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gerard b

gerard b

has 23 followers and is following 23 people

I'm a painter and teacher interested in how pictures and words work together (or don't).
  • Philadelphia, PA, USA
  • member since October 29, 2007

Reviews

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Displaying 1-10 of 65 reviews
  • The Studio Reader: On the Space of Artists
    • Rated 2 stars

    “I'm a little disappointed by this one. I had high expectations, but it seems like a lot of contributors phoned it in for this anthology...the best essays (not terribly surprisingly) are by people who first and foremost write, but there are a couple of good contributions by artists, notably David Reed. Still, for such an incredibly rich topic, a lot of ground gets plowed over and over. On the whole, it seems that "Inventing the Modern Artist" by Sarah Burns has had a delayed impact on people, and it may be just as well to revisit that book as to read this one...”

    gerard b wrote this review Monday, January 3, 2011. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World's First Artists
    • Rated 2 stars

    “It's weird to fault a book for its good writing, but there seemed to be a disconnect between the clarity of Curtis' journalistic prose and the complexity of his subject. He tells two stories at once in this book, the story of the cave art and the stories of the scholars and archeologists who've studied it for the last century. He's clearly more interested in the latter...so the book really would more accurately called "People who think about Cave Painters"...the really infuriating this (that cost him a start, dammit) is the last chapter, wherein he engages in some loony speculation about the nature of paleolithic society in support of his reading of the cave artists as 'conservative' and 'comic'. This part makes you want to throw a book that is often interesting in a general way against the wall...”

    gerard b wrote this review Saturday, October 16, 2010. ( reply | permalink )
  • Gods' Man: A Novel in Woodcuts
    • Rated 4 stars

    “The best of Ward's wordless novels by a mile...perhaps because you already know the story. It shows both the potential and the limitations of the form. ”

    gerard b wrote this review Tuesday, August 24, 2010. ( reply | permalink )
  • Creativity in Human Evolution and Prehistory (Theoretical Archaeology Group)
    • Rated 3 stars

    “Okay - I read three essays in my research and of them recommend one highly. Margaret Boden's essay on creativity - the inciting essay in the collection - is an interesting take on a complicated subject. Others addressed this subject of ancient human creativity more directly, but Boden's definition set the tone. Its notion of a conceptual space to be explored is worth considering. Another interesting notion that came form the editor's contribution was about the importance of material culture in shaping - not reflecting - thought and creativity. The idea that we are partly made by our own tools and creative solutions is an interesting one. I am glad I read the introductions to each section to get the overview, but the essays are things my students will probably thank me for not assigning....”

    gerard b wrote this review Tuesday, July 13, 2010. ( reply | permalink )
  • George Washington, Spymaster
    • Rated 5 stars

    “"George Washington was a spy! I didn't know that...including when I was in history. I learned a lot from this book, like that George Washington made his spy network in New York. My favorite part was the chapter about the end of the war. I think everybody in the world should read this book" - Gabriel, age 8”

    gerard b wrote this review Tuesday, April 27, 2010. ( reply | permalink )
  • Beyond the Lines: Pictorial Reporting, Everyday Life, and the Crisis of Gilded Age America
    • Rated 4 stars

    “Because I'm trying to figure out what good pictures are as sources of information, I enjoyed this book a lot. One of the surprising treats it offered was a detailed description of the process of making a the illustrations in 19th century papers, a surprisingly complicated process that involved a complex distribution of labor. I was interested to learn that the author initially disregarded this material, but like him, I've become enthralled by the stories these pictures tell of a world that is alike a strange reflection of our modern age. ”

    gerard b wrote this review Sunday, March 28, 2010. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Kite Fighters
    • Rated 4 stars

    “"I think it's great! My favorite part was when the kites fought. Young-sup was my favorite character, and I liked when he flew the dragon kite. I think it was pretty smart for the king to use blue string. I recommend this book to all the kids in the world." (reviewed by Gabriel, age 8)”

    gerard b wrote this review Sunday, March 28, 2010. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Old, Weird America

    The Old, Weird America

    by Toby Kamps, Michael Duncan, Colleen Sheehy, Dario Robleto
    • Rated 4 stars

    “I wish I'd seen this show. The catalog is terrific - beautiful reproductions, compelling essay. I think we'll be talking about the images and ideas in this a lot in the next few years...”

    gerard b wrote this review Wednesday, January 20, 2010. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink )
  • A Single Shard
    • Rated 3 stars

    “I enjoyed reading this to my 7 year-old son, who enjoyed hearing about the protagonist's journey. But it is a rather dark tale, and perhaps my son was too young for it. He kept focusing on characters' tragic aspects, which abound in this story. I was most interested in the descriptions of how things were made - in the passages that dealt with firings and glazes and how they were achieved. I could have done with more about the way characters discovered these properties - we're told a lot of times how talented people are, but don't read about them working much - and less of what seemed sentimental (even maudlin) devices to add depth.”

    gerard b wrote this review Wednesday, July 1, 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Metamorphosis
    • Rated 2 stars

    “For a book about which one has heard so much, this was really disappointing. Turgid. Slow. Not terribly visual...once you get passed the idea that the character wakes up a vermin, well..there's not much left to do. I can imagine how the story was revolutionary, but after a nearly a hundred years of elaborations, it seemed a little less than spectacular to go back to its roots. Makes me think of how I once had a professor who told me it was wrong to dislike Mahler because it sounds like movie music. I told him I didn't care - I still don't like Mahler...”

    gerard b wrote this review Sunday, June 21, 2009. ( reply | permalink )
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Displaying 1-10 of 65 reviews

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