A fine art, film, history and literature site oriented to, but not exclusively for, the gay community. Please be aware that there is mature content on this blog. Information on images and links to sources will be provided if known. Enjoy your visit and please subscribe.
Photographer Unknown, (Time Stopped: A Fraction of a Second Until 10:10)
“The main thing you remember is the noise. All that water cascading around you sounds kind of brutal, kind of dangerous, but time has stopped, so all you do is try to hang on and hope that nature, the ocean, treats you well. I just recall seeing another surfer way down the beach, and then it was all over and I was out, and safe, going wow, wow, that was a gift from nature.”
― Robert Black
Chinese Carved and Painted Wooden Dragon, 1880, Wood, 11 x 34 x 13 Inches
This Chinese sea dragon is from the late 19th century, most likely being a temple carving for above a doorway. It portrays an undulating movement in its form, with the head turned back to the scaled, serpentine body. The mouth is open in a smile and the eyes are large with eyelashes. It is painted in strong reds and greens with gilt highlights.
A Year: Day to Day Men: 14th of June
The Toucan in the Forest
June 14, 1933 was the birthdate of Józef Lewinkopf, a Polish-American novelist known by the name Jerzy Kosinski.
Józef Lewinkopf was born to Jewish parents in Lodz, Poland. As a child during World War II, he lived in central Poland under a false identity, Jerzy Kosinski, which his father gave to him. A Roman Catholic priest issued him a forged baptismal certificate, and the Lewinkopf family survived the Holocaust thanks to local villagers who offered assistance, often at great risk. After the war ended, Kosinski and his parents moved to Jelenia Góra, in southwestern Poland.
By the age of twenty-two, Jeerzy Kosinski had earned graduate degrees in history and sociology at the University of Lodz. He became an associate professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences. In order to immigrate to the United States in 1957, he created a fake foundation, which supposedly sponsored him. In the United States Kosinski worked odd jobs to get by, eventually graduating from Columbia University. He became an American citizen in 1965.
Kosinski’s first novel was the controversial “The Painted Bird”, published in 1965 by Houghton Mifflin. The story originally introduced as being autobiographical was the story of a World War II boy wandering around Eastern Europe. Assumed by reviewers to be a memoir of a Jewish survivor to the Holocaust, the book received enthusiastic revews. However, within twenty years it was discovered to be fictional. The book was banned in Poland from its publication until the fall of the communist government in 1989. When it was finally printed in Poland, thousands of Warsaw residents waited as long as eight hours for an autographed copy.
Kosinski’s 1970 novel, “Being There” was one of his most significant works. It was a satirical view of the absurd reality of America’s media culture. It is the story of Chance the gardener, a man of few distinctive qualities who emerges from nowhere and suddenly becomes the heir to the throne of a Wall Street tycoon and a presidential policy advisor. His simple and straight forward responses to popular concerns are praised as visionary despite the fact that no one actually understands what he is really saying. “Being There” was made into a movie in 1979 and starred Peter Sellers as the gardener Chance and Shirley MacLaine as Eve Rand, the wife of the business tycoon who advises the President..
Kosiński suffered from multiple illnesses toward the end of his life, and he was under attack from journalists who accused him of plagiarism. By his late 50s, he was suffering from an irregular heartbeat, as well as severe physical and nervous exhaustion. He committed suicide on May 3, 1991, by ingesting a lethal amount of alcohol and drugs, and wrapping a plastic bag around his head, suffocating to death. His suicide note read: “I am going to put myself to sleep now for a bit longer than usual. Call it Eternity.”
anna RF, “Why” From the Album “Hasan is Loco”, 2014
anna RF is a band from a small village in the desert of israel. They are a totally independent group of artists that travel the world with a laptop, microphone and camera and record their songs and videos on the go.
Photographer Unknown, “Wind Blown Cypress”, Infrared Photography
Jeff Hein, “Facing the Mob”, 2006, Oil on Canvas, 121.9 x 152.4 cm, Private Collection
Jeff Hein was born in New Winsdor, New York in 1974. He began studying drawing at Ricks College in 1992 under Gerald Griffin. In 1997, after a four year sabbatical to serve a mission and battle cancer, he resumed his studies in painting and drawing at Salt Lake Community College under Rick Graham and Rob Adamson. From 1998-2002 Hein attended the University of Utah where he studied fine art.
Hein began his full time painting career in 2002. He founded in 2007 the Hein Academy of Art in Salt Lake City, where he trains apprentices in the naturalist tradition of painting. Hein took a 2.5 year sabbatical (2008-2010) to devote to personal study and the exploration of naturalist painting techniques.
Enrico Baj, “Al Fuoco, Al Fuoco (Fire! Fire!)”, 1963–64, Oil Paint and Meccano on Furnishing Fabric, Tate Museum
Enrico Baj had painted many humorously satirical pictures of what are sometimes known as ‘decorated people’, a favourite theme being high-ranking army officers bedecked with sashes and medals who are gesticulating some command. There are about half-a-dozen other pictures of the period between 1963-64 with very similar figures : single figures as well as a row of figures. Enrico Baj pointed out in an October 1974 letter that in this painting, as in many others of the same period, he used spare pieces of English ‘Meccano’ erector sets. During this same period he built thirteen sculptures using Meccano pieces.
This picture has a label of the 1964 Venice Biennale on the back with the title ‘Mani in Alto’ (Hands Up); but it does not appear among the works by Baj listed in the Biennale catalogue. The reason for this was that it was added at the last moment after some other works by Baj were censured by the Italian curators of the Biennale for being irreverent towards the Italian authorities and army. Enrico Baj stated that the title was changed when the painting was modified in 1964; the two dates 1963 (which is inscribed on the stretcher) and 1964 can therefore be used together.
A Year: Day to Day Men: 13th of June
Woodland Path
On June 13, 1881 the USS Jeannette, under the command of George W. De Long, sank after being trapped in the ice.
James Bennett, the owner of the ship Jeannette, had a plan was to sail a vessel through the Bering Strait on the theory that the warm Pacific Ocean current known as the Kuro Siwo would provide a “thermometric gateway” whereby a suitable ship might reach the North Pole. This was the primary objective, but the ship was also equipped for scientific observation. By agreement with the US Department of the Navy, Bennett would finance the expedition, but would sail under naval laws and discipline, and would be commanded by a naval officer, George W. De Long.
The Jeannette departed San Francisco on July 8, 1879. She sent her last communication to Washington from Saint Lawrence Bay, Siberia, on August 27. Shortly afterwards she encountered ice, of increasing severity as she pushed her way forward to Herald Island. On September 7 she was caught fast in the ice.
For the next 21 months, Jeannette stuck in the ice drifted in an erratic fashion, generally to the northwest but frequently doubling back on herself. In May 1881, two islands were discovered, which De Long named Henrietta Island and Jeannette Island. On the night of June 12, the pressure of the ice finally began to crush the Jeannette. De Long and his men unloaded provisions and equipment onto the ice, and the ship sank the following morning.
The expedition began the long trek to the Siberian coast, hauling their sledges loaded with boats and supplies. After reaching the New Siberian Islands and gaining some food and rest, the party took to their three boats on September 12 for the last stage of their journey to the Lena Delta, their planned landfall. As a violent storm blew up, one of the boats (with Lt. Charles W. Chipp and seven men) capsized and sank. The other two craft, commanded by De Long with fourteen men and Chief Engineer George Melville with eleven men, survived the severe weather but landed at widely separated points on the delta.
The party headed by De Long began the long march inland over the marshy, half-frozen delta to hoped-for native settlements. After much hardship, with many of his men severely weakened, De Long sent the two strongest, William Nindemann and Louis P. Noros, ahead for help; they eventually found a settlement and survived. DeLong and his eleven companions died of cold and starvation.
In the meantime, on the other side of the delta, George Melville and his party had found a native village and were rescued. Melville persuaded a group of locals to help him search for his commander. He succeeded in finding their landing place on the delta, and recovered De Long’s logbook and other important records but returned without locating the De Long group. In the following spring, Melville set out again, and found the bodies of De Long and his companions on March 23, 1882.
Photographer Unknown, The Theater, Computer Graphics, Gifs
Reblogged with thanks to the artist’s site: http://hateplow.tumblr.com
Photographer Unknown, (Silver Chain)
Photographer Unknown, (Leather Straps: Red, Black and Yellow Trim)
“The leather community is largely anarchistic and shares a healthy distrust of power and arrogance.”
―
Bertel Thorvaldsen, “Jason and the Golden Fleece”, 1828, Marble, Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
Bertel Thorvaldsen created a life-size clay version of this statue in 1803 for the Copenhagen Academy to demonstrate his progress at sculpture. It is considered to be his first great work. This marble version of “Jason and the Golden Fleece” was commissioned by Thomas Hope, a wealthy English art patron. The marble statue, at a height of ninety five inches, was completed in 1828.
Expressing both physical and mental calm, Jason is the prototype of the classical hero. The sculpture is fully balanced: no matter where your eyes fall, you can find a corresponding element. For example, the lance is reflected in the chest strap, the fleece in tree stump. and the curled tip of the helmet in the horns of the ram.
In 1917, Thomas Hope’s heirs dispersed the holding of his estate at Deepdene, Surrey. “Jason and the Golden Fleece” was acquired by Copenhagen’s Thorvaldsen Museum at the auction.
Photographers Unknown, Beguiling the Senses and Enchanting the Mind: Photo Set Three
“Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty.… That is all.”
-Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Daria Khoroshavina, (Hot from the Oven), Computer Graphics
Daria Khoroshavina is a Russian artist who makes gifs, videos and cinema graphs, high-quality gifs with endless movement.
