Author: ultrawolvesunderthefullmoon

https://www.instagram.com/wolvesofgray This blog is a refugee and a survivor of the Great Tumblr Inquisition of December 17th, 2018. I am gay artist, who received training at the Rhode Island School of Design, and now, a retired high-end fine art framer living in Maryland, USA. My interests and studies in life run a wide gamut from art to history and from the scientific to the esoteric. I have been building this blog of images and texts for the last eight years. My wish is that my posts pique the interest of viewers and encourage them to experience more.

The Linen Bedding

Lying Atop the Linen Bedding

Etymology: atop, adverb, “on or at the top,” 1650s, from a– (1) + top (n.1). Two words or hyphenated at first; not fully established as one word until the late 19th century.

“A quick writhe placed him atop”.

– Norman Springer, Fire Mountain

“Tim Slater, he was that, ye know, says ‘twas an uncommon fine ‘un, lying’ right atop the chist.”

–H. A. Cody, The Frontiersman

“You see, they would have took it all atop, and no mistake”

– William Fred De  Morgan, When Ghost Meets Ghost

Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni, “The Charge of the Lancers”, 1915, Collage, Tempera Paint, Cardboard, 50 x 32 cm, Private Collection

Umberto Boccioni was one of the lead artists in the Italian Futurist movement of the early 1900s.  His most famous works are in bronze, where the energy of his forms are represented by a solid trail following a figure.  In “The Charge of the Lancers”, Boccioni depicts a fierce cavalry trampling soldiers with bayonets. The forceful power of this image is an excellent visual representation of the ideas of the futurists.

The “Charge of the Lancers” is the only known work by Boccioni that is devoted exclusively to the theme of war. Being a collage, Charge was also a rare departure for the artist in terms of medium. In previous works, Boccioni had used the figure of the horse as a symbol for work, but in this collage the horse becomes a symbol of war and natural strength, since it appears to be overcoming a horde of German bayonets.

If, in fact, Boccioni was establishing the brute strength of the horse over man-made weapons, it would suggest a slight departure from the Futurist principles of Marinetti. This work also eerily prefigures Boccioni’s own death from having been trampled by a horse.

Futurism was founded by the writer Filipo Tommaso Marinetti, and was joined by a handful of young artists, including Umberto Boccioni at the forefront. Based on Marinetti’s radical manifesto of 1909, Futurism was an extremely fast paced and modern movement.

Leonora Carrington

Sculptures by Leonora Carrington

Leonora Carrington established herself as both a key figure in the Surrealist movement and an artist of remarkable individuality. Her biography is colorful, including a romance with the older artist Max Ernst, an escape from the Nazis during World War II, mental illness, and expatriate life in Mexico.

In her art, her dreamlike, often highly detailed compositions of fantastical creatures in otherworldly settings are based on an intensely personal symbolism. The artist herself preferred not to explain this private visual language to others. However, themes of metamorphosis and magic, as well as frequent whimsy, have given her art an enduring appeal

Carrington shared the Surrealists’ keen interest in the unconscious mind and dream imagery. To these ideas she added her own unique blend of cultural influences, including Celtic literature, Renaissance painting, Central American folk art, medieval alchemy, and Jungian psychology.

“I didn’t have time to be anyone’s muse… I was too busy rebelling against my family and learning to be an artist.”- Leonora Carrington

Lyle Carbajal

Lyle Carbajal, “Oranges as Orange as Crayons”, Mixed Media on Wood

Lyle Carbajal uses his paintings to explore the unintentional. Through the use of color, bold line and image placement he hopes to capture the naiveté of daily life. Citing references to childhood imagery such as comics, monsters and machines, Carbajal juxtaposes the innocent associations of youth with the complicated path of maturation.

His focus on the face is evident in each painting, where visages are wild-eyed and gripped with anger, terror, confusion or pain.  The depictions of extreme emotive states in his paintings are as raw and innocent as those of a child.  Childhood memories and his Latin American background have helped Carbajal search for a primitive expression of the world.

Lyle Carbajal holds a degree in design yet is self-taught as a painter. His work has been exhibited in galleries around the world such as Museu de Estremoz in Portugal, the Caro D’Offay Gallery in Chicago, and Art Fair in Denmark.  His work can be found in many private and corporate collections.

Fred Lyon

Fred Lyon, “Taylor and Pine Street, San Francisco”, 1954, Silver Gelatin Print

Fred Lyon is a photographer who was always out on the streets of San Francisco in the 1940′s and 50′s constantly shooting black and white film with his Leica camera. Lyon had a day job as a freelance magazine and commercial photographer, and worked on his own projects whenever he had a minute.

A book of his photographs, “Portrait of a City, 1940-1960,” was published in 2014 by Princeton Architectural Press, The images were developed from a file cabinet full of negatives that hadn’t been looked at for five decades.

Jimmy Scott, “An Evening in Paradise”

“An Evening In Paradise”, the 1960 hit by the late male singer Jimmy Scott (aka Little Jimmy Scott) is blessed and highly favored by many of the music world.  His uniquely odd but very impressive countertenor vocals brought a swarm of attention which catapulted his music career.

Along with his striking voice, he also captivated many in his unusual stature as a young man, which ignited to shine even more of a spotlight upon him. He had  Kallmann syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that stagnated his height to 4 feet 11 inches. It wasn’t until the age of 37 that he grew another eight inches.

A great and distinctive voice. Most people do not know of him and his talent. Check out two of his other songs: “Day by Day” which was used in the soundtrack for the movie “Fences” and “Time After Time”. Great sounds.