A month or so ago, I was writing an essay on the idea of coastal governance and what that meant in Mauritius. Essentially, I was making up a lot of long words and trying to make it sound as impressive as possible, because I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.I am now fairly convinced that artists do exactly the same.

On our trip to London, we had a brief visit to the Tate Modern. Apart from the largely pointless Earthquake Crack, I was intruiged by this painting.

 

An impressive painting it was too, about 6×3 foot. Personally, I liked it’s blueyness. My problem lies in the waffle that was then spouted to explain it. Artist Clyfford Still:

My paintings have no titles because I do not wish them to be considered illustrations or pictorial puzzles. If properly made visible they speak for themselves.’  The red at the lower edge was intended to contrast with and therefore emphasise the depths of the blue. The yellow wedge at the top is a ‘a reassertion of the human context – a gesture of rejection of any authoritarian rationale or system of politico-dialectical dogma.’

Anyone who can give me a coherent definition of a ’system of politico-dialectical dogma’ gets a gold star.