Month: January 2018

Amida Nyorai

Amida Nyorai (Amida Buddha), Lacquer, Gold and Pigment on Cypress (Hinoki), Crystals, 12th Century, Japan, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Amida Buddha, also known as the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Limitless Life, resides over the Buddhist western paradise or heaven. He is the most loved Buddha in East Asia. Since the introduction of Buddhism to Japan during the 6th century, Amida Buddha has become the most popularly worshiped icon.

Until the 12th century the Amida Buddha was usually represented seated on a lotus flower waiting for our arrival to the afterlife. However during the Heian and Kamakura periods the concept of raigō (welcoming decent) became popular and Amida Buddha was often represented in a standing pose descending from the heavens to fetch his devotee and personally transport them back to his blissful paradise.

Amida Buddha displays one of nine different mundra (hand gestures) that determine the nine possible paths for the dying to enter paradise. This gesture ‘jōbon geshō’ is one of the best known gestures in Japanese Buddhist imagery.

Another distinguishing feature of the Amida Buddha is the extended lobe on top of his head to accommodate his advanced understanding of the truth. His large ears allow him to hear all people in need. The rose coloured crystal set amongst his curly hair emits rays of light to display his supreme knowledge. A single white spiral of hair on his forehead indicated by a white crystal shows his love and affection for humanity; and the folds on his neck indicate compassion to all people.

David Schermann

David Schermann, “Bigger Than Us” Series

David Schermann is a conceptual photographer based in Vienna. In a recent project titled “Bigger Than Us,” Schermann brought a Russian spacesuit deep into the mountains of Vorarlberg, Austria. Digitally painted red, the sweeping mountains and valleys take on an otherworldly quality, like a deserted mirror of Earth.

Both familiar and alien, the setting provides the perfect setting for the lone cosmonaut to wander and contemplate the vastness of the universe. The series portrays solitude and alienness, alongside passion and love. Schermann continued exploring the space motif in his project “If You Fall Hard, I Fall Harder,” photographing the same suit filled with red roses.

Calendar: January 19

A Year: Day to Day Men: 19th of January

Parallel Fences

On January 19, 1955, the television program “The Millionaire” premieres on the CBS channel.

The Millionaire was an American anthology series that aired from 1955-1960 and  was sponsored by the Colgate-Palmolive Company. The series, produced by Fred Henry and Don Fedderson, explored the ways that sudden and unexpected wealth changed life, for better or for worse. The show became a five season hit during the “Golden Age of Television”. The series told stories of people who were given one million dollars from a benefactor who insisted that he remain anonymous.

The benefactor was named John Beresford Tipton, Jr. Viewers heard his voice, making observations and giving instructions; they saw only his arm as he reached for a cashier’s check for one million dollars each week and handed it to Michael Anthony, his executive secretary. It was Anthony’s job to deliver that check to its intended recipient.

Invariably, The Millionaire began with a very brief opening theme fanfare behind the ascending title frame, followed by the camera’s training directly upon Michael Anthony, played by veteran character actor and radio and
television announcer Marvin Miller. The unseen John Beresford Tipton was played by another veteran character actor and voice artist, Paul Frees.

The series ran for 206 episodes, and Tipton made 206 millionaires. The beneficiaries were not always poor but could be from any social class or occupation, from secretaries and construction workers to professionals like doctors and lawyers. Nor were they always likely to find their lives changed for the better because of their sudden wealth.

Jonathan Renshaw: “Dawn of Wonder”

Photographer Unknown, (Anticipation)

“First, the wind would rumble in the distance like an approaching river, then he would see grass bend, pressed by a great invisible hand. The dull rumble would rise in pitch to a swishing, lashing exultation, causing stalks to lie flat against the ground while the tougher branches of shrubs held themselves up and shrieked their defiance in the gusts. Then the first drops, cold and heavy, would plummet from the sky and burst on the ground.”
― Jonathan Renshaw, Dawn of Wonder

Reblogged with thanks to iusedtobeabletonameeverynut.tumblr.com

Louis XIV Equestrian

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, “Louis XIV Equestrian Statue”, Copy of the Original at Chateau de Versailles, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, born in 1598, became a prominent Italian sculptor and architect. He was requested by King Louis XIV to come to Paris to design a new wing for the Palais du Louvre,:however, his design was rejected. The Minister of Finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert was put in charge of liaising with Bernini for the production of an equestrian statue of King Louis XIV. After the approval of his clay models, Gian Lorenzo Bernini started work on the marble version.

The equestrian statue of King Louis XIV was sculpted from one single block of Carrara marble, and was completed in approximately 1677 by Bernini and some of his students. The statue, however, did not arrive in France until 1684, where it was to be placed in a prominent position within the grounds of the Chateau de Versailles. King Louis XIV was so displeased with the result that he decided to commission another sculptor to alter it.

Francois Giradon, born in 1628, was commissioned to change the Equestrian Statue. It was altered to depict a mythological Roman warrior and hero named Marcus Curtius, with the features changed and Roman helmet added along with the flames. It was placed at at the end of the grounds of the Chateau de Versailles. Over time, however, the alterations made by Giradon deteriorated leading to a complete restoration in the 1980s. This original sculpture is held within the collections of the Chateau de Versailles.

The current Equestrian statue at the Musée du Louvre is  a copy cast specifically for that site after the grand renovation project of the Louvre, with its modern glass pyramids, was completed. There is another copy, composed of crushed Carrara marble powder dust, located in Jackson, Mississippi, United States.

Three on the Division Line

Photographer Unknown, (Three on the Division Line)

“There was a wall. It did not look important. It was built of uncut rocks roughly mortared. An adult could look right over it, and even a child could climb it. Where it crossed the roadway, instead of having a gate it degenerated into mere geometry, a line, an idea of boundary. But the idea was real. It was important. For seven generations there had been nothing in the world more important than that wall.
Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

Descending on Flowers

Descending on Flowers

“Yet the story of Orpheus, it occurs to me, is not just about the desire of the living to resuscitate the dead but about the ways in which the dead drag us along into their shadowy realm because we cannot let them go. So we follow them into the Underworld, descending, descending, until one day we turn and make our way back.”
― Meghan O’Rourke

Yuichi Ikehata

Photography / Sculpture by Yuichi Ikehata

Japanese photographer Yuichi Ikehata’s series ‘Fragments of Long Term Memory’ sculpts human body forms by scaffolding the models with clay, wire, and paper. He then photographs and composites his subjects together.

Ikehata was born in Chiba, Japan in 1975 and graduated from Tokyo’s Sokei Academy of Fine Art and Design in 2001. His work has been exhibited in Japan and was included in London’s 2015 FLUX Exhibition at the Royal College of Art and the 2014 +81 Gallery’s “Vol. 65” show in New York City.

“Fragment of Long Term Memory (LTM), an ongoing photographic series, conveys an unrealistic world through fragments of reality. My understanding of reality comes from its moments of beauty, sadness, fun, perfection, and those days when nothing special happens. Many parts of our memories, however, are often forgotten, or difficult to recall. I retrieve those fragmented moments and reconstruct them as surreal images.” -Yuichi Ikehata

Calendar: January 18

A Year: Day to Day Men: 18th of January

Seaside Shelter

On January 18, 1535, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro founds Lima, the capital of Peru.

Francisco Pizarro was the illegitimate son of infantry colonel Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisca Gonzalez, a woman of poor means. Little attention was paid to his education and he never achieved literacy.

Reports of Peru’s riches and Cortés’s success in Mexico tantalized Pizarro. He undertook two expeditions to conquer the Incan Empire in 1524 and in 1526. Both failed as a result of native hostilities, bad weather and lack of provisions. Pedro de los Rios, the Governor of Panama, made an effort to recall Pizarro, but the conquistador resisted and remained in the south. In April 1528, he reached northern Peru and found the natives rich with precious metals.

This discovery gave Pizarro the motivation to plan a third expedition to conquer the area. He returned to Panama to make arrangements, but the Governor refused to grant permission for the project. Pizarro returned to Spain to appeal directly to King Charles I. His plea was successful and he received not only a license for the proposed expedition, but also authority over any lands conquered during the venture.

When hostile natives along the coast threatened the expedition, Pizarro moved inland and founded the first Spanish settlement in Peru, San Miguel de Piura. Atahualpa, the ruler of the Inca Empire, refused to tolerate a Spanish presence in his lands, but was captured by Pizarro during the  Battle of Cajamarca on November 16, 1532. A ransom for the emperor’s release was demanded and Atahualpa filled a room with gold, but Pizarro charged him with various crimes and executed him on July 26, 1533, overriding his associates who thought he was overstepping his authority.

The same year, Pizarro entered the Inca capital of Cuzco  and completed his conquest of Peru. In January 1535, Pizarro founded the city of Lima, a project he considered his greatest achievement. Quarrels between Pizarro and his longtime comrade-in-arms Diego Almagro culminated in the Battle of Las Salinas. Almagro was captured and executed. On June 26, 1541, his embittered son, Diego de Almagro “el mozo”, assassinated Pizarro in Lima. The conquistador of Peru was laid to rest in the Lima Cathedral.

Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya, “Modo de Volar (Way to Fly)”, Plate 13 from the “Disparate” Series, The Third Grouping of Plates of the “Disasters of War”, 1816-1823

“The Disasters of War” was not published during Goya’s lifetime, possibly because he feared political repercussions from Fernando VII’s repressive regime. Some art historians suggest that he did not publish because he was sceptical about the use of images for political motives, and instead saw them as a personal meditation and release. Most, however, believe the artist preferred to wait until they could be made public without censorship. A further four editions were published, the last in 1937, so that in total over 1,000 impressions of each print have been printed, though not all of the same quality.

Goya worked on the “Disasters of War” during a period when he was producing images more for his own satisfaction than for any contemporary audience. His work came to rely less on historical incidents than his own imagination. Many of the later plates contain fantastical motifs which can be seen as a return to the imagery of the “Caprichos”, his prints on the universal follies of Spanish society. In this, he is relying on visual clues derived from his inner life, rather than anything that could be recognised from real events or settings. “Modo de Volar” is an example of that return to the “Caprichos” imagery.