Xenocrates (396-313 BCE) was the third head of the Platonic Academy. He studied with Plato and had traveled with him to Sicily. He is most well known for developing, from Plato’s texts (e.g. the Symposium) and teachings, a theory of demons. Writing centuries later, Plutarch tells us how Xenocrates used to teach his theory of […]
If you search Google Image for “Mary Miss” “Ohio State” you come up with the following kind of image of the artist’s interactive work This Artwork on the OSU campus: Beyond this kind of front-on image, there is little online presence that gives a sense of the depth and interactive quality to the work. Here […]
If you’re interested in Plato, you’re reading the wrong book. If you’re interested in difficult childhoods, sexual misadventures, aesthetics, cultural history, and the reasons that a club sandwich and other meals—including breakfast—have remained in the memory of the present writer, keep reading. —from Yvonne Rainer Feelings Are Facts: a life, 2013. 496 pp. | 7 […]
Last Fall, when I was teaching the class for the OSU Art department (with artist Suzanne Silver) called Drawing Ideas, we explored how Plato’s philosophy, and the Republic in particular, offered ways of thinking about key themes in drawing (e.g. form, idea, mimesis, dialogue and myth). One of the topics was on ‘Formlessness and Nothing’ […]
With the semester now over, it is time to reflect on what has been for me the most exciting teaching experience of my 10 plus years at Ohio State. Every Thursday, between 12:30-5pm, I have lead two seminars – one unofficial and the other official – each comprising Art MFA and Classics Grad students. The […]
My recent visit to New York City fell exactly in the gap between exhibitions at Greene Naftali. The Paul Chan exhibition RHI ANIMA had just closed and Rachel Harrison’s Prasine had yet to open. As you can tell I’m slightly bitter about this. Something I am much more bitter about is what Trump and the […]
When I started Minus Plato on this day five years ago, little did I know what an impact it would have on my work and life. (For the curious, here is what I posted back on May 4th, 2012). Looking back, I acknowledged the significance of Cy Twombly’s art for my work as a Classicist, […]
[Below is a text I have written for the catalogue for the 2017 OSU MFA thesis show. It is a sequel to a previous Minus Plato post, which you can read here. Congratulations to all the graduating artists: Allison Rose Craver, Tess Elliot, Nick Fagan, sarah goetz, Jessie Horning, Emma Kindall, Yuanyuan Lu, Sean R. […]
In the recent issue of Artforum, I just read an interview with Christine Macel, the curator of the 57th Venice Biennale, in which she described a key concept of the exhibition (called Viva Arte Viva): I’m very interested in the tension in the artist’s life between production and self-reflection, moments of otium, to use the […]
I am writing today in solidarity with everyone marching and fighting for bread and roses on this May Day. As a minor, Minus Plato protest, this post will highlight how recourse to a non-Christian mythic world aligns with feminist collective action. Floating golden triangles, bird-headed creatures and the sun landing on earth – these are just some […]