In a world of "results and legibility," Alexander Nemerov discusses the transformative powers of art
After 28 years as the host of KQED Forum, a beloved Bay Area public affairs program that still airs weekdays from 9 a.m. to 11a.m., Michael Krasny retired from public radio and launched his own podcast, Grey Matter. Featuring conversations with some of the most prominent political and cultural figures of the time, the podcast aims to investigate “the nuances that are sorely missing in our polarized public discourse [and] shed some light on the overlooked aspects of the critical topics of our day.” Recently, the Bill Lane Center partnered with Krasny to support a series of podcast episodes on the American West. The goal of the series was to elevate the challenges and complexities facing the region and highlight the distinctive ways in which the Bill Lane Center tackles these issues with an ever-growing body of research, journalism and educational programming.
As the premier place of study for Western land and life, the Bill Lane Center has become a national hub of scholarship focused on three broad areas: Western governance and policy; environment and energy; and history, arts and culture. Over the course of several conversations, Krasny and Lane Center affiliates have been working to define and understand the American Western region, which is characterized by frontier mythology, vast distances, marked aridity, and unique political, cultural and economic characteristics.
In the first three interviews, Krasny spoke with David Kennedy, the Lane Center’s founding co-director; Felicity Barringer, the Lane Center’s writer in residence; and most recently, Alexander Nemerov, professor of art history and a Lane Center affiliated scholar. For several years, Nemerov co-taught the Center’s flagship American West course, and he has also lectured extensively in the Bill Lane Center’s ArtsWest program. For Lane Center student researchers and fellows whose projects focus on arts-related topics, Nemerov has been a trusted advisor.
In their recent Grey Matter conversation, Nemerov and Krasny opened with a look at what makes Western art unique, with Nemerov sharing what initially captivated his imagination about this genre. The discussion followed many threads, including Nemerov’s reflections on the significant impact of his father, celebrated poet Howard Nemerov, and his aunt, iconic photographer Diane Arbus. Zooming out to broader artistic themes, the pair explored the roles of women in art history, the universal and spiritual elements in art, the balance between solipsism and shared experience, and the purpose of art in both the marketplace and society. Nemerov shared perspectives on art's transformative power, from its personal, inward impacts to its potential as a catalyst for societal change.
I try to operate in the very simple, beautiful, open space wherein art is held to be a matter of the first importance. It’s neither a response to the news cycle, nor is it a sort of escapist fantasy into either entertainment or perhaps some kind of formalist, insider baseball kind of 'trick of the trade.' It’s instead touching the heart. It’s speaking to a kind of emotional truth that is available, perhaps, to any of us, but that also enjoys being meditated upon in the formal arenas of the classroom and the essay and things like that. You could call it a religious calling.
"I try to operate in the very simple, beautiful, open space wherein art is held to be a matter of the first importance," Nemerov said. "It’s neither a response to the news cycle nor is it a sort of escapist fantasy into either entertainment or perhaps some kind of formalist, insider baseball kind of 'trick of the trade.' It’s instead touching the heart. It’s speaking to a kind of emotional truth that is available, perhaps, to any of us, but that also enjoys being meditated upon in the formal arenas of the classroom and the essay and things like that. You could call it a religious calling – art as a religious calling…where you’ve been knocked back, you’ve been called, you’ve been summoned in the way that Rilke talks about where you, in his phrase, 'must change your life.' And these are unpredictable occurrences that have the flavor of religious revelation. We tend to silence or repress them in our secular culture of results and legibility. But a lot of that culture of results and legibility…is of a depressingly and distressingly uneventful and ultimately forgetful phrasing. It’s a kind of sound and fury. And meanwhile, these old oil paintings -- or maybe a painting made yesterday or tomorrow, or not even a painting, whatever the case may be -- by virtue of a kind of electric combination 'lightening flash' with the sensibility of a viewer -- you, me, someone else -- changes the world. That’s where I work."
The interview ended on an inspiring note with a discussion of kindness, where Nemerov revealed his thoughts on the greatest work in American art — a reflection that beautifully underscored art’s enduring power and relevance. This episode of Grey Matter is available at the link below.
