Extraordinary Art Blog Series, Part Three: Extraordinarily Cohesive Coverage

See Hungry Hyaena’s art blog profile, visit Hungry Hyaena art blog.

The story so far
In the process of compiling over 100 art blog profiles, and starting what will be an ongoing survey of the art blog scene, we accumulated a whole range of questions we wanted to investigate further.

So far, we have explored the extraordinary growth of an art blog with Ruben Natal-San Miguel from ARTmostfierce, and extraordinary art critique with Catherine Spaeth.

Today, we will explore the factors that are required to provide cohesive coverage on a range of subjects. I am pleased to be joined by Christopher Reiger for this discussion. For those of you who do not already know Christopher, he is a professional artist and writer. In addition to running his art blog, Hungry Hyaena, Christopher has written for ArtCal Zine, NY Arts Magazine, Slash and MyArtSpace.

Peter Cowling – loveart (PC)
You first started blogging back in 2005. Blogging on art is acknowledged as being a little late out of the starting gate, and there were far less art blogs on the scene in 2005. Looking back, what kind of factors prompted your decision to start blogging?

CR
Initially, the blog served as a place for me to hone my critical writing chops. Although I knew when I started blogging that HH would include a good deal of art commentary, I didn’t conceive of the blog as being exclusively art-oriented. In fact, early posts were more often about environmental and conservation issues than contemporary art.

PC
Looking at your early posts, the subjects you talk about clearly complement your art. Is it fair to say that, although you continue to post on a wide range of subjects, art now features more prominently?

CR
Yes, it gradually became clear that art would dominate HH posts. As a result, it was categorized as an art blog, but I think of it as a more catholic assemblage. The banner lists ecology, natural history, philosophy and theology as well as art, and I fear that list is incomplete!

PC
Yes, economics is one subject that immediately springs to mind. It is something you address either tangentially or directly on a regular basis.

You decided to use Hungry Hyaena as the title to your blog. The background to this selection is interesting. Perhaps you could you explain it?

CR
The blog’s name was inspired by two sources. The first is Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. In the book, Alice shouts at her nurse, “Do let’s pretend that I’m a hungry hyaena, and you’re a bone!” Admittedly, that’s a pretty nasty thing to say to anyone, but I prefer to take Alice’s taunt out of context, to think of it as a challenge to all humanity to fully embrace life’s complexity, to eat of life with brio. Although Alice’s curiosity leads her into some sticky situations, it is principally a virtue.

PC
I find this interesting, because your writing itself is extremely calm, and balanced, and at face value not at all like Alice’s predatory hyaena. The similarity seems to be that, just as a hyeana must seek out its food, you are compelled to keep hunting for more information, to keep on exploring.

CR
Yes, that’s the intended association, or at least the tie to Alice’s “hungry hyaena.” My blog is named for an animal driven by insatiable curiosity. As I wrote in an early HH post, I think of Carroll’s Alice as a hyaena herself, “that most creative and curious of souls, gnawing on a bone with her powerful jaws. She will be through to the marrow in no time.” The bone marrow is the tasty tissue at the core of the bone, but it is also life’s vitality, the stream of wonder essential to all things.

PC
And there is a second connotation…

CR
The other inspiration for the title is the spotted hyena, my favorite mammal and an animal that I view as one of the totem species for artists. Alternately a predator and a scavenger, the feral hyena lurks at the margins, sexually enigmatic, oracular and oh-so-clever. I had the uncomfortable privilege of a close encounter with this beautiful (or beautifully ugly) beast in the wild, in Botswana, and those tense moments remain vivid memories today. Even before that meeting, though, I was fascinated by the species’ remarkable physiology and matriarchal social structure.

PC
Do you have a favoured way of researching subjects? I mean, is it a structured process or just a case of getting out onto the web and exploring?

CR
I collect and file exceptional articles, keep commonplace books, and annotate all books that I read. These habits make it a little more easy to have plenty of research at hand. If I’m writing about an artist who deals with, say, family dynamics, it helps that I can flip through my file cabinet and find a collection of articles on modern psychology and the nuclear family or something equivalent. It gives me a launching pad. The Internet can serve a similar purpose, of course, but I’m a bit old-fashioned; I like to feel the pages of what I read, smell the paper and generally appreciate the material substance of transmitted knowledge. There really is something sensual about it.

PC
Is there a clear break point between the act of seeking out and reading, and that of analysing, composing, and writing?

CR
Yes and no. When I read – and, for better or worse, I now read almost exclusively non-fiction – I fill book or magazine margins with annotations and carry on internal debates with the writer. Reading is a conversation and, happily, it’s one that you can return to.

In many respects, writing is similar to reading, especially once you begin the editing process. Essentially, the writer has to argue with himself in order to make sure that he is presenting an idea clearly. This necessitates both an analytical mind and an eye (or ear) for composition.

PC
When you commit your ideas to writing is it a case of sketching your ideas out or do you find the process pretty straightforward once you have thought out what you want to talk about?

CR
Once I decide what subject I want to deal with, the essay comes in fits and starts. I find that it helps to break away from the essay. I can work on a painting, read or toil at my day job and then return to the writing with fresh perspective. I like to think that Albert Einstein was able to formulate his grand ideas in part because he was engaged in mundane activity at his clerk’s job; his mind was free to wander. The shower, too, is a terrific place for organizing thoughts. I try not to make a habit of that, though, as long showers aren’t exactly “green,” and my guilty conscience kicks in!

PC
…You see benefit in exploring and writing, seeing new sites, and learning new things, and vice versa. In both writing and art there is also a degree of preparation and familiarity, and it seems that this too is beneficial?

CR
Yes, absolutely. In some respects, I think competent critical writing necessitates homework. If you don’t absorb new ideas, you’re retarding your ability to critique fairly. The preparation for responsible writing is two-fold: you need to acquire basic technical chops, of course, but you also need to free yourself up to wander unfamiliar territory.

PC
Do you keep a few of the more difficult pieces on the back-burner?

CR
I definitely have some essays on the back-burner! Two years ago, I began an essay about Banksy and the recent popularity of graffiti in “fine art” circles. I don’t know if the piece will ever see the light of day, but I pick at it now and again.

Frustratingly, I find that if I return to an essay months or years after it was originally composed, I notice many simple improvements that I overlooked the first time around. Deadlines are great for productivity, but not always great for the writer’s craft!

PC
I know exactly what you mean here. The only way I found I could accept these occasions was to turn my mindset around. I decided that to re-read something I have previously written and find I can improve it should be a good thing. In fact, I hope to find the writing utterly abysmal. The idea being that the more it is possible to improve the writing, the more the writer has progressed.

What art blogs do you most admire?

CR
If I limit myself to art-oriented blogs, I most admire ArtCat Zine, for which I’ve written some reviews, Edward Winkleman, Hrag Vartanian, and a handful of others. I was actually introduced to Catherine Spaeth’s blog via Art Connect, and I like her approach very much.

PC
Well that is good to hear, because I can see how you would enjoy Catherine Spaeth’s writing.

You obviously read blogs that focus on subjects other than art. Of these, which blogs most inspire you?

CR
Lately, my favorite blogs are Bioephemera, RSA: Arts & Ecology, and Worldchanging. The last of these is more of an online magazine than a blog, but the content is consistently excellent and it is regularly updated.

PC
Of those you mention, I find Bioephemera to be particularly great. I really loved the design when it was a standalone site, but the writing seems to get better and better.

Would you say that those sites have some qualities and values in common?

CR
All three of these blogs can be described as interdisciplinary. I think that’s an essential ingredient of any satisfying publication, whether online or print. I want to be offered insightful commentary and allowed to connect the intellectual and imaginative dots. Because we live in a globalized world, the constellation of information needs to be navigated by generalists, and blogs like these are a forum for wide-ranging, ethical conversation.

PC
The ethical conversation forms an important wider social contract. I mean, an opinion based on a moral interpretation is not likely to change unless there is a willingness to engage in an unbiased, intellectually rigorous conversation. A change of ethics throughout a group is, by definition, a change of that group’s moral stance. The same can obviously be said for religious, political, and other intellectual positions. I guess you have some perspective on this particular dimension of blogging?

CR
Certainly, I agree. So much of the world’s conflict is spurred by an aggressive unwillingness to sit down with “the other side.” Rival factions or philosophical perspectives are never going to fathom – much less make peace – with their so-called enemies if conversation is rejected.

I frequent Science & Religion Today and other blogs on religion, science, ethics and contemporary life. I’m not traditionally religious, but I think this third sphere of society – the communal, shared sphere that exists apart from economy or government – is in need of addressing, and religion does that for a great many people. It seems likely to become the great topic of the 21st century. Even as Richard Dawkins condemns God to death for a second time, he engenders more debate. It’s a fascinating subject for our spiritual species.

PC
Do you get inspired by the features and functionality of the blogs themselves, or is it the writing that grabs your attention?

CR
Above all, it’s the writing that matters. There are countless informative blogs on the Internet, but I become a regular reader only if the writing is very good.

The very best blogs, though, are well-written and frequently updated. Excluding celebrity and pop culture gossip blogs, the most popular sites feature competently written, frequent, to-the-point posts. Because HH content is added sporadically, I wouldn’t include it among the best art-oriented blogs, but the long length of so many of my posts makes it unorthodox in any case.

PC
The length of your posts do make your blog unorthodox, but, at the same time, it very clear that this approach contributes to your ambitions for HH. On that note: Where would you ideally like to take HH in the future?

CR
I don’t have a ready answer to this question. I would like it if HH posts generated more discussion, both in the comments section and on other blogs. This desire is not merely ego driven. I very much like hearing other peoples’ perspectives, and the dialogue, limited though it may be, engendered by past HH posts has galvanized or even changed my thinking on some subjects. I’m indebted to the folks who participated in those conversations.

With regard to future format changes and subject matter, I err on the side of conservatism. I’m not interested in a facelift for the blog, and I assume that art, natural history, ecology, philosophy and theology will remain HH’s primary diet. The fare is already pretty diverse!