Three short talks for “Art on screen”

Over the next few months I will be introducing three art-related films at Avoca Beach Picture Theatre with three different 20-minute talks on art appreciation: Monday, 2 March, 11.30am: A girl with a pearl earring and other treasures from the Mauritshuis Museum Netherlands My talk will focus on the paintings of Vermeer and other artists … Read more

An open letter to Gaston Dorren, the author of “Lingo”

A book called Lingo: A language spotter’s guide to Europe has recently been published. Chapter 51 is titled “The no-hoper: Esperanto”. As has already been reported, it has received some flak from Esperantists. Here is my open letter to its author, Gaston Dorren: Dear Mr Dorren, I know you have received a number of messages … Read more

Typing Esperanto characters in Mac OS X

In recent versions of Mac OS (at least since 10.5), you can type the accented letters of Esperanto very easily, without downloading anything or using a website, as long as the language of your system is English. To prepare your computer (required only once): 1. Open “System Preferences…” from the Apple menu. 2. Click on … Read more

What makes art, ‘art’: a family tour

I create a work of ‘art’ by tipping a box of junk upside-down in an art museum. If I left it there and came back a day later, do you think it’d still be there? Why not? Who would have taken it away? No, not the director, nor the curators… but the cleaners! The cleaners … Read more

The ink-painter: a story

Narrator: Once upon a time in China there was a skilful painter in ink, especially famous for his depictions of flowers, which were sold for very high prices. He had a friend. One day the artist and his friend were talking. Painter: You’ve been a great friend to me for many years. I‘m going to … Read more

Why museums are worth visiting

On 21 August 2014, the Sydney Morning Herald published an article in its Traveller section: ‘Boring, pricey and crowded: 17 reasons why I hate museums’. (It was based on a slightly longer article from the Telegraph, London.) This response is in the form of an open letter to its author, Oliver Smith: Dear Mr Smith, … Read more

Space: a virtual exhibition

I just remembered an exhibition I created on the My Gallery section of the Christchurch Art Gallery website a few years back: Space Here’s the introduction: Artists use various techniques to describe, or give the illusion of, three-dimensional space. Artists also sometimes deliberately try to deny the illusion of space. This set of artworks gives … Read more

The importance of “emptiness” in art (and music)

I just listened to Lang Lang playing Robert Schumann, Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15: No. 7, Träumerei (Daydream) (listen to an excerpt, below) and I was amazed of the expressive power of the pauses in the score, extended beautifully and sensitively by Lang Lang. It made me think of the art of Vermeer. Why … Read more