Untitled blue Medici Princess

“…..You cannot separate the elements of the psyche, approving of some abilities and not others without experiencing difficulties. The very nature of your painting is and must be determined by the quality of your mind, which is inquiring and which refuses to be cramped, which piles question upon question, while you think that the artist should ideally ask no questions at all…..”. The deleted sessions book 4, page 226


I like Mr Cornell and his ‘boxes’. The book on him by Diane Waldman ‘Master of Dreams’ is the one on my table now, right next to my ipod. I have a thing about the thingness of books and the deep blue cover of this one, along with the image of one of his boxes- Untitled (Medici Princess) c. 1952-54. Construction 18 1/2 x 11 7/16 x 4 7/16 pleases me.Or rather it did until I decided that this description of what I am looking at was playing a game with me. These gross physically verifiable parameters of the Medici Princess box. These facts. All down to the 7/16th of an inch?

If I had my way I would do away with those little tags in galleries and museums, which describe the work. There would be no helpful catalogues, or if there were, there only contain more images. I watch the way some people look at the work, then read the description, then, stand back to look at the work again and then read the description. Once understood they generally then move on to the next work and go through the same process again, or refer to the catalogue, if understanding is proving troublesome.

Contemporary artists can be the darling descriptors of their work, just so that one ‘gets it’. I would do away with the description- though I know this would be disorienting for some gallery viewers because then she might have to rely on her I-sight and her own sense of what there was to be seen.

If I did away with the description of my life, the biography of it, the gross stuff of trivial social chit chat and the ‘getting to know you’ exchanges, perhaps I would confuse both myself and the other person.

So, if I decided that I am not the 'untitled blue Medici princess in a box', (or what ever passes for my biography), what am I seeing,and with what inner sense ?