civilized ku # 507 ~ reckoning each against the other
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 10:00AM 
Red chair • click to embiggenWriting about the work of Robert Adams, Leo Rubinfien opined ...
The doubt that the work celebrates is not the same as the angry alienation of the fashionable rejectionist; neither is it the passivity of the man who counts all evils to be equal, or who calls a flawed good no better than an evil because it is imperfect. It is, rather, the active refusal to render the world beautiful just because we desperately want it to be that way, combined with the refusal to render it ugly just because we distrust our longing for beauty. It is at all times reckoning each against the other, and it is authentically hopeful for as long as the doubter can persuade himself that he is reckoning truthfully, of which he must of course persuade himself anew, every moment his eyes are open.
Reckoning each again the other - beauty v. ugly, or, perfect v. imperfect - has always been at the very root of my picture making endeavors simply because that is the stuff of life. Nothing is ever perfectly perfect or, for that matter, perfectly imperfect. Pretending otherwise really works against developing a sense of reckoning - the work of inquiring into something thoroughly and systematically.
Reckoning - an ability/skill that the world is of desperate need. A world which is swirling down the crapper because reckoning-free "beliefs" trump facts.
Reader Comments (2)
Is it too trite to mention that apparently Zen maxim: if perfection could be achieved, it wouldn't be worth having?
The World is as it is, neither better nor worse. It cannot be any other way. Maybe acceptance of the imperfectable is a gift.
what are you saying about the half finished patio?