The Truth in Painting

The Truth in Painting Upper Level Seminar in Painting Course Instructor: Brian Prugh

COURSE DESCRIPTION In this class, students will make and re-make a single painting ten times: that is, each student will produce at least ten paintings that seek the same truth. Central to the course will be an encounter with the questions: Is there truth in painting? What does it mean to seek truth in painting? Does painting admit of such a quest? How has the idea of the truth in painting been understood historically—and what does that have to do with painting today? We will certainly discover that truth in painting is elusive—that the truth one might try to put into a painting is often not the truth that emerges from the process of painting.

In this course, the act of painting will be considered as an investigation rather than a mode of production.

Works will be considered with respect to what they reveal. ‘Painting’ will be considered quite loosely, and experimentation will be strongly encouraged. For some students, three versions of the same ‘painting’ might include a performance, a video, and a painting. The goal of the course will be for students to learn how to critically assess their own work and to mine that work for new directions.

The course is designed for students who have had at least one painting class and are working to develop a more cohesive body of work. Readings and discussions will be an essential part of the course and will aim to help students situate their work within a contemporary theoretical framework.

STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE Class time will be divided between discussions, critiques and work days. On discussion days, students will present the required reading(s), summarizing the argument of the work and discussing the terms upon which it is related to our investigations in the class. Class discussions will critically evaluate the text and more carefully consider ideas relevant to our investigations.

Critiques will focus on the truth in the paintings we consider, situating and developing that set of ideas as the series of works grow larger. Critical questions might include: What does this painting show me? About myself? About the place I live? About the world? About social relationships? Do I trust this painting? Is there something getting in the way of the content of this painting? Can this painting show me what it aspires to show me? Can this painting give me knowledge, and if so, knowledge of what?

In addition to the ten paintings, students will produce a narrative statement at the end of the semester describing the work in terms of the truth it seeks to reveal and the way this truth figures in the artist’s working process.

ATTENDANCE Due to the nature of this course, in which concepts are presented in classroom discussions and individual instruction happens during each class period, attendance at all classes is essential and mandatory. Three or more absences will result in a penalty of one letter grade; six or more absences will result in failure of the course. Three tardies are equal to one absence.

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PORTFOLIO The technical requirement for this course will be to produce ten paintings that cohere in their attention to the same truth. Additional drawings, studies, material experiments, etc., will be required to advance and develop the main idea. Each student will work individually with the professor to decide the scale of the paintings and to set goals for the course at the beginning of the semester. Students are required to submit their portfolio electronically at the end of the semester.

PRESENTATIONS The goal of the presentations will not be to summarize the variety of things said in the article, but to articulate the main thesis advanced about the relationship of truth in painting, and to identify the structure of argument used to support that thesis. Presentations on any individual text should be limited to about five minutes, after which point the class will discuss the thesis, the argument, and critically evaluate its viability. Presenters are strongly encouraged to speak with the professor before making the presentation.

STATEMENT Students will be required to write an artist statement about the paintings produced in the class. The statement should be no more than one page, double-spaced, with standard font and margins. A draft of the statement is due at the midterm and the final statement is due at the final exam. Statements should reflect an introspective consideration of the content and process structuring the work.

GRADING Grades in this course will be based on the portfolio of work, statement, oral presentation on the reading and participation, with the primary emphasis on the portfolio. Students will be evaluated at the midterm and the final, but there will be ample opportunity for feedback throughout the semester. Plus/minus grading will be used. The breakdown of grading is as follows: PORTFOLIO Midterm Final

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70% of final grade 30% 40%

PRESENTATION

10% of final grade

STATEMENT

10% of final grade

PARTICIPATION

10% of final grade

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SCHEDULE Week 1

THE IDEA OF TRUTH IN PAINTING Paul Cezanne, “Letter to Emile Bernard” Jacques Derrida, from The Truth in Painting Wallace Stevens, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" FOR CLASS #2: Bring to class an idea for your painting.

Week 2

OLD PROBLEMS: DECEPTION, SEDUCTION, JUSTIFICATION, DISTRACTION Aristotle, from the Politics Plato, from the Republic Augustine, from Soliloquies Bernard of Clairvaux, from Apologia as Guillelmum Abbatam

Week 3

IT MUST BE POSSIBLE… Leo Steinberg, “The Eye is Part of the Mind” Wallace Stevens, excerpt from “Notes Toward A Supreme Fiction” A. R. Ammons, “For Harold Bloom” Jorie Graham, “Dusk Shore Prayer”

Week 4 CRITIQUE: Paintings #1 - #3.

Week 5

THE ONTOLOGY OF THE WORK OF ART: HEIDEGGER / BENJAMIN Martin Heidegger, from “The Origin of the Work of Art”

Week 6

MERLEAU-PONTY: TRUTH IN PERCEPTION Maurice Merleau-Ponty, “Cezanne’s Doubt”

Week 7

MIDTERM CRITIQUES CRITIQUE : Paintings #1-#5. First draft of statement is due.

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Week 8

CRITIQUES OF THE POSSIBILITY OF TRUTH IN PAINTING Walter Benjamin, from “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Michael Peglau, “On Painting, the Gaze, and Lacan”

Week 9

VISION, POWER AND TRUTH Michel Foucault, from Discipline and Punish John Rajchman, “Foucault’s Art of Seeing”

Weeks 10 & 11

THE TRUTH IN PAINTING

Jacques Derrida, from The Truth in Painting

Week 12

MAKING IT VISIBLE

Alain Badiou, “14 Theses on Contemporary Art” Jacques Ranciere, from The Politics of Aesthetics

Week 13 CRITIQUE: Paintings #6 - #8

Week 14

THE LOGIC OF SENSATION

Gilles Deleuze, from Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation

Week 15

CALLED OUT OF THE CROWD

James Baldwin, “The Creative Process” Stanley Cavell, “Kierkegaard’s On Authority and Revelation”

FINAL EXAM WEEK

FINAL CRITIQUES

CRITIQUE: Paintings #1 - #10. Final Statement is due. A digital portfolio of ten images and the written statement is due by the beginning of the final exam time.

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