Month: November 2015

Alex Bernstein

Glass Sculptures by Alex Bernstein

Through his luminous cast, carved and polished glass sculptures, Alex Bernstein explores our society’s ideas about the passage of time and the processes of creation and transformation.

The forms of Bernstein’s pieces – as well as the techniques he uses to work the glass – mirror natural processes such as oxidation, erosion, growth and decay. As a result, many of his pieces evoke images of flowing water, ice crystals, mountain peaks and jagged canyons – all structures that seem solid and unyielding, but are actually in constant flux.

Sean Keating

Oil Paintings by Sean Keating

Seán Keating, born in Limerick, was an Irish romantic-realist painter who painted some iconic images of the Irish War of Independence and of the early industrialization of Ireland. He spent two weeks or so during the late summer on the Aran Islands and his many portraits of island people depicted them as rugged heroic figures.

Seán Keating studied drawing at the Limerick Technical School before a scholarship arranged by William Orpen allowed him to go at the age of twenty to study at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. Over the next few years he spent time on the Aran Islands. In 1914 Keating won the RDS Taylor award with a painting titled “The Reconciliation”. The prize included £50.00 which allowed him to go to London to work as Orpen’s studio assistant in 1915. In late 1915 or early 1916 he returned to Ireland where he documented the war of independence and the subsequent civil war. Examples include “Men of the South” (1921–22) which shows a group of IRA men ready to ambush a military vehicle and “An Allegory” (first exhibited in 1924), in which the two opposing sides in the Irish Civil War are seen to bury the tri-colour covered coffin amid the roots on an ancient tree.

Kabuki Theater

Kabuki Theater

In the years 1629–1673 Kabuki theater began its transition to yarō-kabuki. The modern all-male kabuki, known as yarō-kabuki (young man kabuki), was established during these decades. After women were banned from performing, cross-dressed male actors, known as onnagata (“female-role”) or oyama, took over. Young (adolescent) men were preferred for women’s roles due to their less masculine appearance and the higher pitch of their voices compared to adult men. In addition, wakashū (adolescent male) roles, played by young men often selected for attractiveness, became common, and were often presented in an erotic context.

Along with the change in the performer’s gender came a change in the emphasis of the performance: increased stress was placed on drama rather than dance. Performances were equally ribald, and the male actors too were available for prostitution (to both female and male customers). Audiences frequently became rowdy, and brawls occasionally broke out, sometimes over the favors of a particularly handsome young actor, leading the shogunate to ban first onnagata and then wakashū roles. Both bans were rescinded by 1652.

Garuda

Bayan Gandung, “White Garuda Mask”, Indonesia

Garuda is the vahana, or the carrier, of Lord Vishnu. Garuda is depicted as having the golden body of a strong man with a white face, red wings, and an eagle’s beak and with a crown on his head. He was said to be massive, large enough to block out the sun.

His stature in Hindu religion can be gauged by the fact that a dependent Upanishad, the Garudopanishad, and a Purana, the Garuda Purana, is devoted to him. Various names have been attributed to Garuda – Chirada, Gaganeshvara, Kamayusha, Kashyapi, Khageshvara, Nagantaka, Sitanana, Sudhahara, Suparna, Tarkshya, Vainateya, Vishnuratha and others. The Vedas provide the earliest reference of Garuda, though by the name of Śyena, where this mighty bird is said to have brought nectar to earth from heaven.

However, the interesting thing is that Garuda is the Sankarshna form of the lord who during creation primarily possesses the knowledge aspect of the lord (among Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha forms). The important point is that Garuda represents the five vayus within us : prana, apana, vyana, udana, samana through his five forms Satya, Suparna, Garuda, Tarkshya, Vihageshwara. These five vayus through yoga can be controlled through Pranayama which can lead to Kundalini awakening leading to higher levels of consciousness.

Thanks to http://www.worldtribalmasks.com

Liam McIntyre

Photographers Unknown, “Liam McIntyre” (Spartacus Series)

Liam McIntyre is an Australian actor best known for playing the lead role in the Starz television series Spartacus: Vengeance and Spartacus: War of the Damned. McIntyre began his career acting mainly in short films, before performing guest roles in Australia’s popular television series Rush and Neighbours. McIntyre made his US television debut guest starring in an episode of the award nominated HBO mini-series The Pacific.

John Brosio

Paintings by John Brosio

A selection of paintings by John Brosio, an American artist from California, fascinated by science fiction and fantasy creatures. John Brosio has also worked for the famous studio Industrial Light and Magic of George Lucas, where he participated in the models for “Ghostbusters 2” and “Back to the Future Part III”, before devoting himself entirely to painting. In his series “Tornadoes“, the artist creates everyday scenes, waiting for prodigious storms, with a great work on the colors and materials.

Richard Bunkall

Paintings by Richard Bunkall

In a shortened career of twenty-five years, with a focused dedication to artistic integrity, Richard Bunkall created a significant body of work that was both original and emotionally compelling. His early work expressed simpler themes; themes that he later developed into spiritual and iconic masterpieces. He was able to tell the story of humanity and its vulnerability through his art. He embraced and glorified the creations of man and ensconced them in monuments of his own making; adeptly portraying man’s desire to create something more permanent than himself.

Recognized by his peers and acclaimed by the critical establishment, he was honored with Individual Painting Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts twice within five years. Bunkall was also a revered teacher at the prominent academic institution Art Center College of Design. He enjoyed sharing his knowledge and love of art, and was rewarded with respect and admiration from students, fellow instructors and administrators.

In 1994, Richard Bunkall was diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He met this challenge with the same humor, strength and dignity he had maintained throughout his life. In his last year, while his physical strength diminished, his passion for painting did not. He was able to produce and work until nearly the end of his life.

Joseph Campbell: “Everybody Has His Own Possibility of Rapture”

Photographer Unknown, (The Modern Myth: Narcissus)

“I don’t think there is any such thing as an ordinary mortal. Everybody has his own possibility of rapture in the experience of life. All he has to do is recognize it and then cultivate it and get going with it. I always feel uncomfortable when people speak about ordinary mortals because I’ve never met an ordinary man, woman, or child.”

― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Rafael Gomezbarros

Rafael Gomezbarros, “Casa Tomada”, Ant Sculpture Installation, 2007

“Casa Tomada” is a project of traveling installations started in 2007 by Colombian artist Rafael Gómezbarros in which giant sculptures of ants are fixed in swarms on buildings and structures. Self-described as “urban intervention” by Gómezbarros, the ants have been showcased in locations varying from London to Cuba with a very specific goal in mind: shedding light on immigration, forced displacement, and uprooting through historical points of departure for travelers and immigrants.

The 2-foot ants themselves are crafted out of tree branches for legs and two joined skull casts made of fiberglass resin and fabric to make up the torso, making for a particularly morbid, visceral depiction of migrant workers in Latin America who are looked at as nothing more than vermin. When placed on the facades of government buildings and blank gallery walls alike, the ants give off a chilling sense of foreboding and encroachment.

By placing them in swarms, Gómezbarros makes the insects even more strikingly representative of the peasants displaced by war and strife in Gómezbarros’ native Colombia. The giant insects that make up Casa Tomada, which translates to Seized House, are certainly works that are bound to linger with viewers, whether in nightmares or otherwise.