Posts by Robert AB Sawyer

Introduction: New York, New York It is a miracle New York works at all. The whole thing is implausible. E.B. White I will argue in this paper that the correspondence between the idea of New York and the actual city of New York has grown increasingly tenuous. This idea of the City1—the “City that never…

Introduction In this paper I will explore how with La Dolce Vita1, Federico Fellini created both a modern film and a cinematic representation of a modern city. I will argue that he achieved this by conforming to and by subverting certain traditional cinematic motifs and concepts, including the classical city/country opposition. It was a good…

A cinematic fantasia? A salute to modernity? A hyper-kinetic montage of Berlin life, circa 1927? What is revealed and what is hidden in a seemingly naturalistic rendering of a modern city? A train appears out of nowhere and I am immediately filled with a sense of dread. It is an eerie feeling—an emotion at the…

I will concede here and now the privileging of digital images over the physical representation of ideas, desires and ambitions. From this day on I repudiate my faith in printed objects for the purpose of advertising, or for collateral, or promotions. As of yesterday, March 27, 2016, my attachment to paper has exceeded its shelf life.…

Ideas possess a peculiar magic. That said, how does the magic work? The best explanation I know comes from Jean Baudrillard, and can be found in his book “Seduction” (p. 107): “This obliquity of seduction is not duplicity. Where a linear movement knocks against the wall of consciousness and acquires only meager gains, seduction has…

Tear sheets were delicate, and paper ads, torn from magazines or cut from newspapers, were prey to sharp points, ink stains, unwashed hands, and coffee rings. At first, we slipped the work into plastic sheets enclosed in folders of various quality. It was less than ideal—the sheets yellowed, grew brittle. They couldn’t accommodate different-sized ads. What’s more,…

I was asked by DeWayne Lumpkin to provide a title and some content for a catalog for Janet Mathey’s show at untitled 2.0 gallery in Grants Pass, Oregon. I sent Mr. Lumpkin some fragments of poems that I thought would flesh out the work and allowed them to take and use what they considered appropriate.…

We do not work in stone although we may use stones to make a point. No, we work with ideas, and ideas, even the best ideas, even brilliant ideas, have a shelf life. The shelf life may be as brief as that of a baguette or as enduring as a loaf of Wonder Bread, but a shelf…