excuse the long absence - John Witty

Austria, Vienna.

Provided opportunities to see, absorb so many more of the things that have been interesting me. Not so many grotesques, but Adam and Eve paintings by Lucas Cranach, winter festivals by Dürer, Medusa heads by Rubens and Frans Snyders. Also Klimt paintings, even a Matthew Barney installation and video. Also, the personal spaces once lived in by the Hapsburgs.....

In the mad rush before the break, even though overwhelmed, I was asking some questions.

Maybe the grotesques really are just plain beautiful -- a variety of forms, colors, intense, busy, and varied compositions.....

The masterworks projects. Sadly to say it was a failure. No pictures of it here - stayed up till five in the morning working on it, then cut it up later that day. Knew it was a failure as it emerged - I fell into a mode of horrible suffocating stiffness -- though it was a great experience to go through - putting a lot of effort into that failure and then cutting it up. The other question - that goes along these lines. Is it possible for a double self portrait to not be trite after all the exposure we have had to the idea? I love the idea, it fascinates me.... a conversation with the self - but how to communicate it??? Vediamo.