Month: February 2016

Haruo Shirane: “People Peep into Boxes. . .”

Photographer Unknown, (The Stereoscope Viewer)

“People peep into boxes at moving stereoscopic prints, imagining they’re in other worlds, and the crowd around a glassblower wonders whether icicles have formed in summer. Potted trees revive and suddenly look fresh when a florist sprinkles water on them, while papier-mâché turtles hanging out for sale move in the wind and take on souls.”

― Haruo Shirane

 

Igor Mitoraj

Igor Mitoraj, Bronze Doors at Saint Maria Degli Angeli, Rome, Italy

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs ( Santa Maria Degli Angeli e dei Martiri) is a titular basilica church in Rome, Italy built inside the frigidarium of the Baths of Diocletian in the Piazza della Repubblica.

Igor Mitoraj was a Polish artist born in Oederan, Germany. Having previously worked with terracotta and bronze, a trip to Carrara, Italy, in 1979 turned him to using marble as his primary medium and in 1983 he set up a studio in Pietrasanta. In 2006, he created the new bronze doors and a statue of John the Baptist for the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome.

The right hand bronze door depicts the Resurrection, and the left hand door the Annunciation. Most of the surfaces of both doors are blank, showing textured and patinated metal, but out of the surfaces emerge dismembered figures and heads as if they were floating in water. The three figures of Christ, Our Lady and the Archangel Gabriel have arms amputated, and this detail is an allusion to the damaged Classical statues that used to be displayed in the adjacent museum. The figure of Christ is further divided into four by two slashes in the form of a cross.

Thanks to http://deaprojekt.tumblr.com for the reblog of the top image.

John Burdett: “The Next Stroke of the Pen

Photographer Unknown, (The Writing Man)

“The individual characters. Look at that one, what’s that called?”

“It’s an E.”

“Right. There are lots of them. and they’re all the same.”

“Of course they’re all the same. They’re all E’s.”

“Idiot. I mean they’re exactly the same. Same size, same shape, no variation at all. You’ve meditated, you’ve studied the Abhidharma, you know how the mind works. Say it takes a tenth of a second to make one stroke of a pen. Then there’s a gap in consciousness too brief to notice, but it’s vital to your functioning. During that gap the whole history of humanity intervenes in the form of sparks and flashes, your own personal history, the whole cosmos, actually, which of course doesn’t exist in time, but when you make the next stroke of the pen you are a different person. After a whole inhalation and exhalation nothing at all remains except the blueprint. No way the next stroke is going to be identical to the first, there has to be a subtle difference. When it comes to a whole letter, well, no normal person possessed of normal consciousness will produce exactly the same letter over and over again.”

-John Burdett, “The Bangkok Asset”, Discussion of the Writing on the Mirror

Paul Freeman, “Adam Rexx”

Paul Freeman, “Adam Rexx”, Photo Shoot from “Outback Dusk”, 2015

Paul Freeman has established himself at the pinnacle of his craft, not only as a photographer, but as a visual poet and artist, eulogizing as he captures the spirit of the rugged yet sensitive Australian male in all his physical glory. His genius is to find the right men to photograph and then tell an enthralling story with his vision from behind the camera. From the quality of the compositions and the lighting, through to the texture of the outback locations, these are some of the most perfectly executed and delightful photographs in any collection, and set a tone of sophistication so rarely achieved in books of the male nude.

Elena Vizerskaya

Elena Vizerskaya, Photo of Animals and Man

Elena Vizerskaya, aka KaSSandrA, is a talented photographer and digital artist currently based in Kyiv, Ukraine. She graduated from a children’s art school in 1994 and later graduated from the Boychuk College of Decorative Arts and Design in Kiev, Ukraine in 2000. In the year 2001 Vizerskayaa pursued a rather eclectic mix of design projects spanning practically all relevant areas, with the exception of web design and ikebana.

Thanks to http://sanatkaravani.tumblr.com

Ivan Reis and Paul Pelletier

Justice League, “Throne of Atlantis”, DC Comics

“Throne of Atlantis” is a 2012–2013 comic book storyline created and published by DC Comics. The story arc consists of six issues from DC’s Justice League and Aquaman publications, functioning in part as a larger buildup towards the “Trinity War” event. The plot was written by Geoff Johns, with art by Ivan Reis and Paul Pelletier.

In the story, believing Atlantis to be under attack, King Orm declares war on the surface world. Aquaman’s allegiances are torn between his brother and the Justice League, while the latter group finds itself overwhelmed as the East Coast of the United States is swallowed by the ocean and the Atlantean royal troops march against humankind.