Pat Passlof: The Inspired Lecture

The Inspired Lecture: Pat Passlof and the Courage of Art presented on June 18th 2021, gives a a brief review of Passlof’s life and outlook on art.

Pat Passlof was an artist primarily associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement, though her paintings evolved significantly over the course of her 60 year career. Under-recognized in her lifetime this publication is intended to highlight Passlof’s contributions to 20th century art. With an oeuvre including over 700 oil paintings and 2500 works on paper she is among the most prolific artists of the century.

Passlof was also a passionate and influential educator, teaching for the City University of New York at the College of Staten Island for nearly 40 years. This publication is largely composed of her own writing, much of which comes in the form of letters to her students that gradually reveal her rich and nuanced perspective on the role of art and the artist. It will also include interviews conducted with some of her art world acquaintances, including Cynthia Navaretta, David Reed and Mark di Suvero, who reflect on Passlof’s influence on their lives and the larger community of artists.

Writing sample from the book:

A Real Syllabus

Here’s the problem: it is as if there is some kind of magic cloak.  Every aspiring artist is eager to don this garment which proclaims: I am no longer a student or apprentice; I am the thing-in-itself, an artist. The moment the student locates this mythological wrap and flings it around the ego, he or she cries out in pain. This shapeless thing appears to be lined with thorns so that, as you draw it around, real psychological and spiritual blood flows. The natural impulse and most frequent solution (when not immediately torn off) is to turn it inside out, still apparently ‘cloaked’ but bloodless, pain-free. However, bloodless is bloodless: competence without the magic that is art. (Many art programs advocate this.)

Now, if you decide to keep this prickle to you, eventually, some of  the tips do  break off and become permanently embedded, the pain internalized. A secondary problem then arises concerning the ‘fit’. What kind of garment is this?  Does it have sleeves, legs, perhaps feet? These are difficult to determine, then to locate, then to differentiate.

More difficulties: which is the front, which the back? Is it right-side-up or up-side down? Why the obscurity? Because the cursed thing is forming and changing as you work; shaped and changed by the work.

Pat Passlof …unexpected conversation…

For more on Passlof, linked here is the documentary made by artist and film maker Bill Page. Page has made numerous documentaries on artists who merit greater exposure within the arts community and I am grateful that he has offered to share his documentary with us. Included is a filmed interview with Passlof and commentary by the critics, Karen Wilkin and David Cohen.

This project is made possible (in part) by a DCA Art Fund Grant from Staten Island Arts, with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.