Dear Everyone,

Homework the first has been posted in the Assignments tab. It is due Thursday, 6 February 2014, at the beginning of class.

Barnett Newman was an American Abstract Expressionist who is particularly noted for his “zip” paintings, which are characterized by vertical strips that contrast with the rest of the work. This one’s called “Vir Heroicus Sublimis” (“Man, Heroic and Sublime”). Newman wrote a related essay called “The Sublime Is Now” and you can read it here. I do think it’s a good idea for an artist whose work is as abstract as Newman’s to do some writing in order to expound on his artistic philosophy and sensibility. Seems only right. The painting is in the MoMA, so you have no excuse not to see it at some point in your life, especially since Stony Brook students get in for free. Just go to the information desk, show your ID and be like “Eyy whatup gurl lemme get a ticket” and they have to give you one. It’s the law.

“During the Middle Ages, probably one of the biggest mistakes was not putting on your armor because you were ‘just going down to the corner.'”

– not Barnett Newman