The Hope Axis #30 Alice Gribbin: The Hopes of An Aesthete
The lovely Alice Gribbin joins me for a conversation about the mystery of inspiration, why intellectualizing art is a bad idea, the visceral encounter with the artwork, why the only realm where the gods are still active is art, US versus UK artists, our search for transcendence, and - as always - hope. Hope you enjoy!
You can find the full transcript here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z_jo...
Important Links:
Alice’s Substack: Notes of an Aesthete: https://www.alicegribbin.com/
Alice’s X Profile: https://x.com/asgribbin?lang=en
Shownotes:
0:00:00 Intro
0:00:55 Guest Introduction
0:05:01 Hope is Embedded in Every Act of Artistic Creation
0:08:19 The Cold War's Intense Artistic Energy
0:14:07 The Cultural Impact of Mad Men
0:21:35 An Artist's Form-Content Fit
0:25:36 Why We Need Hubris Back in the Humanities
0:30:38 The Gods Are Still Present—But Only in Art
0:41:20 The Decay of Gatekeepers
0:47:02 The Internet as Research Tool
0:52:05 Art is a Visceral Encounter, Not Instagram Content
1:21:35 Notions of Great Art and the Canon
Books, Essays & References Mentioned:
Barnett Newman's essays on American painting
Against Interpretation; by Susan Sontag
Mad Men (TV series created by Matt Weiner)
T.S. Eliot on art and inspiration
The Pound Era; by Hugh Kenner
Wolf Hall; by Hilary Mantel
Agnes Martin's paintings
Aby Warburg and pathos formulae
Delacroix as proto-modernist
John Singer Sargent exhibition at the Met
Internet Archive as research resource
Good Politics Produce Bad Art: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/ar... (Tablet essay)
"We're a Niche. We just didn't know" (Interintellect founding essay)