Chuck Close Allegations

I read an article last night about two women coming forward to accuse Chuck Close of sexual harassment.  He did not touch them, he commented to the one that her "pussy looked delicious."  Most male artists are not that bad.  I can think of one guy I went to school with venting that his non art friends thought he drew with a hard on in that class.  I have also done a little nude modeling.  For two main reasons.  One, I wanted to see what it was like on their end.  I was still holding out hope then to be an art professor, and I thought it would be good to have some clue on that.  The second reason being did I really want to come to the end of my life and not be able to say that I had.  None of my experiences were as bad as what the women described with Chuck Close.  The one though said she was operating on the assumption he was just going to do his typical face portrait thing of her.  Never assume, always ask to see their work and what exactly they want you to model for.  Yes, I did decline on a couple modeling gigs because I didn't like the answers. Not condoning what Chuck Close said, but a woman has to look out for herself.  In my mind that is part of the responsibility of a free adult woman.  The alternative in my mind is the old patronizing thing.  That women can't look after themselves and need men to protect them from these situations.  It is also perplexing to me why when she first got there and he started talking about a nude photo he had on his wall and how he fucked that model why she didn't leave then.  Instead she went on to take off her clothes, and she only left after the pussy comment.  Part of what needs to happen with this Metoo thing is education for women on warning signs, when to leave, when to punch, when to call the cops.  This movement will be for naught if these things don't happen.  Finger pointing is not enough.

Beige bathrooms

I really hate beige or brownish bathrooms.  It is a trend I cannot stand.  The two main reasons as I see it for why people go there are one: many people are afraid of or don't like color, and two: because it hides shit really well.  In public spaces I suppose designers have to try to go with a color everyone will like.  As an artist this fear of color drives me nuts.  When I watch the home design shows when I work out it is a lot of grey and beige.  This one Great Course I took on the psychology of color said that grey is the color depressed people gravitate to.  I am not sure how correct that is that course seemed a little wooish to me.  If it is right what does it say about our obsession with grey and beige right now.  Speaking as a cleaning lady I dislike beige bathrooms because I know how well the color hides things.  Personally I would rather be able to easily see and do my job.  I really like the older bathrooms at work with the blue tile work.  Bits of wet paper towel do not blend in on those floors.  Beige bathrooms just feel gross dirty to me.

Brain Imprintations

 

                                        This is a painting of the founding doctor where I work.  Him and the doctor who lured him to La Crosse were really the first doctors in the area with bonafide medical degrees.  There were lots of docs running around then who were really just quacks.  Anyways this guy when he took charge of the newly built hospital had an instance where a quack doctor put a scalpel through a patient's eye.  This pissed him off and prompted him to take lengths to ban unqualified doctors from his hospital.  The quacks came after him with lawsuits, like around 100 lawsuits. They used to have a book with all of the original court documents in the main lobby.  He won every single case.  Later when the Great Depression hit the hospital was struggling to stay open, so he put what would be the equivalent of one million dollars today of his own money into it to keep it going.  He also had fantastic taste in artists.  Unfortunately it is not known who painted it.  This painting is fascinating to me because it tends to illicit strong reactions from people, and it comes off differently to different people.  Some of the other cleaning ladies are scared of it.  In their defense he was also a strict if he caught workers talking it was automatic termination.  One floor guy Richard thinks he looks like a condescending prick.  Although it should maybe be noted Richard hates it there and views the hospital as being like the Twilight Zone.  My Dad, who has never been an employee there, thought he looked benevolent.  I fall in between if it is a slow day and I am being a lazy cleaning lady he looks majorly pissed off to me, but if I am having a hectic one break have to stay late kind of day he looks sympathetic to me.  I am sure a lot of this is in my head, but I think there are some artistic tricks here as well.  I think it is kind of like implied line where the artist doesn't fully draw things in because human brains will fill it in.  Only I think this is imprinted emotion.  Because really the doctor's face in the painting is neutral, so I think that our monkey brains imprint whatever emotional biases or whatever onto the painting. In contrast to this painting there used to be another of a different doctor with a very big smile.  That one didn't have quite the same effect because that one the expression was definite.  I think part of the mystique surrounding the Mona Lisa is due to her fairly neutral facial expression, and people imprinting onto her.