The Silence of the Philosophers – dArt International Magazine

by Steve Rockwell

Steve Rockwell, Mime on Melrose, Abandoned Painting, 1995, acrylic on canvas with wood and masonite frame, 52 x 48 inches. The painted work is a double-frame record of the "abandonment," a work within a work — **Steve Rockwell**, Mime on Melrose, Abandoned Painting, Los Angeles, CA, 1995, acrylic on canvas with wood and masonite frame, 52 x 48 inches. The painted work is a double-frame record of the “abandonment,” a work within a work

Jokes are possible about the “abandonment” of my painting of Marcel Marceau on Melrose Avenue on April 1, 1994 in Los Angeles. Mainly, Mime on Melrose had been a sight gag – a French actor trapped in silence within a canvas in Hollywood, where no one could hear him scream. Of course, revenge would come in the form of five Oscars in 2011 at the 84th Academy Awards.

Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist (2011), starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo (and Uggie). The film deliberately recreates the visual language of late-1920s silent Hollywood — **Michel Hazanavicius’s *The Artist* (2011)**, starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo (and Uggie). The film deliberately recreates the visual language of late-1920s silent Hollywood

The Artist became the first, essentially silent film, to win best picture since Wings in 1929. The Michel Hazenavicius film pulled off a historic sweep, Jean Dujardin, being the first French actor ever to win the category. So, there! To rub it in, directing, score, and costume took the remaining Oscars.

My own bias for the visual sense developed when the world fell silent as a child. Hearing gone due to enlarged adenoids, I compensated by just looking harder. Images of the operation itself, as a five-year-old, are still quite clear: arms being strapped to the chair, an anesthesia mask much like a small lamp shade raised to my face – then coming to, seeing the doctor waving surgical tweezers with some whitish tissue.

The 1882 Gustav-Adolf Schultze photographs are among the best-known portraits of Nietzsche. The series was made in Naumburg in September 1882; one version became associated with the later Thus Spoke Zarathustra image — The **1882 Gustav-Adolf Schultze photographs** are among the best-known portraits of Nietzsche. The series was made in Naumburg in September 1882; one version became associated with the later *Thus Spoke Zarathustra* image

But why the relative silence in philosophy about a particular thinker? Friedrich Nietzsche had been afraid. According to a friend to whom he had confessed, that if he even mentioned his name publicly, Nietzsche might have been charged with plagiarism. Karl Marx went hard the other way, him and Engels spending a year writing a 500 page attack-book, launching one of the most obsessive, explosive feuds in the history of political theory.

Karl Marx, 1875 photograph by John Jabez Edwin Mayall — **Karl Marx**, 1875 photograph by **John Jabez Edwin Mayall**

Marcel Duchamp had called “Philosopher X” as the primary intellectual influence on his entire artistic output. Here he found the catalyst for his break from conventional painting and subsequent invention of the ready-made. X argued that State, Religion, Humanity, Morality, and Truth are “spooks” they being fixed ideas employed to subjugate the individual ego. Applied to the art world, Art, Taste, and Genius are “social spooks,” that required systematic demolition. In practice, a state of personal autonomy might be achieved through absolute indifference to societal expectations.

Marcel Duchamp Portrait courtesy Life Magazine

(to be continued)