Comments on: Tender Brutalities: Paintings and Installations by Ran Ortner

By: Don Thomann

Don Thomann — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:03:38 +0000

Oh My! Magnificent painting! Yes, it is art, it is the creative interpretation, in oil on canvas, of something much more grand, powerful and alive than any art piece. A painting of the ocean may be masterful but it neither gives, supports or nourishes life. It is like the ashes of an epiphany. To quote Mimi in the opera La Boheme, “but the flowers I embroider have no fragrance, alas!

To call the ocean “utilitarian” underlines the unfortunate human tendency to believe that our reactions to, our discourse about and our memory of reality is more significant than that to which we are reacting. Alas!

Our experience of the wind is not the wind.

By: Fredrick Preston Waldorf

Fredrick Preston Waldorf — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:26:18 +0000

This picture reminds me of “SWIMMING IN THE SEA OF TALMUD”. It will help transform a perplexing, overwhelming experience into an enriching, life-enhancing one if we analyze the picture instead of looking at!.

By: Nancy Vedder-Shults

Nancy Vedder-Shults — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:19:20 +0000

I’m reminded by the comments here of how we in the West saw nature not so long ago. In the 18th century, nature was viewed as terrifying. Awe was commanded by nature’s ravenous and destructive nature. That has changed, and in part, that’s positive, because we want to control or destroy that which threatens us. However, in forgetting the vastness and power of nature (whether it be the ocean, the desert, or other natural phenomena), we also forget the humility and expansiveness that it should awaken in us. Humility, because in the face of these vast natural forces, our little problems fade to insignificance, even if they are the problems of the entire human race. And expansiveness, because we are a part of that vast panorama, because, we, too are a part of nature.

By: Frank Turris

Frank Turris — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:43:40 +0000

When at rest, water and sand seem kind and nurturing, inviting us to relax in their embrace. But when stirred to exhibit their horrible might, they become impervious to our attentions and to our very survival. Then we can then only stand in awe of their unrestrainable movements, dwarfed by their inconcievable overpowering expansiveness. Phil, thanks for showing your readers how Ron views and portrays the might of these two natural wonders. Viewing his paintings and exhibits, I am forced to admit that it is only by the seeming indulgence of these majestic forces that I continue to share the planet with them.

By: Hungry Hyaena

Hungry Hyaena — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:30:46 +0000

I recently heard a convert to Islam describe her experience of Allah as akin to submergence in the ocean. I agree with Phil Barcio that even the great and vast ocean is being “picked off” bit by bit, and yet Ortner’s painting awakens a primal awe. What is tender and brutal at once? The Sublime.

These are impressive paintings. Thanks for the introduction to them.