BLUES FOR ROBERT HUGHES Shock — well, that’s one form of news; And modernity’s favourite ruse. Soon enough, Time summoned Robert Hughes Who kindly shared his critical views, And many, oh, many, stood accused: – Artists must pay their dues – Crappiness does not amuse – Complaint is obtuse – Meaning is what art woos [...]

For Robert Studley Forrest Hughes 1938-2012 Shock: that’s a kind of news. True blue among art heavies, A man who shared his clues – But ars longa vita brevis: Here lies Robert Hughes. 7 Aug 2012

This week, America’s intelligentsia have been thrilled, ravished and agonised by the long-awaited return of Madmen and the sudden death new mini-series, Obamacare v Supreme Court. SCOTUS normally allocates an hour for these kinds of legal challenges; with Obamacare/ACA they have put aside three days. (And the verdict is …) Things always connect, so I’m [...]

Diana Gribble at home, September 2011 Prefactory babble: most remarkable (The eulogy below; skip this preface as you will.) Yesterday, jangling phone, Constant Gardener saying: it’s a terrible line, ring back in five and I’ll get Chong to answer on a better connection. Seeing that I was asleep, reasonable at 7:45 am after a late [...]

How do you lose someone? It is why we can’t take anything for granted, though we do that every minute. When I heard that Diana, great friend and much admired and adored person, had passed away last night, it had already seemed a long time coming, though she had only been ill three months. She [...]

At the morning kaffeklatsch with my yoga group Amy Winehouse came up, which reminded me of this great bit of writing about the tragic beehive. It was posted in the London Review of Books blog and takes off from this fascinating photo. Lidija Haas writes: In my favourite picture of Amy Winehouse, she’s holding a [...]

I’m reading Sebastian Smee’s essay on the late, great painter Lucian Freud. Freud says: ‘I was quite pleased when John Wonnacott said “You are a marvellous painter of flesh but you can’t compose,” I thought “Oh good”, because I felt that the way I put things looked awkward, in the way that life looks awkward.’ [...]

Dennis Hopper: “you kids, you got no respect for nothing” “After many hours of listening to Hopper talk … it became increasingly clear that he needed to tell his own story … When I think about Hopper, I hear his voice in my head: the nasal Kansas vowels; the cowboy twang; and last but not [...]