரு வார்த்தையிலும் சுவரஸ்யங்களைக் கொட்டிக் குவித்திருப்பார்.
பொன்னுமணி படத்தின் 'ஆத்து மேட்டுல முத்தம் ஒண்ணு கொடுத்தா' ,கும்பக்கரை தங்கைய்யாவின் 'பாட்டு படிக்கும் குயிலே' மற்றும் கோயில் காளையின் 'அட மானா மதுரையில' பாடல்களில் எக்ஸ்பிரஷன்களில் ஜானகிக்கு எஸ்.பி.பி கொடுக்கும் சவால் அத்தனை சுவாரஸ்யமானது.
தெம்மாங்கு மெட்டு என்ற போதும் நகர மக்களையும் வசீகரித்த மெட்டான 'என்னைத் தொட்டு அள்ளிக்கொண்ட மன்னன் பேரும் என்னடி ' பாடலில் இரண்டாவது சரணத்தில்தான் எஸ்.பி.பியின் எண்ட்ரி இருக்கும்.இவரின் போர்ஷனில் வரும் ஆலாபனையும் அதைத் தொடர்ந்து மஞ்சள் மஞ்சள் கொஞ்சும் பொன்னான மலரே என்று ஆரம்பிக்கும் போது அந்தக் குரலில் இருக்கும் காதலும் அவ்வளவு ரசனையானது. 'மங்கை பேரும் என்னடி ' என்கிற போது 'என்னடி' ஐ அழுத்தமாய் உச்சரித்து 'உன் பேரைச் சொல்லியே ஆக வேண்டும்' என்று கட்டளையிடுவது போல பாடிவிட்டு பிறகு பாடல் முடியும் நேரத்தில் அதே 'என்னடி'யை ப்ளிஸ் பேரைச் சொல்லேண்டி என்று கெஞ்சுவது போலவும் , கொஞ்சுவது போலவும் மாற்றிப் பாடும் லாவகம் எஸ்.பி.பிக்கு சிந்தனை மொழியும் தமிழாய் மாறிவிட்டிருக்குமோ என்று தோண்ற வைக்கும். இதே பாடலில் 'கட்டுக்குள்ள நிற்காது திரிந்த காளையை கட்டிவிட்டு கண் சிரிக்கும் சுந்தரியே' என்கிற இடத்தில் சுந்தரியே என்கிறபோது சின்னதாய் போகிற போக்கில் அடிச்சு விடும் அந்த சங்கதிக்கு பாடல் பதிவின் போது உடன் இருந்தவர்களின் ரியாக்ஷன் என்னவாக இருந்திருக்கும் என்றெல்லாம் யோசித்திருக்கிறேன்.
Friday, August 11, 2017
This Device Turns Salt Water Into Drinking Water Using Sunlight
The Eliodomestico is basically a personal desalination still, which operates similar to an “upside down coffee percolator.” The device is an open-source design, noted for its remarkable simplicity to build and use, as specifically intended by Diamanti when creating the solar still.
The device consists of two ceramic pieces that sit on top of one another. Within the top piece is a black container into which the salt water is deposited.
The sun heats the container of water, turning the water into steam. The pressure then builds until the steam is forced into a tube and is deposited into a container, where the water then cools, condenses and collects in the basin.
The Eliodomestico is designed to be carried upon the head when traveling, as is common place in developing countries where water is not a centralized commodity. People often are forced to walk great distances to collect this vital resource.
A revolutionary ceramic solar-powered still has the ability to combat one of the greatest threats to human life in the developing world, water insecurity. The solar still turns salt water into fresh water and can be built for under $50 U.S. dollars.
Water insecurity is one of the biggest issues facing the developing world today, but innovative designer Gabriele Diamanti has created a simple, yet effective, solution.
Method 2
A federally funded research effort to revolutionize water treatment has yielded an off-grid technology that uses energy from sunlight alone to turn salt water into fresh drinking water. The desalination system, which uses a combination of membrane distillation technology and light-harvesting nanophotonics, is the first major innovation from the Center for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT), a multi-institutional engineering research center based at Rice University.
NEWT's "nanophotonics-enabled solar membrane distillation" technology, or NESMD, combines tried-and-true water treatment methods with cutting-edge nanotechnology that converts sunlight to heat. The technology is described online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
More than 18,000 desalination plants operate in 150 countries, but NEWT's desalination technology is unlike any other used today.
"Direct solar desalination could be a game changer for some of the estimated 1 billion people who lack access to clean drinking water," said Rice scientist and water treatment expert Qilin Li, a corresponding author on the study. "This off-grid technology is capable of providing sufficient clean water for family use in a compact footprint, and it can be scaled up to provide water for larger communities."
The oldest method for making freshwater from salt water is distillation. Salt water is boiled, and the steam is captured and run through a condensing coil. Distillation has been used for centuries, but it requires complex infrastructure and is energy inefficient due to the amount of heat required to boil water and produce steam. More than half the cost of operating a water distillation plant is for energy.
An emerging technology for desalination is membrane distillation, where hot salt water is flowed across one side of a porous membrane and cold freshwater is flowed across the other. Water vapor is naturally drawn through the membrane from the hot to the cold side, and because the seawater need not be boiled, the energy requirements are less than they would be for traditional distillation. However, the energy costs are still significant because heat is continuously lost from the hot side of the membrane to the cold.
"Unlike traditional membrane distillation, NESMD benefits from increasing efficiency with scale," said Rice's Naomi Halas, a corresponding author on the paper and the leader of NEWT's nanophotonics research efforts. "It requires minimal pumping energy for optimal distillate conversion, and there are a number of ways we can further optimize the technology to make it more productive and efficient."
NEWT's new technology builds upon research in Halas' lab to create engineered nanoparticles that harvest as much as 80 percent of sunlight to generate steam. By adding low-cost, commercially available nanoparticles to a porous membrane, NEWT has essentially turned the membrane itself into a one-sided heating element that alone heats the water to drive membrane distillation.
"The integration of photothermal heating capabilities within a water purification membrane for direct, solar-driven desalination opens new opportunities in water purification," said Yale University 's Menachem "Meny" Elimelech, a co-author of the new study and NEWT's lead researcher for membrane processes.
In the PNAS study, researchers offered proof-of-concept results based on tests with an NESMD chamber about the size of three postage stamps and just a few millimeters thick. The distillation membrane in the chamber contained a specially designed top layer of carbon black nanoparticles infused into a porous polymer. The light-capturing nanoparticles heated the entire surface of the membrane when exposed to sunlight. A thin half-millimeter-thick layer of salt water flowed atop the carbon-black layer, and a cool freshwater stream flowed below.
Li, the leader of NEWT's advanced treatment test beds at Rice, said the water production rate increased greatly by concentrating the sunlight. "The intensity got up 17.5 kilowatts per meter squared when a lens was used to concentrate sunlight by 25 times, and the water production increased to about 6 liters per meter squared per hour."
Li said NEWT's research team has already made a much larger system that contains a panel that is about 70 centimeters by 25 centimeters. Ultimately, she said, NEWT hopes to produce a modular system where users could order as many panels as they needed based on their daily water demands.
"You could assemble these together, just as you would the panels in a solar farm," she said. "Depending on the water production rate you need, you could calculate how much membrane area you would need. For example, if you need 20 liters per hour, and the panels produce 6 liters per hour per square meter, you would order a little over 3 square meters of panels."
Established by the National Science Foundation in 2015, NEWT aims to develop compact, mobile, off-grid water-treatment systems that can provide clean water to millions of people who lack it and make U.S. energy production more sustainable and cost-effective. NEWT, which is expected to leverage more than $40 million in federal and industrial support over the next decade, is the first NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) in Houston and only the third in Texas since NSF began the ERC program in 1985. NEWT focuses on applications for humanitarian emergency response, rural water systems and wastewater treatment and reuse at remote sites, including both onshore and offshore drilling platforms for oil and gas exploration.
More than 18,000 desalination plants operate in 150 countries, but NEWT's desalination technology is unlike any other used today.
"Direct solar desalination could be a game changer for some of the estimated 1 billion people who lack access to clean drinking water," said Rice scientist and water treatment expert Qilin Li, a corresponding author on the study. "This off-grid technology is capable of providing sufficient clean water for family use in a compact footprint, and it can be scaled up to provide water for larger communities."
The oldest method for making freshwater from salt water is distillation. Salt water is boiled, and the steam is captured and run through a condensing coil. Distillation has been used for centuries, but it requires complex infrastructure and is energy inefficient due to the amount of heat required to boil water and produce steam. More than half the cost of operating a water distillation plant is for energy.
An emerging technology for desalination is membrane distillation, where hot salt water is flowed across one side of a porous membrane and cold freshwater is flowed across the other. Water vapor is naturally drawn through the membrane from the hot to the cold side, and because the seawater need not be boiled, the energy requirements are less than they would be for traditional distillation. However, the energy costs are still significant because heat is continuously lost from the hot side of the membrane to the cold.
"Unlike traditional membrane distillation, NESMD benefits from increasing efficiency with scale," said Rice's Naomi Halas, a corresponding author on the paper and the leader of NEWT's nanophotonics research efforts. "It requires minimal pumping energy for optimal distillate conversion, and there are a number of ways we can further optimize the technology to make it more productive and efficient."
NEWT's new technology builds upon research in Halas' lab to create engineered nanoparticles that harvest as much as 80 percent of sunlight to generate steam. By adding low-cost, commercially available nanoparticles to a porous membrane, NEWT has essentially turned the membrane itself into a one-sided heating element that alone heats the water to drive membrane distillation.
"The integration of photothermal heating capabilities within a water purification membrane for direct, solar-driven desalination opens new opportunities in water purification," said Yale University 's Menachem "Meny" Elimelech, a co-author of the new study and NEWT's lead researcher for membrane processes.
In the PNAS study, researchers offered proof-of-concept results based on tests with an NESMD chamber about the size of three postage stamps and just a few millimeters thick. The distillation membrane in the chamber contained a specially designed top layer of carbon black nanoparticles infused into a porous polymer. The light-capturing nanoparticles heated the entire surface of the membrane when exposed to sunlight. A thin half-millimeter-thick layer of salt water flowed atop the carbon-black layer, and a cool freshwater stream flowed below.
Li, the leader of NEWT's advanced treatment test beds at Rice, said the water production rate increased greatly by concentrating the sunlight. "The intensity got up 17.5 kilowatts per meter squared when a lens was used to concentrate sunlight by 25 times, and the water production increased to about 6 liters per meter squared per hour."
Li said NEWT's research team has already made a much larger system that contains a panel that is about 70 centimeters by 25 centimeters. Ultimately, she said, NEWT hopes to produce a modular system where users could order as many panels as they needed based on their daily water demands.
"You could assemble these together, just as you would the panels in a solar farm," she said. "Depending on the water production rate you need, you could calculate how much membrane area you would need. For example, if you need 20 liters per hour, and the panels produce 6 liters per hour per square meter, you would order a little over 3 square meters of panels."
Established by the National Science Foundation in 2015, NEWT aims to develop compact, mobile, off-grid water-treatment systems that can provide clean water to millions of people who lack it and make U.S. energy production more sustainable and cost-effective. NEWT, which is expected to leverage more than $40 million in federal and industrial support over the next decade, is the first NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) in Houston and only the third in Texas since NSF began the ERC program in 1985. NEWT focuses on applications for humanitarian emergency response, rural water systems and wastewater treatment and reuse at remote sites, including both onshore and offshore drilling platforms for oil and gas exploration.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Rice University.
Thanks https://www.sciencedaily.com,http://thefreethoughtproject.com/
History of Smearing
For over hundred years now young painters look at Modern Art and its various styles,approaches and techniques and being young they get tempted almost each week in different direction To be as tight and illusionistic as Ingres or as grotesque as Otto Dix, to be painting so magically that everything would seem to appear as if behind a mirror... That would impress anyone.
But, another demon would beckon toward particularly naughty direction, where thrill of doing something that everybody knows should not, not ever be done is tempting. Something as rebellious and defiling that even thought of it would be frightening to the civilized part of the mind. But- the part that secretly shines shoes with lacy curtains and pours ink to the aquarium wants to do it. The consequences might be very unpleasant and at the same time presenting a new you, not that flaccid ne'er-do-well but a formidable risk-taker, artistic buccaneer,almost a salto-mortale motorcyclist!
But, another demon would beckon toward particularly naughty direction, where thrill of doing something that everybody knows should not, not ever be done is tempting. Something as rebellious and defiling that even thought of it would be frightening to the civilized part of the mind. But- the part that secretly shines shoes with lacy curtains and pours ink to the aquarium wants to do it. The consequences might be very unpleasant and at the same time presenting a new you, not that flaccid ne'er-do-well but a formidable risk-taker, artistic buccaneer,almost a salto-mortale motorcyclist!
A crowd of uncoordinated, devoid of manual dexterity, impatient art-lurkers promote hopeful wish that figurative art is either dead or should be dead. They sense that somehow there ought to be another way into artistic success than talent and tedium of learning.
Figurative art is not promising any "fun"[there is immense ,long lasting Joy in painting, but indeed ,no fun]. Let's declare representational art dead and by necessity of moving forward let us try yet untried. What possibly could be more antithetic to painting as much as smearing?
The original first smearer,as it often is with claims of originality it may be disputed but in all events among the very first brave smearers remarkable work of Jewish émigré from Russia ,Chaim Soutin should be recognized. Everywhere in contemporary art of that time paintings still retained disciplined, tight form in drawing and young Soutin broke that confining restrain. Not being able to draw , like not being able to play piano is something most people share.
However, not being able to play the piano and giving piano recitals would be new and untried. By this analogy not being able to draw, to reflect on canvas some disciplined ,representational forms and yet obtaining great fame as prominent painter is a feat no Pianist-Who-Can-Not-Play-The- Piano has achieved. Feats like that are astounding .In other fields golden nimbus of fame and universal admiration is given to the very few highest achievers. We see no Polar Explorers who never went to polar regions and we do not see renown swimmers who do not know how to swim. Yet,in the difficult art of painting it has been possible to manufacture by the skillful uses of Dark Magic great fame and a lasting place in the pantheon of greatest artists for someone who could not neither draw nor paint.
Then,another triumph of promotion became visible and this time no longer in Paris but over the famed skyline of New York City.His name was Franz Kline.
It is hard to imagine how something so obviously ugly and chutzpiatic could ever find itself on public display, let alone national museums.And yet:
", Kline's work is distinct in itself and has been revered since the 1950s"
"says wikipedia. Reverence,no less......
"Kline's paintings are deceptively subtle. While generally his paintings have a spontaneous, and dramatic impact, Kline often closely referred to his compositional drawings. Kline carefully rendered many of his most complex pictures from extensive studies."-
one can see how much meticulous preparatory "studies" conducted by the Master with aid of interns and aspirants it must have taken before the first brushstroke appeared on canvas. Franz Kline was also known for avoiding giving meaning to his paintings, In a catalog of Kline's works, art historian Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev writes that "his art both suggests and denies significance and meaning" and what a meaning it may suggest! On top of that, just to be inscrutable-he would deny any meaning or even significance -what an appropriately naughty artiste-maudit teasing coyly the adoring historians into writing about the smears as if their meaning was as dense as a collapsed red dwarf.
one can see how much meticulous preparatory "studies" conducted by the Master with aid of interns and aspirants it must have taken before the first brushstroke appeared on canvas. Franz Kline was also known for avoiding giving meaning to his paintings, In a catalog of Kline's works, art historian Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev writes that "his art both suggests and denies significance and meaning" and what a meaning it may suggest! On top of that, just to be inscrutable-he would deny any meaning or even significance -what an appropriately naughty artiste-maudit teasing coyly the adoring historians into writing about the smears as if their meaning was as dense as a collapsed red dwarf.
When it comes to the greatest,most delightfully haphazard,deliciously emetic art of smearing the golden palm should be handed to Hans Hofmann,the very Pope of Smearing.
Through a painting, we can see the whole world" said Hans Hofmann.I am not certain he meant his painting
And one more for our edification: Frank Auerbach.
" His work is not concerned with finding a visual equivalent to an emotional or spiritual state that characterised the expressionist movement, rather it deals with the attempt to resolve the experience of being in the world in paint."-so,his paintings are some kind of psychological trial of vague angst experienced by "being in the world".The result of this unusual situation,of being "in the world" and precisely in Camden part of London calls for "resolving" through the means of gobbing ,pooling and scraping a greasy dump of accumulated paint.
".......results in an astonishing desire{it really must be "astonishing"] to produce an image the artist considers 'right'. This leads Auerbach to paint an image and then scrape it off the canvas at the end of each day, repeating this process time and again, not primarily to create a layering of images but because of a sense of dissatisfaction with the image leading him to try to paint it again" No kidding,who would react differently but scrape the thing and perhaps look for the work he could succesfuly do.
"This also indicates that the thick paint in Auerbach's work, which led to some of Auerbach's paintings in the 1950s being considered difficult to hang, partly due to their weight and according to some newspapers the paint fell off"-that quote shows how not all of it is glamour and riches : paint falls off,people are jeering...
There is a very general set of pre-existing rules of how to do something if we want a particular result. Taking part in figure skating competitions requires without exceptions very fluent skill of skating. One cannot get a job as UN translator without knowing well foreign language.
Actions taken in the process of painting are organizing paint into intense,emotional illusion of three-dimensional image, thus hiding means by which it was achieved. The degree of illusionism varies with styles and unique touch of the artist but the fundamental illusion of paint appearing as objects of the world depicted ; that fundamental rule obtains. Clearly, subversive forces embedded in XX century culture started the perversity of definitions on all fronts and art is just one of its victims. What has always been a joke has become a rule and what humanity everywhere and always understood to be in a certain way has been hung upside down and ridiculed .
Because I wanted to conclude this post without fury,I am including one of Meredith Frampton's paintings.Can you imagine him at an art-opening with those new giants?
Thanks http://againstmodernart.blogspot.com.au
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)