The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • The Ekphrastic Academy
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

Letters to Vincent #2,  by Kendall Johnson

1/27/2020

2 Comments

 
Picture
View of the Sea at Schevingen, by Vincent Van Gogh (Netherlands) 1882

Letters to Vincent #2
Re: View of the Sea at Schevingen, 1882

Dear Vincent, 

I once stood on the rocks overlooking a cove on the Central California coast watching the rough waves careen off a jetty, creating a cross current that exacerbated the more direct incoming waves. The resulting synergistic effect magnified the breaking waves, creating unpredictable, violent energy bursts. I see this same dynamic in your early View of the Sea. You caught the power and cross purpose of the waves, the sky, and the land by your rough build-up of underlying texture—a technique you were to deploy later in the south of France. You point out the poetry, and yes, that’s there too! The weight of the boat against the tossing surf, the flag on mast-tip blowing shoreward and the horizon pulling us beyond.  You speak to the raw wildness, of the natural world outside, and to our human nature inside. We are layers of light and darkness, of heat and cold, of good and evil, and those layers within us careen about unpredictably. Sometimes they grow out of control.  

Kendall Johnson

Kendall Johnson writes and paints in Upland, California. He is the Director of Gallery 57 Underground, Pomona. Kendall is author of several non-fiction books on psychological crisis and trauma, and four books of poetry: Fragments: An Archeology of Memory; Johnson’s Pasture: Living Place, Living Time; A Whole Lot’a Shakin’: Midcentury Reconsidered: and A Sublime and Tragic Dance, co-authored with John Brantingham about Robert Oppenheimer. Vincent found him years ago and hasn't let go since.

2 Comments
Martha Johnnson
1/28/2020 10:53:06 am

I felt as If I was there, watching the sea. Ken, your letter comparing people to this painting, was somithing I never thought of before.
I hope to read this book.
So very proud of you. Thank you for enriching our lives. Msrtha

Reply
Michelle
11/21/2021 12:02:37 am

Hello Ken !
Been a while and am writing in from Spokane , Wa.
Chris P. sent me this and bought me your book ,
love the Poetry and the Van Gogh . Ocean , one drop in that vast seascape are we .
Makes the he/art slow down and soften into something akin to tenderness and we move into the field of more possibilities.
Poetry the intra beingness of the human condition .
You speak it well, friend . I love listening ... Thank you
Michelle

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    Picture
    COOKIES/PRIVACY

    This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies.

    Opt Out of Cookies
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Join us: Facebook and Bluesky
    @ekphrasticreview.



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic [email protected] 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • The Ekphrastic Academy
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead