Michael Paul Oman-Reagan Michael Paul Oman-Reagan Feed
  • ARCHIVE / Idea
  • Reinhardt on Abstraction vs. Illustration

    “We don’t have to dwell on what a picture is - it has subject matter, tells some story, is photographic or cinematographic, and sometimes is just plain hand-painted.  The best and most effective pictures can be found in magazines and movies.  If an artist is concerned with communication and a larger public, he should get [...]

    Posted on Aug 13.08 to Idea, Influence, Politics   Add a Comment   

  • Email to a gallery director, 2003

    Artifacts from the Communication Project &
    Objects of the Communication Project
    Captivity Syntax
    Artifact 1:  Wood cube with casein paint and water-based ink.
    Wood platform with enamel surface.
    Artifact 2:  Wood stick with acrylic and oil paint, pencil, paper and tape.
    Wood platform with pencil, tempera, acrylic and enamel
    These artifacts were constructed along with a ‘batch’ of communication project objects.  Communication [...]

    Posted on Jul 18.08 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Linda Norden on ‘Explaining’ Art

    “This also evoked a strong position Norden has in response to the pervasive use of wall text, video documentary, brochures etc, which have become the norm of contemporary exhibitions. The urge of curators to make difficult work “accessible.” Perhaps the art world equivalent of “no child left behind.” And we all know what a disaster [...]

    Posted on Jul 17.08 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Statement Revision

    I create work around socio-cultural and anthropological themes. My objects, installations and projects examine the datum plane of the viewer and the syntax of communication.
    Proximity Syntax
    My sculpture results primarily from acts of proximity adjustment. Through investigations in the studio, I build a syntax referred to as the art object. The sculpture can also be the [...]

    Posted on Jul 14.08 to Idea, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Studio Notes

    List of Rejected Titles (July 12)
    “Insulting in its Lack of Formal Consideration”
    “Models for Larger Sculptures I will Never Build”
    “Untitled”

    Posted on Jul 13.08 to Idea, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Notes on the Objects

    The objects are completed by their environment. The walls and surfaces called ‘background’ are part of the installation.
    The objects are a practice in limitation. The construction and assemblage is defined by strict restrictions in technique and material.

    Posted on Jul 07.08 to Idea, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • In place of wiping.

    Advertisements use these shots of ‘mini experiments’ to illustrate the products effectiveness. For example, the scene in this ad where the tissue is moistened with a spray bottle and then dragged with a weight on it. They construct a sort of placeholder for the action that the tissue would normally be used for. [...]

    Posted on Jun 02.08 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Art Moratorium

    As an individual living in a warfare state, a state which is increasingly in danger of becoming a permanent fascist nation, I must resist. My acts of resistance will, from now forward, be the only artwork I create. There is nothing more important that the fight for social justice.
    I cannot in good conscience [...]

    Posted on Sep 01.06 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Samatha (No-Mind) Minimalism

    What would it be?
    Reductive work renouncing interpretation through directness, oddness and commonness.
    Constantly arising, impermanent, mindfully originated.
    Aware of the role of the mind in investing the physical world with value.
    There are several Pali words which might describe the defining characteristics of this work:
    The objects are Anatta (not-self).
    The act of creation is Sati (mindfulness, attention, awareness).
    The act [...]

    Posted on Sep 04.05 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Coming Soon

    Notes: Latex Paint, Wine Cork, Hammer Striking Nail, Transparency, Laser Printing, Fluorescence, Spackle
    Style: To remember and encourage subtlety.

    Posted on Jun 30.05 to Drawing, Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Statement ‘Sculpture ReDraft’

    Preface on Art Writing
    Our experience above the quantum level is a world of composites. Art writing seeks to extrapolate form and meaning from living works of art and express these characteristics through language. The resulting linguistic objects exist in addition to the work but do not amend the work.

    Proximity Syntax
    Sculpture is primarily an [...]

    Posted on Jun 22.05 to Idea, Sculpture, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Sculpture Sketch 3

    Posted on Jan 18.05 to Idea, Sculpture, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Sculpture Sketch 2

    Posted on Jan 18.05 to Idea, Sculpture, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Sculpture Sketch 1

    Posted on Jan 18.05 to Idea, Sculpture, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Sontag

    Posted on Jan 07.05 to Idea, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Tuttle

    Posted on Jan 06.05 to Idea, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Ideas in Opposition

    The Communication Syntax
    A beginning is a very delicate time.
    Where have you come from. Are there many of you. Where will you go next. The statement becomes the question, consequently, we modify communication immediately.
    The Object Syntax
    Do not approach the art object as you would any other object. The mistake of attempting to [...]

    Posted on Jan 06.05 to Idea, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Synchronic Statement - The Future

    The semantic paradox of attempting to extrapolate linguistic disseminations of living works of art.

    Posted on Jan 06.05 to Idea, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Historical Statement

    The Line Syntax
    Do not approach the art object as you would any other object. The mistake of attempting to determine its purpose will lead you away from seeing it as it is.
    Not knowing, the message is or is not important; there will be a line, there is a line, there was a line, [...]

    Posted on Jan 06.05 to Idea, Studio   Add a Comment   

  • Chuck Close Hits the Nail on the Head Re: The Failure of Most Artists.

    But he didn’t say it first, I’m convinced.
    Chuck Close Oral History Interview Conducted by Judd Tully for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1987
    JUDD TULLY: You must have been quite sophisticated in comparison to other people that were around in terms of being exposed to a lot of art.
    CHUCK CLOSE: Yes. And I was [...]

    Posted on Nov 28.04 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Emma Goldman, Oscar Wilde, “If it looks like art…”

    There is good reason to start from the beginning if you’re interested in making something worth making. Who was it that originally said “If it looks like art then it’s probably somebody elses art”. The web searches are telling me it’s Chuck Close, but I am so certain that I read that from [...]

    Posted on Nov 28.04 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Victoria Woodhull

    The first woman to run for president lived nearby.
    The My Hero Project - Victoria Woodhull
    VICTORIA WOODHULL
    by Barbara Goldsmith
    Recently, when I mentioned to a friend that the title of my book was Other Powers–The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull, she asked: “Just who was Victoria Woodhull anyway?” It seems a simple question, [...]

    Posted on Nov 28.04 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Astor Place Riots

    A book about something that happened nearby, long ago.
    ASTOR PLACE RIOTS.
    ACCOUNT OF THE TERRIFIC AND FATAL RIOT, at the New York Astor Place Opera House, On the night of May 10th, 1849. With the Quarrels of Forrest and Macready, Including All the Causes Which Led to that Awful Tragedy. Wherein an infuriated mob was quelled [...]

    Posted on Nov 28.04 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • Parameters

    Allow the processes of creation, discovery and discussion to be visible on the artists personal website. Post artworks, ideas, sketches and experiences as blog entries assigning them lables so they can be seen either chronologically or by category.

    Posted on Nov 27.04 to Idea   Add a Comment   

  • The Beginning

    Create a personal art website using the blog format.

    Posted on Nov 27.04 to Idea   Add a Comment   

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Michael Paul Oman-Reagan

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