Me and Rodin Jerry Atkin Portland, Oregon Art, Brecht said, is a hammer. A tool for shaping the world. Art is a tool for rescuing the planet as surely as it is a tool for rescuing the heart, and art is a tool for building the bridges that connect us in time and space.
Art is a sledge, a pry bar, finish nails and crocus cloth.
It overcomes inertia and reminds us of what is real and what is possible. On the one hand, it polishes the contours of the inner world, revealing the grain, making it shine with an inner light. On the other, it shines a light into a darkening world. Art, if it avoids the traps of cynicism and despair, the trap of bourgeois art, is an act of witness, and act of construction, an act of insurrection. The Portland Art Museum has mounted a wonderful Rodin exhibit.