Patience & An Eraser

William Kentridge

With patience and an eraser as his primary tools this artist creates, deconstructs and reconstructs a simple drawing on a single page and smooths each transition using the magic of an animator. It is a beautiful expression of art. Here is an example of his work:

"Indeed."

on FFFFound!
quoted from dilemma on Flickr_Photo Sharing!
( farm4.static.flickr.com )

How F-ing Cool Is That?!

pilfered from the blog, Elements of Style

Sometimes I see an object, hear a song or read a line somewhere and think,
"If only I were as cool as this [insert here]..." This is one of those times.
How f-ing cool is that piece of art?! It's acting as a headboard, a headboard, people!!!
It is SO gorgeously distressed, to steal a phrase from Rachel Zoe, I DIE.
I mean, your eye just goes, "Whaaaaaaat!!!!" in full soprano!

Sapphics

Sappho by Charles Mengin [pic source: virgotex.wordpress.com]

I think I finally have my sapphic verse poem down... and still it is grossly inadequate. Sigh. The deeper I get into strengthening this poem, finding new and more detailed sources on the form, the more the poem seems wanting. A while back I found an example of sapphic verse written by (surprise!) Sappho which fulfilled the brief and is lovely to read. 'The Anactoria Poem' translated by Lattimore (an excerpt):

Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen
on the black earth is an array of horsemen;
some, men marching; some would say ships; but I say
.... she whom one loves best
[click on the stanza to read full poem]

Throughout this experience I have come upon various essays on craft and sapphics, each one opening my eyes to my flaws and, hopefully, influencing a better crafted poem in the end. In case someone else types 'sapphics' or 'Sappho' or 'sapphic verse' into a search engine looking for someone to shed a little light on the subject matter, I'll list (with links) the webpages and sites which are giving me a leg up, so to speak.

I started first with examples of sapphic verse and settled on three poets/poems --
* Sappho's 'The Anactoria Poem', trans. by Lattimore;

* Swinburne's 'Sapphics';
* Isaac Watts' 'The Day of Judgement';
These three helped me with the intangibles as it were -- the flow, the sense of the form. They also provided concrete help when my dactyls were kicking my butt. I didn't lift any from the poems it's just that seeing how others handled dactyls talked me "down from the ledge" whenever I over-thought my own.

* An audio track at least an 90 minutes in length, of Allen Ginsberg teaching Basic Poetics, specifically sapphic verse. You can download the track or simply listen to it; I highly recommend it. It is an invaluable listen. He presents the material in an approachable way. Here's his stab at sapphic verse (better than mere mortals) --

Red cheeked boyfriends tenderly kiss me sweet mouthed
under Boulder coverlets winter springtime
hug me naked laughing & telling girl friends
.... gossip til autumn

* I am currently rummaging through Eratosphere on AbleMuse.com for more insight on sapphics and meter in general. If you use the search function on the site and type in sapphics, as I did, you can find a wealth of information.

After I do some more clean-up; submit for critique and review my piece I'll probably post a draft of it on this blog soon.

Okay, If This Isn't Creepy and Disturbing

'The Tea Party'
artist: Ronit Baranga

Still. It has a disconcerting loveliness to it: the plaster skin, placid smiles and
vacant eyes, bending over cups of tea. It's interesting. Disturbing, but interesting.
Click on the artist's name (under the pic) to check out his (her?) website and
other artwork.

the hurried pretense of their expressionless faces

blog title quoted from jinyoung yu
as translated by stella im hultberg

I look at the work of Jinyoung Yu and I am given over to an overwhelming need to weep. Once more one of my favorite artists, Stella Im Hultberg -- per her { lovely distractions } blog -- has opened my eyes to art and artists that would otherwise have escaped my notice. When I first gazed upon these naked pieces my mind conjured up Miyazaki's Spirited Away which contained a shadow character of a similar construct. It had an amorphous shape (initially) as dense and dark as shadow and a pale, expressionless face/mask that nevertheless encompassed a deep sadness. Those who have had the pleasure of watching the film know that this creature devoured everything in sight in an attempt to fill the hollowness within. But no meal can satisfy an ache like that, no coin can tempt it close. As wonderful as the film is it drops the ball here a bit; I am left with an itching curiousity about that hungry shade; what was his story? I want his story. That's my problem, however: Spirited Away is not his story or the story of anyone else but Chihiro, and that was gorgeous enough. Anywho. I am reminded of that character when I look at the work pictured above and directly below.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

*

This is by an artist named Monica Subide. Entitled "Ballerina", it can be found on { lovely distractions } as well, and I love it to death! Stella comments that she loves the "emotion in the brushwork" and I concur. My eye is compulsively drawn to the black strokes flowering madly from the subject's torso. The peeking toes at the fraying edge, the pale innocence stirs an empathy in my soul. As with Jinyoung Yu's work (currently selling at Union's for $30,000-$50,000 a pop) I'm sure her art is too rich for my blood, which is a shame, because I would love to own one.

--
listening to an amalgam of soundtracks:
Amelie
1st Shop of Coffee Prince

YES!

Guess what I received today by mail? A set of (4) prints by the infinitely fabulous artist, Stella Im Hultberg, the result of a purchase made roughly two weeks ago. Stella's artwork is striking, sensual -- I am a big fan, one who is very eager to own more of her pieces (if my bank account can suffer it ^^). So, this -- my very first art buy! -- is a very exciting moment for me.

Four 4 x 5 inch giclee prints printed on Sommerset Velvet Fine Art paper, signed, numbered and limited to 500, all for a reasonable price -- who can complain? Plus, I was one of the lucky ten percent who received a chase print so, "YAY"!!! I love every print in the set, not one bum in the bunch. Love! I'd like to own a larger print and/or original but moolah is an issue and I'm not as quick on the draw as others who frequent her site or the galleries which feature her work. One day though. One day.

Here's what I bought:


...................................{ set of four }

Thanks Mom -- yours was ultimately the driving influence
-- buy what you love indeed.

*click on image to check out larger examples, the seller's gallery

hey stella

For about a year now I have been frequenting
the various blogs of one, Stella Im Hultberg.


.................{happiness is a warm gun}..........

Her art blog, 'happiness is a warm gun', is routinely
updated with news on her pieces (the jpeg above
being a gorgeous example of said work) and any
upcoming shows. If only I lived near enough to attend.
Sigh.


.....................{lovely distractions}

The other blog, 'lovely distractions', is a visual dialogue
on what Hultberg finds beautiful and inspiring. The
second photo featured here is one such example. I
am so thrilled she's put together a site with a theme
like this! It is exciting to see what draws an artist, as
well as an opportunity to be introduced to artists and
photographers who I otherwise might never have
known.

Stella Im Hultberg is very talented and I invite everyone
who might traipse across this blog o' mine to give this
artist's websites (and artwork) a whirl. You won't be
disappointed!

^_^

*click pictures to explore sites