The Essential Hard Edge in My Life / Lloyd

Hard-Edge Painting (June Harwood, Bull's Eye, 1965)

 Abstract Expressionism (Jane Frank, Crags and Crevices, 1961)

The writers of two articles in the magazine Art in America, Feb '09, expressed concerns that artistic truth has been seriously compromised in their areas of expertise. Their comments illustrate the need and difficulty of identifying a reliable standard of truth in our life.

I have found such a standard in the Gospel of Jesus Christ found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and you can view the most recent General Conference of the Church via the internet Here.

honest brokers

In "Revision Number Five: Quality," Dave Hickey notes that art critics have failed to address the quality of art pieces, to be "honest brokers" regarding certain artistic verities. They subordinate their training and professional insights to market forces--whatever the public will pay, that is the value.

Why? Because they don't want to offend art dealers and thereby lose their advertising profits. Consequently, art critics have failed to educate the public about artistic merit. In the current economic down turn, when art buyers especially need to understand cultural and economic value, the "great art is diminished by the junk that surrounds it." The only way to shakeout the junk is for art critics to expose themselves to financial risk and take a stand on value.

reportorial truth

In "The New Real: Photoids," Peter Plagens points out that ". . . pre-digitalization, there was in force a bedrock assumption that what appeared in a photograph once materially existed in front of the lens of the camera that took the picture. In theory, the images in photographs existed before they were taken."

But now with digitalization, "The surface of the art that the machine produces can be printed so precisely that there's no trace of retouching. . . Nowadays, it's not just possible, but increasingly standard operating procedure, for some photographs to be majorly fictive while maintaining their customary insinuations of reportorial truth."

[To better appreciate the significance of Plagens' assertion that we can no longer just accept photography as truth in the traditional sense, consider the Dartmouth College study of mischief done in its exhibit at "Photo Tampering Through History."]

This concern about truth is not just academic. I feel uncomfortable and incomplete unless I am in contact with a "hard edge." I can't systematically define what I mean by a "hard edge;" it's just the term that seems to describe what I feel when I find something I trust.  Clearly David Hickey and Peter Plagens feel that important truths in their lives have been greatly diminished, and that makes them uncomfortable.

hard-edge feelings that help me

keep oriented

Here are examples of a "hard-edge" that bring comfort to my life.

At night I can sense Judy's presence just across from me; and without having to touch and disturb her rest, I can feel her warmth and reality. When I'm in a dream state (not always pleasant), Judy's presence is an important mooring to reality.

I can place my back up against the firm sea wall and hear and feel the wonderful continuity of waves rolling in and receding, rolling in and receding — punctuated by gulls and little kids running and laughing up and down the beach.

When I've passed through the veil in the temple I find Judy and other family and friends to hug in greeting. And in the Celestial Room of the Washington DC Temple I walk round the room touching through soft slippers the design sculpted in the carpet. This physical hugging and touching seem to strengthen my contact to the spiritual dimension of my temple experience.

I have come to recognize promptings, feelings whispered so quietly but so surely. After 68 years of ignoring some and heeding others and having to deal with the consequence of each choice, I've come to recognize their certainty.

When I was an in-patient on the psychiatric ward of our community hospital, remembering the hard-edge feelings listed above got me through the especially hard times. They were the realities I used in working my way back to productive functioning.

hard-edge painting versus

abstract expressionism

Just before writing this post I searched "hard edge" on the internet and learned that Hard-Edge painting was a style attributed to certain painters in California beginning in the late 1950's. It was a reaction to the abstract expressionism that was dominant in New York and featured sharp delineation of color and shapes. You can see examples of the two styles above.

I find abstract impressionism more interesting but feel a greater sense of certainty in hard-edged painting. Each week on Sunday I find it helpful to renew my focus on family and basic values and beliefs, the certainties in my life, before meeting the more abstract and challenging demands at work.