Erica Grimm-Vance - On the Question of Being
Engaging Culture with Culture Through Acts of Creative Excellence
21 by Derek Walcott
Hieronymus Bosch - Garden of Earthly Delights
May my enemy be assuaged by these waves
because they are beautiful even to his evil,
may the drizzle be a benediction to his heart
even as it is to mine; they say here that the devil
Continue reading “21 by Derek Walcott” »
Pietà by Shane McCrae
Alfonse Borysewicz - Mary, 2007
And yes the body andthe body most / Continue reading “Pietà by Shane McCrae” »
Their Faces Shall Be As Flames by G. C. Waldrep
Makoto Fujimura - Fire and Rose are One
That was the spring the bees disappeared Continue reading “Their Faces Shall Be As Flames by G. C. Waldrep” »
Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio on “Untitled” by Eszter Sziksz
Untitled from Eszter Sziksz on Vimeo.
I saw this installation piece created by Eszter Sziksz, print-maker and instructor at Memphis College of Art, during Trolley Night in downtown Memphis at the end of July. It was first displayed at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the “Art of Science” exhibit which was meant to raise awareness for the research conducted by the hospital. The exhibit, itself, featured 20+ Memphis artists each using “biomedical scientific research imagery” as the basis for their creative interpretations.
Continue reading “Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio on “Untitled” by Eszter Sziksz” »
Claudia Rogge – Pattern & Repetition
Claudia Rogge’s medium is tessellation, but with people . At first glance, this appears to be dehumanizing. Our culture puts so much weight behind individual personality. Using this lens Rogge’s compositions are ominous: same clothes, similar postures and in some cases, even, faceless. I am reminded in several ways of the cinematographic masterpiece, The Fall.
The Message in the Mannequin
In a conversation with a friend the other night I was struck by the idea that, though it is o.k. to sometimes have the mentality regarding art (in this case movies) as nonchalant as I like it or I don’t, how overwhelmingly dangerous it can be, if left perpetually unchecked. Art carries messages that are often more potent than spoken ones. Messages that invade and pervade us, even superseding our cognitions, transforming them and redirecting them, even shaping our desires.
This morning I ran across confirmation: a short documentary about mannequins, 34X25X36. One of the interviewees says in it:
[Mannequins are a type of] religious art. What the churches did was make figures out of wood or paper maiche, and they were trying to replicate for the people what they envisioned these saints were supposed to look like, like we replicate what the perfect girl is…Because if you really start to look at it, it is a continuation of the same thing. I can see where it could be believing in something or worshiping something because it is something that you aim for.
The whole thing is sobering. It reminds me that there is little innocent, though there is much which asks of me to think it so. Watch the whole thing below. Then be on guard.
MotionPoems: The Trees—They Were Once Good Men
THE TREES—THEY WERE ONCE GOOD MEN a poem by Todd Boss from Motionpoems on Vimeo.
I hate that sensation when you feel “beat-to-the-punch”. When the idea you’ve been mulling over for quite sometime is snatched away and given to someone else. Maybe, it’s out of lethargy, or procrastination, that the Muse decides to give it to someone else. I suppose, in that case there’s only one person to kick—obviously the Muse!
Continue reading “MotionPoems: The Trees—They Were Once Good Men” »