Month: September 2015

Dashiell Hammett: “Here’s to Plain Speaking and Clear Understanding”

Photographer Unknown, (A Bit of Smoke)

“We begin well, sir,” the fat man purred … “I distrust a man that says when. If he’s got to be careful not to drink too much it’s because he’s not to be trusted when he does. … Well, sir, here’s to plain speaking and clear understanding. … You’re a close-mouthed man?”

Spade shook his head. “I like to talk.”

“Better and better!” the fat man exclaimed. “I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking’s something you can’t do judiciously unless you keep in practice.”

― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

Kyoko Imazu and Damon Kowarski

Etchings from Copper Plates by Kyoko Imazu and Damon Kowarski

Kyoko Imazu and Damon Kowarsky have worked together since 2010. Their prints are made using a simple collaborative system. Damon gives Kyoko a drawing, to which Kyoko adds her own interpretations. The resulting image is then etched onto copper plates and printed by hand. Together, they have produced works of great subtlety, variety and humour exploring themes such as nature, science, art and technology.

The prints in this exhibition grew out of the zine “Talking of a Chameleon”, which was made in response to a zine commission by IMPRINT magazine in March 2011. Since then, the zine has been part of fairs in London, Perth and the Czech Republic.

Yoko Imazu holds a Bachelor of Fine Art in Printmaking, a Diploma of Visual Arts, and a Certificate in Foundation Studies Art in Design and Communication, all from RMIT in Melbourne.  Damon Kowarsky studied printmaking at the Victoria College of the Arts (VCA) and Glasgow School of Art, and Advanced Figure Drawing at RMIT. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Art, Honors, in Printmaking from VCA.

Tim Hawkinson

2006, Indianapolis Museum of Art

California-based artist Tim Hawkinson is known for taking everyday materials and altering them in imaginative ways, creating works that address broad issues about the intersection of human consciousness, nature and technology. Here, he employed a mix of found objects and common household materials—including twist ties, craft wood, staples, and packing material—which he transformed almost alchemically into a complex and awe-inspiring sculpture.

Echoing the working methods of ship-in-a-bottle hobbyists, Hawkinson created a painstakingly detailed ten foot model ship that twists in upon itself, presenting the viewer with a thought-provoking visual conundrum. The title is a witty play on Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick”. The ambitious and imaginative structure of Hawkinson’s sculpture offers an uncanny visual metaphor for Melville’s epic tale, which is often considered the ultimate American novel.

“Möbius Ship” also humorously refers to the mathematical concept of the Möbius Strip. Named after a nineteenth-century astronomer and mathematician, the Möbius Strip is a surface that has only one side, and exists as a continuous curve. Its simple yet complex spatial configuration presents a visual puzzle that parallels Hawkinson’s transformation of the mundane materials into something unexpected.

Banco de Gaia, “Ynys Elen”

Banco de Gaia, “Ynys Elen”, from the Album “Farewell Ferengistan”, 2006

Banco de Gaia is an electronic music band from England, formed in 1989 by Toby Marks.. The music of Banco de Gaia is best categorized as ambient dub, but Marks works to cross genres, often using Arabic and Middle Eastern samples against a bass heavy reggae, rock, or trance rhythm to produce deeply textured tracks that progress layer upon layer.

in 1994 Toby Marks released his first studio album “Maya” on Planet Dog records, which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize on its release. It was followed in 1995 by the critically acclaimed “Last Train to Lhasa”. Both albums reached No1 in the UK independent charts and featured in the national album chart top 40. In the following decade Banco De Gaia released “Live at Glastonbury”, “Big Men Cry”, “The Magical Sounds of Banco De Gaia”, “Igizeh” and “You Are Here”.

The Welsh name for Lundy Island, which lies off the North Devon coast in the Bristol Channel, is Ynys Elen. There is an ancient medieval Celtic chapel which was dedicated to Saint Helena situated on the ruins of Beacon Hill.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

Beach and Sun

Photographer Unknown, (Beach and Sun)

“To be upon the beach yourself, and see the long waves coming in; to know that they are long waves, but only see a piece of them. And to hear them lifting roundly, swelling over smooth green rocks, plashing down in the hollow corners, but bearing on all the same as ever, soft and sleek and sorrowful, till their little noise is over.”
― R.D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone

Károly Ferenczy

Paintings by Károly Ferenczy

Top to Bottom Images: “Joseph Being Sold into Slavery”, 1900;  “The Return of the Prodigal Son”, 1908;  “Orpheus”, 1894

Károly Ferenczy was a Hungarian painter and leading member of the Nagybánya artists’ colony. He was among several artists who went to Munich for study in the late nineteenth century, where he attended free classes by the Hungarian painter, Simon Hollósy. Upon his return to Hungary, Ferenczy helped found the Nagybánya artists colony in 1896, and became one of its major figures. Ferenczy is considered the “father of Hungarian impressionism and post-impressionism” and the “founder of modern Hungarian painting.”

Sigils

Sigils

The term sigil derives from the Latin sigillum, meaning “seal”, though it may also be related to the Hebrew סגולה (segula meaning “word, action, or item of spiritual effect, talisman”). The current use of the term is derived from Renaissance magic, which was in turn inspired by the magical traditions of antiquity.

In medieval ceremonial magic, the term sigil was commonly used to refer to occult signs which represented various angels and demons which the magician might summon. The magical training books called grimoires often listed pages of such sigils.  Such sigils were considered to be the equivalent of the true name of the spirit and thus granted the magician a supposed measure of control over the beings.

A common method of creating the sigils of certain spirits was to use kameas (magic squares) — the names of the spirits were converted to numbers, which were then located on the magic square. The locations were then connected by lines, forming an abstract figure.

The use of symbols for magical or cultic purposes has been widespread since at least the Neolithic era. Some examples from other cultures include the yantra from Hindu tantra, historical runic magic among the Germanic peoples, or the use of veves in Voudon.

Vintage Neon Gas Station Signs

Vintage Neon Gas Station Signs

Georges Claude patented the neon lighting tube on Jan. 19th, 1915 – U.S. Patent 1,125,476.

In 1923, Georges Claude and his French company Claude Neon, introduced neon gas signs to the United States, by selling two to a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles. Earle C. Anthony purchased the two signs reading “Packard” for $24,000.

Neon lighting quickly became a popular fixture in outdoor advertising. Visible even in daylight, people would stop and stare at the first neon signs dubbed “liquid fire.”

The Compexity of Reality

Photographer Unknown, (The Compexity of Reality)

“Generally speaking, our minds impose an entirely artificial order on the world. It is the only way that such an inadequate instrument as our brain can function. It cannot deal with the complexity of reality, so simplifies everything until it can, putting events into an artificial order so they can be dealt with one at a time, rather than all at once as they should be. Such a way of interpreting existence is learnt, rather in the way that our brain has to turn the images which hit our retinas upside down in order to make sense of them.” 

-Iain Pears, Arcadia