An Unfinished Conversation: Collecting Entique Martinez Celaya [November 17, 2009 - January 10, 2010]

Siedell, Daniel A.

Blazier, Wendy M.

Brest, Martin

Boca Raton Museum of Art

<i>Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Whale and Star Press</i> <br>Enrique Martínez Celaya’s aesthetic project revives and reinterprets the classic Western metaphysical tradition relating aesthetics to ethics, the Beautiful to the Good and the True. His work embodies his belief that being a certain kind of artist means being a certain kind of person and that in and through art he gains clarity about himself and his relationship to the world. His project is thus profoundly ethical and, in important ways, spiritual. <br>Through art Martínez Celaya reconciles himself to the world as he reconciles his past with his present and projects his future. This volume also participates in the process of reconciliation and projection by interpreting his work through the series, cycles, and projects, which include painting, sculpture, photographs, poetry, and prose that have defined it since the mid-1990s. <br>Curator of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Daniel A. Siedell, has worked with Martínez Celaya on several projects and offers a radical commentary on his work, arguing that Martínez Celaya’s ambitious aesthetic project is best understood as an embodiment of a religious Weltanschauung and as a search for that most elusive of religious virtues: hope. <br>The complex cohesion of Martínez Celaya’s work is further explored by other writers, who by placing it in different contexts reveal their own distinctive engagement with it. Art critic Thomas McEvilley, a philologist who writes about art, philosophy, and religion, explores how Martínez Celaya has combined Germanic feeling with a surrealist plastic vocabulary to “present a world.” Literary critic and Paul Celan scholar John Felstiner traces the contours of an aesthetic lineage that includes Goya, Eliot, Celan, and Beethoven. Former <i>Washington Post</i> journalist and Hollywood producer and writer Christian Williams adopts the conventional artist’s chronology to craft a powerful account of Martínez Celaya’s life, which has become intimately entwined with his own.

Martinez Celaya: Early Work

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

WHALE & STAR

<p><div><i>Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for <a href="http://whaleandstarpress.com/" target="blank">Whale and Star Press</a></i></div> <br /> <div>Abstract expressionism is a historical narrative within which the bold and dynamic work of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Barnett Newman, and Mark Rothko acquire meaning and significance. The narrative was crafted in the 1940s and 1950s by bold and dynamic critics such as Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, and Meyer Schapiro, who used the new art to deepen their work and strengthen their roles as cultural critics at a moment when the stakes for national art and culture on an international stage were unusually high.</div> <div><br /> Daniel A. Siedell&rsquo;s essays in <i>An Excavation of Tenth Street</i> explore this complex relationship between the art and the criticism by focusing attention on the intentions of the critics themselves, particularly Greenberg and Rosenberg. These essays suggest that the failure of art historians to recognize their own intentions have distorted the relationship between art and criticism. It is only by engaging the art criticism, disentangling its often-divided loyalties, and understanding its complex relationship to the art it purports to interpret that the integrity and primacy of the art itself can be &ldquo;excavated,&rdquo; revealing it to transcend the fascinating and compelling discourse it generates.</div></p>

An Excavation of Tenth Street: Essays on the History of Abstract Expressionism

Modern art can be confusing and intimidating--even ugly and blasphemous. And yet curator and art critic Daniel A. Siedell finds something else, something much deeper that resonates with the human experience. With over thirty essays on such diverse artists as Andy Warhol, Thomas Kinkade, Diego Velazquez, Robyn O'Neil, Claudia Alvarez, and Andrei Rublev, Siedell offers a highly personal approach to modern art that is informed by nearly twenty years of experience as a museum curator, art historian, and educator. Siedell combines his experience in the contemporary art world with a theological perspective that serves to deepen the experience of art, allowing the work of art to work as art and not covert philosophy or theology, or visual illustrations of ideas, meanings, and worldviews. Who's Afraid of Modern Art? celebrates the surprising beauty of art that emerges from and embraces pain and suffering, if only we take the time to listen. Indeed, as Siedell reveals, a painting is much more than meets the eye. So, who's afraid of modern art? Siedell's answer might surprise you. ""Dan Siedell is always interesting, even to this atheist Jew. He asks important questions about art and belief, and helps me better understand my own passions. I love how he writes that modern art is the 'hell of self-knowledge.' So true, and so worth asking why."" --David Raskin, Professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL ""The problem with Christians talking about the arts is that Christians are still talking about the 'problem' of the arts. Where others see problems, Dan Siedell sees opportunities. If religion is about socialization and control, then Siedell expertly reminds us that modern art doesn't play by these rules. When we give up control in the art space, Christ is there, and He will guide us. This is a landmark work, a signal achievement in the field."" --Gregory Alan Thornbury, President, The King's College, New York City, NY ""In addition to being a fan of Dan's writing, I have heard him lecture on modern art in my seminary class. Christian engagement with art is especially intriguing when done by an actual artist who has spent his adult life in the contemporary art world. Even where other epochs are celebrated, modern art is often dismissed by Christians as unintelligible and even offensive. I've grown in my appreciation for the insights of modern art through Dan's expertise, and I am sure you will as well."" --Michael Horton, Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California, Escondido, CA Daniel A. Siedell is Presidential Scholar and Art Historian in Residence at The King's College in New York City and Associate Professor of Christianity & Culture at Knox Theological Seminary, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Who's Afraid of Modern Art?

Religion & Spirituality

Wipf and Stock

<p>Modern art can be confusing and intimidating-even ugly and blasphemous. And yet curator and art critic Daniel A. Siedell finds something else, something much deeper that resonates with the human experience. With over thirty essays on such diverse artists as Andy Warhol, Thomas Kinkade, Diego Velázquez, Robyn O'Neil, Claudia Alvarez, and Andrei Rublev, Siedell offers a highly personal approach to modern art that is informed by nearly twenty years of experience as a museum curator, art historian, and educator. Siedell combines his experience in the contemporary art world with a theological perspective that serves to deepen the experience of art, allowing the work of art to work as art and not covert philosophy or theology, or visual illustrations of ideas, meanings, and worldviews. Who's Afraid of Modern Art? celebrates the surprising beauty of art that emerges from and embraces pain and suffering, if only we take the time to listen. Indeed, as Siedell reveals, a painting is much more than meets the eye. So, who's afraid of modern art? Siedell's answer might surprise you.</p>

Who's Afraid of Modern Art?: Essays on Modern Art and Theology in Conversation

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Cascade Books

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