The Hope Axis by Anna Gát Alice Gribbin: The Hopes of An Aesthete
The lovely Alice Gribbin joins me for a conversation about great art, Mad Men, the decay of gatekeepers, and much more. Hope you enjoy!
You can read the transcript of our conversation here.
Important Links:
- Notes of an Aesthete; Alice’s Substack
- Alice’s X Profile
Show Notes:
(0:00:00) Guest Introduction
(0:04:06) Hope is Embedded in Every Act of Artistic Creation
(0:07:23) The Cold War's Intense Artistic Energy
(0:13:12) The Cultural Impact of Mad Men
(0:20:36) An Artist's Form-Content Fit
(0:24:38) Why We Need Hubris Back in the Humanities
(0:29:40) The Gods Are Still Present—But Only in Art
(0:40:21) The Decay of Gatekeepers
(0:46:03) The Internet as Research Tool
(0:51:06) Art is a Visceral Encounter, Not Instagram Content
(1:20:23) Notions of Great Art and the Canon
Books, Essays & References Mentioned:
- Barnett Newman's essays on American painting
- Against Interpretation; by Susan Sontag
- Mad Men (TV series created by Matt Weiner)
- T.S. Eliot on art and inspiration
- The Pound Era; by Hugh Kenner
- Wolf Hall; by Hilary Mantel
- Agnes Martin's paintings
- Aby Warburg and pathos formulae
- Delacroix as proto-modernist
- John Singer Sargent exhibition at the Met
- Internet Archive as research resource
- "Good Politics Produce Bad Art" (Tablet essay)
- "We're a Niche. We just didn't know" (Interintellect founding essay)