Art: Caleb Cole
“The Teacher,” exhibited at a Montserrat College of Art show, is a portrait of unnoticed dedication.
Cate McQuaid’s recent Boston Globe review of an art exhibit really spoke to me. I liked the idea of portraits that have meaning beneath the surface, and I especially liked the portrait of a teacher devoting extra time to his job. Anyway, that’s what I saw here. McQuaid saw woe.
McQuaid wrote, “With portraits, the subject tries on one face, the artist may capture another, and the viewer may see something else. Your projection, my projection. It’s all dreadfully nebulous, but if it weren’t, it would be pat and dull.
“ ‘Observance: As I See You, You See Me,’ an exhibition of photographic portraits at Montserrat College of Art’s Montserrat Gallery, examines what these shifting valences tell us about identity and societal assumptions. Many of the artists and subjects, people of color or queer, have experienced the walls strangers throw up based on appearance alone. …
“Woe is a keynote in Caleb Cole’s series ‘Other People Clothes,’ elaborately staged scenes in which the artist creates fictional personae. Cole is small and balding, with a peak of red hair, like Tintin. In ‘February Is Dental Month,’ the artist, surrounded by file folders, looks down at us from behind a large desk. We can find a story here, but the expression tells more: alienation, tenderness, perhaps disdain.” More here.
As much as I like abstract art, representational art that stirs the depths can be fascinating.
My Struggle, by Karl Ove Knausgaard, does something like that. The seemingly endless minutiae of the author’s life and thoughts flow along the surface, but something compelling emerges that is hard to describe. The writing is cinematic. The author sees everything, and observing him observe everything creates a powerful connection.
Interestingly, in the part of My Struggle that I’m reading now, Book 5, Knausgaard gets a tip from a successful novelist about having the “hinterland,” or backstory, of all your characters in mind when you write fiction. As with the Cole portrait of the teacher, the observer will sense things that are not spelled out.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
You can express what I am feeling when I have been reading “Min Kamp” volume 3. Have a look in this part before arriving in Stockholm.
I was intrigued by Book 3, but that was a couple years ago. Maybe I will bring it with me. (I was shocked to realize what “My Struggle” means in Swedish. I wonder what Knausgaard’s point is.)
I love that you can look at this picture and feel the story forming in your mind . Reminds me a little of Norman Rockwell paintings…
Yes, an underappreciated artist.
That’s fascinating–I didn’t see woe at all in the Teacher until I looked at the full series. The Teacher is much subtler than most of those.
I think you are exceptional at really studying people’s blog posts and clicking thru. I so appreciate your taking the time.
Well, I don’t always take the time I should or even want to–so many blogs, so little time! But I am very interested in a lot of your topics so it seems important to look a little deeper.
Thank you!