The question being posed is, what framework can I use to illustrate or justify these concepts? To hinge something on something else suggests the creation of such a tangible framework, to express the inner world of the artist.

This is something you do.

Or:

How do they come to light / become apparent?

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Note added at 8 hrs (2009-04-17 19:20:21 GMT)
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they referring to the "Bruechigkeit und Abgruendigkeit" etc.

Or 'Where do I see...?' -
Just another alternative and a route for 'discussion' since that mask won't open for me just now. Think if author's tone is important (& to have posed her/his rhetorical qn at all would suggest it is) - I see a groping 'in retrospect' for something 'objective' to substantiate what might seem a Rather Intuitive approach for an 'academic discipline'. (literally, then, '**what** **has** prompted me to...' -rather than '**how** **shall** I define....' though the two approaches could make the same point here.


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Note added at 1 day41 mins (2009-04-18 11:42:22 GMT)
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Sat. 18th, c. 13:30: PROPOSAL FOR "DISCUSSION" / Afraid still can't activate "Discussion", I propose shift the debate about standpoint of perception in the quoted rhetorical qn. to there (only then I may still be unable to access it!) Meanwhile: Mir geht ein Licht auf after Helen's note to me - H., you see author speaking in artist's voice, a fine & subtle possibility that had escaped me. But I don't know "festmachen an" in that sense ('how do I give sth. form'). Native G speakers please? Is this why, Brigitte, you're at odds with Helen's sugg'n in your entry?

I. e.:
What can this (impression/perception of) Brüchigkeit and Abgründigkeit be put down to / based on?
What aspects support / evoke / cause this impression of Brüchigkeit and Abgründigkeit?
What aspects can be named to support this Brüchigkeit and Abgründigkeit?
What aspects can be named in support of this Brüchigkeit and Abgründigkeit?

Some suggestions:

How can / in what way can I capture this Brüchigkeit...?

How can / in what way can I encapsulate this ....?

How can / in what way can I fix this ....?

I appreciate that this is slightly different to festmachen before anybody says it is not linguistically correct (again) but I am attempting to find something appropriate for the context....

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Note added at 23 hrs (2009-04-18 10:18:25 GMT)
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My literal translation of this would be how can I link this Brüchigkeit etc. to my work? Since I don't think that works, I have chosen to suggest a slight rewrite of the sentence.

There seem to be two different camps for reading this sentence. I must say that I don't agree with the other reading in linguistic terms nor in terms of meaning within the context of the passage. As far as I can see, the author/artist perceives something external to himself - the Brüchigkeit, etc. - and he says his issue is how to render that, link that to his work, encapsulate it. This is the nature of much of art and artistic practice - how to express something either external or internal in such a way as it can be read out of what is produced as the artwork.

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Note added at 23 hrs (2009-04-18 10:20:27 GMT)
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Just to correct the above - it should read the artist perceives something internal to himself - the Brüchigkeit....

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Note added at 2 days2 hrs (2009-04-19 13:05:40 GMT)
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Weighing what is art and what is not art and piling both on a canvas has been John Baldessari's seesaw practice throughout his career. Over the past 20 years, as this retrospective shows, his narrative and formal experiments have had a sophistication and playfulness in his use of manipulated imagery and, most recently, painterly color that remain vitally questioning. A companion volume, available seperately, covers the years before 1984.
http://www.artbook.com/catalog--art--monographs--baldessari-...