The Perils of Neo-Expressionism: A Walking Quote Attributed to Artist Julian Schnabel

As we complete the Julian Schnabel-themed walking tour of NYC today with an account of the Gramercy Park Hotel, I wish to offer you the following words from the Wikipedia entry on the artist:

"Schnabel's signature works, filled with raw emotion, contain an underlying edge of brutality while still being suffused with energy. Schnabel claims that he's “aiming at an emotional state, a state that people can literally walk into and be engulfed”.

Wow, that's intense! I'm kinda scared!

I have been distraught about the artist's use of the word literally, as it conjures up tortured souls on fire walking through a Schnabel canvas. After much thought, however, I'll let this pass. I, too, have often literally walked myself into an emotional state and been engulfed by it. But in most cases, when I find myself engulfed in an emotional state, I tend to walk out of it and not into it, as in, "I'm upset. I'll just walk it off."

Great fun to be had at Literally, A Web Log that tracks the abuse of the eponymous word.