Thursday, May 1, 2008

Journal Entry from Harriet Shorrr

"Pink Flash Resemblances", 2001


"Meaning is a matter of agreement between people. It is not a free-for-all. I cannot invent a meaning for the word cat or paint a traditional bride in a green dress. 'Pure' painting is about appearances: how a rose appears or how red appears. 'Impure' painting is about stories and ideas. Most people prefer impure painting to pure painting and think it has more meaning."
-Journal Entry, 1980
I am not sure I fully agree with this statement. I feel that painting can embody both pure appearances and pure stories/ideas. However, her paintings embody color with meanings that I don't think I could experience in other realms. The power her paintings give to areas of pure color is fascinating to me.

2 comments:

Qnomad said...

I just think the wording leaves it up to interpretation. She could be saying that illustrative work is impure...but the way she's worded it, "stories and ideas" would I think rule out all of us. It's not like work can't have ideas and be about appearances/realities whether we're talking about the appearance of red or of a human being.

Karen said...

I agree- when dealing with things that are difficult to discribe in the first place wording is everything.