Motus Mentis

9 Comments

1. Kevin Kim says

   Both artists do excellent work. I can’t imagine how much time and effort must go into each piece. But if I had to pick a favorite, I’d pick Calvin Nicholls’s work in a heartbeat: it’s more organic and harmonious.

   Brian Dettmer’s work is, by contrast, almost disturbing to me, not least because he’s harming books to make his art. There’s something intrusive and inimical about his pieces, as if he really were a mad surgeon — Herr Doktor Dettmer! — having his way with helpless victims. I’m sure he doesn’t see his own work that way, but art appreciation, like art itself, doesn’t always follow a rational path.

   Posted June 10, 2011 at 11:42 am | Permalink
2. Malcolm says

   I know exactly what you mean, Kevin, and I agree. Nicholls does his work ex nihilo, as an act of pure creation; Dettmer’s work does indeed have the qualities you describe, however astonishingly skillful and imaginative it may be.

   Posted June 10, 2011 at 11:52 am | Permalink
3. Malcolm says

   For all its meticulous detail, Nicholls’s work has a sweet lightness about it; Dettmer’s seems, by comparison, darkly obsessive. (Pretty fantastic, though.)

   It reminds me of Hannibal Lecter. Which is interesting, now that I think about it: Lecter.

   Posted June 10, 2011 at 12:53 pm | Permalink
4. Horace Jeffery Hodges says

   I just knew that circumcision would lead to this . . .

   Jeffery Hodges

   * * *

   Posted June 10, 2011 at 10:34 pm | Permalink
5. Malcolm says

   What tipped you off?

   Posted June 10, 2011 at 10:52 pm | Permalink
6. Horace Jeffery Hodges says

   Oh, just that sharp old saw, “If they cut people, they will end by cutting books.”

   Jeffery Hodges

   * * *

   Posted June 10, 2011 at 11:15 pm | Permalink
7. TheBigHenry says

   Cut it out, you guys.

   Posted June 11, 2011 at 10:12 pm | Permalink
8. Horace Jeffery Hodges says

   Don’t cut in, TBH!

   Jeffery Hodges

   * * *

   Posted June 12, 2011 at 12:43 am | Permalink
9. TheBigHenry says

   “This was the most unkindest cut of all.”

   Posted June 12, 2011 at 12:42 pm | Permalink