Tag Archive: Dadaism


If a biography is judged solely by its length and detail, then Blake Gopnik’s 900-page doorstopper about Andy Warhol can be safely adjudged to be definitive. But while I have no doubt that the book covers the key facts of the artist’s life, there still seems to be something missing.

Time and again, Gopnik tells us about Warhol’s shyness and social awkwardness but it is not made sufficiently clear how he still evolved to become such a charismatic and influential figure. In other words, we never get to the root of the magnetism that drew such a devoted following, particularly among life’s misfits, mavericks and outsiders. Continue reading

We are all explorers

Dechirico Siamo esplratori pronti per una nuove partenze“We are explorers ready for fresh beginnings”. This quote alongside Giorgio de Chirco’s Metaphysical Muse painting from 1918 can currently be seen at an inspiring exhibition at  Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara (it ends on 28th February 2016).

It serves both as an illustration of the Italian surrealist painter’s restless yet hopeful spirit and is as good a message as any to end another year on the planet.

Heaven knows, we all need to find something fresh, joyous and innovative in a world that constantly appears on the brink of irreversible disaster.

The Dadaists and Surrealists got it right, I think, when they concluded that the subconscious mind reveals more truth about being and nothingness than any rational analysis can provide.