I have discovered that there are some rather unfortunate universal traits (e.g. politicking, oneupmanship and cliques) in most endeavours, including art. The ‘art world’ that surrounds the actual work can be off-putting so thanks to the person who reminded me yesterday that it was just ‘noise’ and to focus on the art itself.
So here is some art - because I am developing a taste for giant animal art ;-)
Jeff Koons - Puppy- in front of the Guggenheim, Bilboa
As its Easter, I thought maybe I could find something inspiring to write about in religious art but I can’t (probably due to a lack of christian faith). But it led me to wonder, again lacking in basic art history knowledge, if many of the beautiful historic religious works were done out of devotion and inspiration OR because it was the church was doing the buying at the time. Anyway for Easter art viewing Stations of the Cross at the Gus Fisher Gallery fits the bill. EDIT: Nice review over at eyeContact. Personally I’ve always liked Michelangelo’s Pieta, but on reflection Mary looks awfully young. Sort off the topic but what do you do when your 5-year-old wants to see a picture of God? Take the easy way out and point her at the Sistine Chapel???
Clairmont - Study after Grunewald
On a lighter note - what you find isn’t always art..
March 20, 2008 at 1:02 am
Blake does good Gods, especially the Demiurge…which my then 5 year old seemed to relate to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demiurge
http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/images/exhibitions/month/RX132/RX132_front.wf.jpg
March 20, 2008 at 1:16 am
I went the universalist path as it happens. I don’t want her thinking god is a bloke in the sky with a big white beard. However that may be inevitable
March 20, 2008 at 1:25 am
My take on the Blake Demiurge is that it is against the white bearded guy in the sky (we call Him Santa at home) Imago Dei…against the Michelangelo thing with the finger…
The Demiurge among Gnostics relates to the Creator as NOT being God, hehe, heresy.
I like Sophia, the Christian God’s wisdom, plus we ask at home, soooo if Adam had no belly button, who is the Mother Of God?
It all gets a little confusing because there’s the Ghost God as well…
I put alot of crosses in my stuff but that’s to do with The Quarternity, sort of.
March 20, 2008 at 2:37 am
All good points. Sophia has a special place in our home. The cross is of course a very ancient symbol (maybe one of the first?) I want to know why every time I make easter buns the cross disappears though
March 20, 2008 at 4:10 am
The cross disappears because you are not strong in your faith (I’m kidding you). AFAIK the oldest symbol is the circle with a dot in the middle, for the Sun, also for the centred self. Christ as symbol is sometimes denoted as the fullstop (the dot in the middle), things get a bit complicated from here.
The earliest depictions of the Sun symbol are in cave paintings and rock carvings. The hand symbol, done probably by blowing ocher over the extended hand on the cave wall, though old, we don’t really know what it symbolises.
I feel strongly that if we are going to use symbols in our work, they should be correct, but i’m a pedant regarding such thing, symbol.com is a good site.
Sometimes I symbolise the cross as a sword, because you know…I come bearing a sword…
March 20, 2008 at 4:27 am
Maybe my oven is possessed? (it behaves that way) Interesting about the sun symbol (and http://www.symbols.com is a great site). I was sort of thinking that crossed sticks, grass whatever woudl be faitrly primal - wasn’t thinking of “written” symbols as such. The womens dictionary of Symbols and sacred objects was my introduction to the topic and probably unduly influenced my thinking. I can’t beleive I am having another symbolism discussion!
March 20, 2008 at 5:24 am
Hehe, symbols are life. Possessed oven, hmmm, don’t start me on connections between the outer and inner worlds.
Written symbols, well all the letters of the alphabet are symbols…there is a book, The Alphabet Versus The Goddess…Christ was the alpha and omega, the cross was seen as the hook and Christ the bait, Christians as fishes. Christ was probably actually crucified on a Tau cross, that being the T shape, per McCahon. Interestingly McCahon’s Why Has Thou…painting and subsequent Biblical references are intriguing, but can’t go into that here, and obviously I AM…
I live near Muriwai, McCahon lived here for a bit (following the words as symbols thing). I paint (well scratch really) and poet…you have drawn me into more art talk than I usually get into.
I like your blog.
March 21, 2008 at 8:03 am
Maybe just show her that starry sky … what more can be said … And after all, while kids ask the trickiest questions, they are often the most insightful of commentators.
March 21, 2008 at 6:32 pm
jacky - that was pretty much my approach - and a very true statement. However the biblical stuff is being fed to her from elsewhere