Here is a photo of a painting the G W Bush has hanging in the Oval Office at the White House. It is one of GW's favourites. He likes to tell the story that goes with it.
He likes it because the identity projected through the Bush Administration's policies on issues from global warming to preemptive warfare, are based on the premise that Bush is a lone cowboy, rushing headlong to carry out a God-given charge.
His followers today tend to see in Bush what he sees in the painting: a brave, daring leader riding fearlessly into the unknown, striking out against unseen enemies, pulling his team behind him, seeking, in the words of Wesley's hymn, "to do my Master's will." They see him as a straight shooter and a straight talker. They take comfort in his religious faith and think he is leading us toward a mountaintop."Source
Of course the truth of the painting is somewhat different from the the romantic ideal that GWB sees. The painting is really called “Had His Start Been Fifteen Minutes Longer He Would Not Have Been Caught.”. It is of a horse thief fleeing a lynch mob carelessly ignoring the wellbeing of his stolen charge as he rides recklessly across the landscape.
Hang on a minute! It does somehow seem to fit in GWBs office afterall.
(Bene has a more thoughtful piece obn the painting and Mr Bush here.)
Google Earth has captivated The Green Man and clearly the artists at The Glue Society. Here are a couple of their images of biblical scenes as they may have appeared from Google Earth.
Noah's Ark as the time of floating approaches
The parting of the Red Sea for Moses.
The crucifixion
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Time Tales is a collection of found old photographs.
This one was found Suitcase in a basement in Hřnefoss Norway in 2003
An interesting site to visit for random glimpses of images from earlier times.
This polychromic pictograph is that of an archaic style stupa with a swastika (yungdrung) painted in the same red ochre pigment which identifies this as a Bon composition. It is probably early Buddhist period to 1300.
The image forms one of a vast catalogue of Asian art at www.asianart.com. If you are interested in art be prepared to waste quite a lot of time here.
Head on Alternative Portraits is an Australian national annual photography portrait competition and exhibition representing a vibrant diverse cross-section of new and traditional photographic practices.
Here is one of the finalists "Flic" by Wendy McDougall
The Green Man has posted before on Banksy who is one of the more insightful of the art terrorism movement. Here is another magnificent piece
Click on the image to visit Banksy and see a larger version
Note: no elephants were psychologically damaged in the taking of this photgraph.
Thinking about purchasing a piece of fine art? Perhaps you should have done it in 2005. The chart below shows mean sale prices for works of fine art for the last 8 years.
In the Hindu religion the goddess Durga is an incarnation of the Devi or Mother goddess. She manifested when evil forces threatened the very existence of the gods. To enhance her power all the gods contributed to her radiance. She is considered a potent force for good and in one incident she killed the mighty Mahisha.
This event is being celebrated in the Great Court of The British Museum as part of the "Voices of Bengal" exhibition where Bengali artists are constructing a spectacular image of the goddess Durga killing the buffalo-headed demon Mahisha. If you are fortunate enough to be in the vicinity you can watch them construct it using traditional techniques using straw, clay and paint. For the rest of us images of the construction are available on the British Museum web site Click Here
In the northern most reaches of Norway high above the arctic circle lies the small community of Alta. Like many of the towns of northern Norway it was razed by the retreating Germans as the end of World War 2 approached. Architectually it is unremarkable, rebuilt with a utilitarian design that the extreme cold of the arctic winter encourages.
This town would be of relatively low artistic interested except that 6,000 years ago on, what was then, the shore of the fjord, early inhabitants of this area recorded their lives in rock carvings which last until today.
The stone in which they carved their stories and their religous activities is slightly recrsytalised grey-green sandstone. Formed around 1,800 million years ago it is fine grained, massive and hard.
There may have been as few as 50-100 people living in this remote community but they left a legacy that is as fascinating as it is cryptic. In the scene below men can be seen hunting bear, reindeer and elk. Central to this carving and many of the others are the bear which are thought to have had special spiritual significance.
Below is a scene depicting the trapping and slaughtering of reindeer behind a large fence that was presumably constructed for the purpose.
and finally a scene from an expedition in a large canoe. The bow of the canoe, on the right, is adorned with a elk head. Elks were probably also considered to have mystical powers and their ability to swim well meant that they endowed the boat with seaworthiness. There are men holding weapons, presumably on a hunting expedition. The "T" shaped objects held by the men in the centre of the boat are thought to have represented axes.
Click on the images for more detail or click here to visit the Alta Museum
Ten Canoes is an intriguing and entertaining film about traditional indigenous life in Australias north.
Ten Canoes is a feature film that was shot on and around the Arafura Swamp in north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia in May and June, 2005. Whilst it is narrated in English, the film is unique in that it is the first feature film to be shot entirely in Aboriginal language (predominantly Ganalbingu), and it is set both in the past (centuries ago, before the coming of white people to Australia) and in the Ganalbingu mythical past.
If you are interested to move beyond the stereotypes and get a taste for Australian Aboriginal existance as it has persisted for tens of thousands of years then this film is an excellent vehicle. The Green Man rates it a "must see".
Well another Port Fairy Folk Festival has come and gone and it was a stellar event this year with a range of exceptional artists to mark its 30th anniversary.
Naturally, being a folk festival, The Green Man was there both in person and in song but he was not the only substantial Celtic figure at the festival.
This substantial gentleman was quite understandably commanding significant attention.
His dog "oggie" was also a hit however it is fair to say that there was some consternation from the children when they were wee'd upon.
So are these people genetically different from you. Well quite probably and it is not because they are full blood aboriginals from Alice Springs but because they are dancers. Prof. Richard P. Ebstein of Hebrew University of Jerusalem has found genetic differences in the serotonin transporter and arginine vasopressin receptor 1a genes in studies of 85 dancers and advanced dancing students.
Naturally the audience of The Green Man will be familiar with the neuroscience that underlies serotonin transporters and arginine vasopressin receptors, however to lubricate the synapses, serotonin transporters regulate the level of serotonin, a brain transmitter that contributes to spiritual experience and vasopressin receptors have been shown in many animal studies to modulate social communication and affiliative bonding behaviors.
The dancer "type," says Ebstein, clearly demonstrates qualities that are not necessarily lacking but are not expressed as strongly in other people: a heightened sense of communication, often of a symbolic and ceremonial nature, and a strong spiritual personality trait.
You can read more here but only if you can read Hebrew.
Hmmmm what is that in that River Red Gum? Ah yes Bogong Moth pupae although somewhat bigger than you normally find.
From Brent Lawrence at Burning Man Festival.
Hey green man;I was just at my third year of burningman and I have seen the green man there every year. This year was different because of the colors pink and green. The
last two years the color of the man was blue. I know it may not make sense but I had pink and green dreams before the burn and before I knew that the man was going to be that color. Lots of people there had pink and green on and they didn't know either that the man was going to be pink and green. I was wondering if you, the green man, would know what the significance
of pink and green is vis a vis the natural world of the green man or of some other metaphysical construct. I didn't get a chance to talk to the green man this
year at burning man so I don't know his take of the subject. I am inviting you to come to the burn next year 2006 and you can camp with us, tikidom, if you
want to. It would be good to have a green man at our camp. It will be the 20 year anniversary of burning man as well. I have been drinking tequila this
afternoon so I am not typing as well as I might, let this not dissuade you from checking out the kindred spirits that are here in the states.thanks, brent,
Two Girls in Matching Bathing Suits by Diane Arbus. An intriguing social statement of a past era but is it worth $35,000? ArtNet think so. Click on the link to purchase this iconic image before it is snapped up by some other lover of kitch.
Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art, New York says
André Kertész was a man of immense talent. Throughout his life he made photographs that are infused with a haunting poetry and quiet authority few other photographers of his time--or any other--could rival.
There is currently a retrospective of his work at The International Center of Photography in New York. It is worth a visit if you are in the neighbourhood.
via Art-Daily
Art does not have a problem generally with nudity, it is seen in many forms of artistic expression, but ballet has been one area where nudity has made few inroads.
Sir Robert Helpman, principal dancer with the Australian ballet, had a firm avertion to nudity in dance. He succintly sums up his objection as follows
"The trouble with nude dancing is that not everything stops when the music does"
The Australian Ballet is still somewhat hesitant at the inclusion of nudity although, as the picture to the right indicates, not completely adverse. It is a photo of a performance of Jiri Kylian's Bella Figura.
There are of course praticalities to consider vis-a-vis nudity within a performance and not the least of these is fiscal in nature. Dancers in Australia are covered by the MEAA's Entertainment and Broadcasting Industry (Dance Company Award), which sets a standard "nudity allowance" of $15.60 per performance.
hmmmm $15.60? It seems to The Green Man that if you were concerned about exposing flesh in public then $15.60 would not convince you and if you weren't then it is somewhat unnecessary. Such an odd amount $15.60. How much do these performers get for a performance? Can't be that much if $15.60 would matter.
MASS MoCA presents a truly monumental and uniquely American sculptural installation by Dave Cole. Cole is in residence at MASS MoCA with his project The Knitting Machine which comprises two excavators specially fitted with massive 20’ knitting needles. The product of The Knitting Machine is an oversized American flag – a flag which can be seen as both a celebratory gesture of pride and a commentary on America’s role in world affairs.
Dave says
The Knitting Machine combines the feminized domestic American tradition of knitting with the grandiose gesture of construction usually associated with masculine labor. The Knitting Machine challenges familiar notions of labor and production, while expressing a complex understanding of patriotism
Also on show is an installation piece entitled Memorial Flag (Toy Soldiers) (2005), a 5 ’ x 9-1/2’ foot flag crafted of 18,000 plastic toy soldiers wrestling beneath an impermeable glaze of red, white and blue. From a distance, Memorial Flag (Toy Soldiers) becomes an impressive display of an American icon, the flag. Up close, Memorial Flag reveals its source of texture – plastic men wielding guns. The flag complies with the exact specifications for an American flag as specified by the US Military and makes an interesting statement on the process by which the flag came into being and by which it is maintained.
(via Art-Daily)
The image above is entitled "Early Man Goes to Market" by an artist who calls himself Banksy. It is part of the collection of the British Museum and the interesting part of the story is how it came to be part of their collection. Banksy hung it there himself in Gallery 49 accompanied by a few sentences of explanatory text and attributed to "Banksymus Maximus".
The British Museum were completely unaware of this and continued the remain ignorant of their new acquisition until Banksy announced it some time later on his web site. On becoming aware of the existence of the painting the British Museum, being an icon in the preservation of cultures, saw it, correctly, as representative of a sub-culture of the western art movement known as "Art Terrorism" and incorporated it into their permanent collection.
In similar fashion Banksy has smuggled into and hung his work in the big four New York Museums, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Brooklyn Museum. All, as it happens, in a single day. In Museum of Modern Art he hung a painting of a cheap brand of British tomato soup, a send-up of Andy Warhol's iconic can of Campbell's, something that may not have displeased Andy Warhol at all, given the precept of this art.
Like mainstream artists much of his art has a political agenda such as this stencil work which is to be found across Bristol where he lives.
This clearly has a potent message but the major theme of his work is the iconoclasm of the mainstream art institutions. He says
Art's the last of the great cartels. A handful of people make it, a handful buy it, and a handful show it. But the millions of people who go look at it don't have a say.
He once painted a thought bubble on the wall of the elephant pen at the London Zoo: "I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring." The difficulty of that job gained the respect of the graffiti community but, more importantly, it caught the imagination of the public, which was happy to empathize with the elephants.
He says
I always wanted to be a fireman, do something good for the world ... to show that money hasn't crushed the humanity out of everything.
(via Wired)
Here is an artists impression of the new Freedom Tower that will be built to replace the World Trade Centre that was destroyed by terrorists in 2001. A number of statements have been made, principally by politicians, that the replacement would demonstrate to the world that America had not been cowed by the terrorist attacts.
Sigmund Freud introduced us to the concept of projection. In interpersonal terms it means projecting your own failings onto the person you are interacting with. For all the protestations of Mr Bush that the terrorist have not won, in this new building you can see a projection of the terror that these individuals have inculcated into the American psyche.
Rather than a defiant statement that America will not be cowed by the acts of a few extremists, the Freedom Tower demonstrates the extent to which the politicians, at least, have lost faith in America's military to protect the country. It is exactly the kind of nightmare that government officials repeatedly asserted would never happen here: an impregnable tower braced against the outside world. The base is an enormous 20-story concrete pedestal more reminisent of a medieval keep than a statement of freedom and liberty.
The remainder is reinforced in a way that states quite unequivically that its designers have no faith in America's ability to prevent a future attack of a similar nature.
The irony is, of course, that America is littered with suitable targets if terrorists were to, once again, use aircraft as a weapon against the USA. It is also a statement of denial in as much as we know that the very nature of terrorism is that it is opportunistic and that the next attack will almost certainly not involve an aircraft against a building.
Geoge Orwell, in his novel 1984, introduced the concept of "double-think" a situation in which the name of things was the exact opposite of their true meaning. The classic "doublethink" example Orwell used was how "the Ministry of Peace concerns itself with War; the Ministry of Truth with Lies; the Ministry of Love with Torture; and the Ministry of Plenty with Starvation."
The new "Freedom Tower" has a sadly Orwellian feel about it.
Think you can better this photo. Then PC Mag is having a competition, click on the image to find out more.
Painted by Raphael towards the end of his life La Fornarina is recognised as embodying the essence of Renaissance art which saw a challenge in the representation of the ideally beautiful woman, and by extension, perfect beauty in art.
The portrait's three-quarter-length view is typical of Renaissance portraiture, while the placement of the sitter's arms recalls the Venus pudica (modest Venus) seen in classical sculpture. This pose draws attention to the parts of her body she ostensibly attempts to conceal, intimating both innocence and seduction.
This is regarded as one of Raphael superior works for its virtuoso depiction of female beauty. It is thought to be of his long term model and mistress who was the daughter of a baker hence the title, fornaio is baker in Italian.
If you are fortunate enough to live within driving distance of Indianapolis Museum of Art you can see the original there until June 26th.
Just to counteract all the testosterone in that piece of news, I would like to give some information on something entirely unrelated and very feminine: the Paulina sculpture, by Antonio Canova.
The image shows the "Paulina" sculpture by Canova, which is in the Borghese Gallery in Rome.
Paulina appears as Venus, the goddess of beauty & love, lounging romantically as she is posing for a great artist to capture her form. Her robes drape softly, resting on the plush chaise. Paulina Borghese was the most powerful woman of her time.
After the great artist Antonio Canova (1757-1822) sculpted the now famous statue of Napoleon in the late 1700's, Napoleon's sister, Countess Paulina Bonaparte Borghese (1780-1825) wished to be immortalized as well. In 1808 she commissioned a statue of her to be sculpted by Canova as a stylized goddess, and insisted on posing semi-nude. She holds in her left hand the "Victorious Apple", the prize awarded by the city of Paris to the most beautiful woman.
The result was a scandal, since it was considered inappropriate for royalty to pose in that manner. Legend has us understand that the embarrassed Count kept the sculpture locked away to be seen only by selected viewers. However, when the Count was away one could view the sculpture by bribing the servants.
(republished from a comment by Katy (wordenwk@tcd.ie)
Australia's national capital is Canberra, situated on the planes of NSW approximately half way between Melbourne and Sydney it has been unkindly described as ‘a good sheep paddock spoiled’. In recognition of this noteable description and as a salute to one of the regions early farmers James Ainslie here is a sculpture located at the intersection of Petri Plaza and City Walk, Canberra by Les Kossatz
Les is currently lecturing in sculpture at Monash University Faculty of Art and Design.
So much for Renaissance art. Here is a painting by John Olsen entitled "Wildflowers passing lake 1982"
The painting is located at Heide Museum of Modern Art. John and Sunday Reed who owned Heide were enthusiastic supporters of the arts and cultivated a thriving community of artists living and working at and around Heide. They also loved wildflowers and, in recognition of this and their support, John Olsen donated this painting to their collection. Heide and its extensive art collection was bequeathed to the people of Victoria and is now a premier museum of modern art.
John Olsens view of landscapes, which is displayed in this painting, was a significant departure from the traditional approach of foreground, middleground and background. These landscapes are an amalgam of a view from above with the detail found when viewed from a ground level perspective. This approach drew on a traditional aboriginal approach to depicting scenes as well as from his classical training in European painting techniques.
Boy, I seem to have hit on a hot topic here. It seems that young Judith has a number of fans, strangely they are mostly female. Liz, not satisfied with depictions of Judith with the head of the unfortunate Holofernes, points to these paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi depicting the actual deed.
Severing the head.
Fleeing the tent
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 - 1652/1653), daughter of well-known Roman artist, Orazio Gentileschi (1563 - 1639), was one of the first women artists to achieve recognition in the male-dominated world of post-Renaissance art. At this time women artists were relegated to minor portraiture and never undertook major works such as the depiction of biblical scenes. For quite some time after her death her works were attributed to others, often her father. The works were inspired by a work by Caravaggio painted in 1599.
Artemisia took exception to Caravaggio depicting Judith as squeamish and timid. Accordingly in she depicts her Judith as a more forceful and commanding figure.
Katy Zei is clearly a fan of Judith (and which aspiring young woman wouldn't be?) She has kindly pointed to her favourite which is a statue by Donatello entitled Judith and Holofernes (1455-60) which resides in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
She does however take exception to Giorgione's portrayal presumably because Judith looks a bit on the meek side. She prefers a wilder looking Judith as is portrayed by Domenico di Giacomo de Pace. She is certainly less demure and perhaps goes some way to answering Tammy of The Ooze who was pondering on how Holofernes got so tired in the first place.
(image from Wallace Collection)
When the Assyrian army laid siege to her native town of Bethulia, Judith set out to save both the city and its people.
Making her way into the camp of Holofernes, commander of the enemy army, she entrances the soldiers with her beauty. Using her feminine wyles she captivates Holofernes who promptly invites her to be a guest at the evening banquet.
The evening progresses and much wine and food is consumed. Holofernes' senior officers and aides can take a hint and leave Holofernes in the company of the lovely and captivating Judith. As Holofernes dozes off Judith, in an act of remarkable ungraciousness, beheads him with his own sword.
The Assyrian army, feeling that Holofernes decision making capacity has been somewhat dimished with the loss of his head, abandon the seige and Judith returns to Bethulia having enjoyed an excellent meal, saved the city, and with the head of Holofernes as a trophy to boot.
The painting is by Giorgione (Giorgio da Castelfranco) 1477-1510 and is currently in the possession of Hermitage Museum.
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Edward Hopper painted this work, entitled Chair Car, in 1965.
The craft of the artist and 40 years have transformed $200 worth of paints and canvas into $14,016,000 worth of masterpiece. It set a new world auction record for the artist and made David and Helen Pall very happy and a lot richer. The previous record for a Hopper painting was $2.5m, which means they paid less than that for Chair Car when they aquired it.
It is a well crafted painting and all that but $14m? That is an aweful lot of money. Presumably the person who purchased it really really really really liked it.
Could this be anywhere else but Paris.
Taken in 1986 it captures the timeless romance of the city. The young woman in question is Françoise Bornet who was sent the photograph by the photographer Robert Doisneau several days after it was taken as part of a series for Life magazine. At first it was thought that the picture was unposed, but it was later revealed that Bornet and Carteaud were asked to kiss for the camera. Doisnea had seen them kissing in a café and he asked them to pose kissing.
If you are so inclined you can possess it. Ms Bornet is putting it up for sale in Paris soon.
(via Art Daily)
Click here to play some belly dance music whilst you are reading.
Monday morning at the Port Fairy Folk Festival was time for some belly dancing. As some what unusual time for middle eastern erotic dancing perhaps but most entertaining never-the-less. The dance troop is called Underbelly and hail not from Ankara but from Melbourne.
The origins of Belly Dancing are lost in the mists of time however it has been around in the middle east since the dawn of writing. Even today it retains its connection to fertility and eroticism by being an indispensable feature at weddings in many Middle Eastern countries. As well as providing entertainment for the guests at the wedding it is designed to get the bride and groom, who may have just met, in the mood for hanky panky, thus providing the blessing of fertility on the couple.
Moving along from the joint effort we were treated to a dance by one of the members of the troop using a middle eastern sabre, not that easily seen in the photo to the left. The sabre is, of course, the traditional weapon of the desert people of the middle east and it is only natural that it feature in their dancing. That is not to say that Belly Dancing has not moved with the times. The dance of the rocket propelled grenades that followed put paid to that notion.
By way of contrast the Celts are so much more down to earth when it comes to matters including erotic dancing. Over at the Guinness tent the previous evening a pause in the performance was created by a broken guitar string. What does one do in such a situation? Well if you are a Celtic band you invite women to come up on the stage and bare their breasts. A request to which a surprising number of young women, fired with Guinness and the encouragement of the crowd, responded.
It seems however that, whilst we are comfortable with foriegn eroticism, there was a singular lack of Australian eroticism, vis-a-vis table top dancers, at the festival, although that may have been because the portable tables in the tents were so wobbly. Occupational Health and Safety is a big concern these days.
Here is a painting by Velázquez entitled "Venus at her Mirror"
Apart from being a lovely painting it is interesting because the image that you see in the mirror of the face of Venus defies the laws of physics. The way the mirror is positioned you would not see her face.
This is an example of artistic licence. Velázquez has ignored reality to present a more compelling and attractive painting.
Continuing on the theme of yesterday on birth I include a picture of a sculpture by Ron Mueck entitled "Mother and Baby 2001"
One critic described it thus
the most unflinchingly affectionate portrait of childbirth you'll probably ever see
The Green Man finds it hard to disagree.
If you are interested in seeing more of his work then visit his web page at Life Castings
National Gallery of Australia has an exquisite piece entitled Pregnant Woman. Standing 2.5 metres high and at full term pregnancy it is uncompromising and at least a little confronting. Click here to see an image.
The Haredi are sects of Orthodox Judaism that reject modern secular culture for them nudity is a big no-no. So much so that an offer of a magnificent piece of art was treated with horror and rejected.
A replica of Rodin's 'Le Penseur' (The Thinker) was being offered to the city of Jerusalem by the Rodin Museum by the offer has been declined by the city because of the fierce opposition of the Haredi. Deputy Mayor Shlomi Atias, a Haredi himself, says
We cannot allow the placement of such a sculpture in a city like Jerusalem. If he was wearing a bathing suit, then maybe it would have passed, but he is totally naked.
The Green Man presumes that is a neck-to-knee type bathing suit he is referring to.
It seems to The Green Man that narrow minded, ultra-conservative attitudes such as these form part of the complex web of violence and death that characterises this Arab/Isreali conflict.
(via Art Daily)
Fancy a different piece of furniture for your house.
Guaranteed to liven up even the dullest dinner party this intriguing and somewhat disconcerting furniture is the work of Philip Johnson.
And if the chair is not disconcerting enough he also paints naked women somewhat more explicit poses on table tops. It seems to The Green Man that, when the elderly relatives are around for dinner, the positioning of a few strategic place mats would be prudent.
(Via ABC)
The Hindustan Times reports on the forced closure of an art exhibition in New York that featured a small acrylic painting of GWB composed of monkeys. The painting by Chris Savido was on display at the Chelsea Market public space and was receiving significant attention. (Of course this was reported elsewhere as well but I thought I would include the link to the Hindustan Times since monkeys are sacred to Hindus and one could speculate on the bemusement they would be experiencing over the cuffufle. If you visit their site they have a useful popup window that allows you to select from a selection of delightful indian brides.)
Naturally, being America, amidst the outrage at the painting itself is the outrage from the artist's camp on the violation of rights of free speach guaranteed by some sort of amendment to the American constitution.
In retaliation anonymous supporters of the artist have rented a billboard near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel in New York displaying a copy of the image with censored across it. Thus an image that would have originally been seen by a few thousand people is now in prime display in New York and plastered across numerous sites on the internet, including The Green Man.
Great work by the Bush supporters wouldn't you say?
(Via Art Daily)
The Millau Viaduct opened yesterday in southern France. With seven slender soaring pillars it is now the highest bridge in the world at 343 meters (1125 feet).
"The time had come" The Green Man said "to speak of many things, mostly aboriginal"
And where better to do it than Camp Jungai. So it was that The Green Man abandoned the blog to the comment spammers for the weekend (490 comments over the two days) and headed off light of spirit to the said Camp Jungai. Along with the usual cultural activities that The Green Man indulges in, such as, eating far too much and reading the newspaper, there was a notable high point on the weekend which was a talk by the lovely Dr Jane Lydon on early photography of aboriginals, particularly at Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve.
Below is a photo entitled "The Yarra Tribe Starting For Acheron, 1862" by Charles Walter.
What makes this photo so interesting is that it is a set piece depicting a story. Photography was only about 20 years old at this stage and this style of photography did not become common until quite some years later. It is distinguished from the other photos in the collection by this characteristic and Dr Jane asserts that the reason for this is probably that it was orchestrated by the aboriginals themselves. She suggests that in exchange for posing for the more portrait style photographs that make up the rest of the collection the photographer, Charles Walter, agreed to take one whose composition was determined by the aboriginal group.
This photo gives us a glimpse of early aboriginals utilising a new media to represent a story in a similar manner to the approach that they used in their paintings on bark.
To the left is a drawing of two spirit people drawn in 1918 by an unknown aboriginal artist. It is easy to see the extension of this approach to depicting characters and stories to the photo they composed above.
On the left of the composition is Simon Wonga who is leading the expedition. Third from the left is a Mr Green who was the white overseer of the Coranderrk Reserve and was accorded a position of authority by Simon but he was not leading. A second row can just be seen behind the first which is a row of women who had their own line with their own hierarchy.
I will post more on this topic since I am greatly interested in it and so, naturally, all of you will be as well.
This intriguing ice sculpture is part of the Ice & Snow Festival in Antwerp, Belgium which opened this weekend. Looks like it is worth a visit, sadly it is a tad too far for The Green Man to venture on a whim.
Image courtesy of Art Daily.
Alischa Ross, founder and director of Y.E.A.H (Youth Empowerment Against HIV/AIDS) wearing a dress made entirely of latex condoms.
hmmmmm I am thinking that her date for the night must have thought he was onto a pretty sure thing.
She is wearing it at a function at the Melbourne Museum which co-incidentally has one of the best exhibits on the human body and human sexuality of any museum I have seen. I may be showing my bias here but it is hard to imagine an state sponsored American museum containing such a frank and at times confronting exhibition.
The Museum like any other large organisation has a significant administrative arm and the offices of the Human Resources Branch sit above this exhibit and the internal windows look down upon it. In these days of sexual harrassment claims for displaying sexually explicit material in the workplace these seems somewhat brave and yet what other section of their administration is more appropriate to favoured with this vista.
In case you didn't know yesterday was world AIDS day, raising awareness of what is currently one of natures more effective brakes on human population growth.
(via ArtDaily)
If you live in Buffalo, or thereabouts, the time is fast approaching when you can experience the exhilaration of partipating in a Spencer Tunick nude photo shoot. He is photographing at the Buffalo Central Terminal on Sunday, August 15, 2004.
Here is an opportunity to experience being naked in a group of several thousand individuals. It is a surreal experience that is not to be missed. At one level you will be overwhelmed by the ordinariness of it. There is some deep satisfaction that must be akin to that that herding animals feel and it is impossible to attain unless you are naked.
Now is the time to pluck up the courage and do something entirely new. Click here to sign up and enjoy yourself.
I have included on the left a link to the DVD Naked States which is a HBO documentary on Spencer Tunick's work. If you are unsure buy it and listen to what those who have participated already felt about their experience.
The image here is of a piece of Aboriginal Art from the Dja Dja Wurrung clan which occupied land around Bendigo in Central/Western Victoria at the time of colonisation. What makes this piece of art newsworthy, apart from its antiquity and its rarity, is that it is "owned" by the British Museum and the Dja Dja Wurrung want it back.
A point of view that might be taken is that it is art, capable of being owned by anyone, including the British Museum. If you subscribe to this view then it would be difficult to imagine a more responsible custodian of the art work. It is not the view of the Dja Dja Wurrung people however. Like the Taunurong clan, to which Mrs Green Man belongs, the Dja Dja Wurrung have precious little of their heritage that survived the cultural onsaught that was the English invasion of Australia. This work is of immense cultural significance and they are fighting desparately to have it retained in Australia and accordingly they have launch legal proceedings to retain it in Australia.
The complexity arises from the fact that, should they succeed, they are unlikely to see any of the other relics taken from Australia ever return. Museums will simply not lend stuff to Australian museums if there is a significant risk they will not get them back. The Green Man is extremely sympathetic to their position however he suspects that suing museums will turn out, in the long run, to be both expensive and counterproductive.
Itinerant workers, known as swagmen, tramped the Australian bush looking for work as farm hands, this was known as being "on the wallaby track". Here is painting by the iconic Australian artist of the Heidelberg school, Frederick McCubbin, depicting a swagman on the wallaby track.
Life was hard for these men and doubly so for the swagman in the picture because he has a wife and child to care for as well.
McCubbins wife, Annie, and his son, John, were the models for the picture.
Blown glass is an unusual and complicated medium in which ply your trade as an artist. Dale Chihuly is a master of this medium that is at once both fragile and enduring.
He runs a studio in the style of an Italian Renaissance studio. As master he designs and directs a collection of artists under his leadership in the production of magnificant sculpural pieces.
The Green Man is completely fascinated by his chandeliers. As Chihuly describes them himself
What makes the chandeliers work for me is the massing of color. If you take up to thousands of blown pieces of one color, put them together, and then shoot light through them, now that's going to be something to look at. Now you hang it in space and it becomes mysterious, defying gravity or seemingly out of place. Something you have never seen before.
Visit his site to see more of his awe inspiring art.
The Green Man has a terrible secret, he has never read Ulyssies by James Joyce, mainly because it is boring. It is an 800 page allegoric tale in the Homeric style set on one day, today, exactly 100 years ago. Hard as it is to believe some people don't happen to agree with The Green Man and good luck to them.
The most important aspect of Bloomsday is the consumption of Guiness at an appropriate Irish pub and the best part is that you don't have to have read the book first. Go along, it is bound to be a colourful affair, as most Irish celebrations are.
Can The Green Man draw the attention of his noble and aesthetic readership to the existence of A Picture Is Worth. This is an admirable artistic endeavour of David Chin. Each person, that is you lot, is encouraged to contribute a particularly evocative photo with an accompanying narrative. It is an opportunity to contribute to the collective artistic merit of the internet and make a small contribution to increasing its overall quality, something that the internet is desperately in need of.
Here is a photo of the Guggenheim Museum
Since it was completed in 1959 from a design by Frank Lloyd Wright it has been an iconic component of Manhatten which, co-incidentally, is where it is located. It is regarded by people who are in a position to know about such things as as great a work of art as the paintings that it houses which is saying something because it houses some pretty great works of art.
The building receives between 900,000 and 1,000,000 visitors per year and it is starting to show signs of wear and tear. Each year it gets another layer of face paint however the time has come for a more substantial refurbishment. A fund has been set up for the revitalisation of the building. So far they have raised $20 million but are looking for another $5 million. This is where the elite readership of The Green Man comes in. You know that five mil you have floating around in a spare bank account for which you have no clear need. Well here is your chance to do something good with it.
On the other hand you could give a chunk of it to The Green Man himself who has always maintained that, although not cheap, he can be bought. It would make you a unique individual since the only person who has clicked the "donate" button on The Green Man website is The Green Man himself to check that it was actually working.
Well away from the National Folk Festival for a moment. Here is a montage I found via J-Walk a blog of nothing and everything and one of my regular reads.
It is a photo montage of soldiers killed in Iraq. Hmmmmm
The image is from PhotoMatt
Of course the real John Howard would never attend anything so culturally significant as a folk festival. For heavens sake, there is all that anarchist type stuff there where people actually think that money is not the most important thing in the world and that the refugees arriving from overseas are not nasty terrorists but scared and desperate human beings seeking a new life in a land of plenty. The sort of people who actually think about things and don't believe everything the Murdoch press tell them to believe. Why would he want to talk to people who won't grovell in front of him and say he is wonderful.
John would not dream of mixing with that sort of person, crikey some of them even speak funny. Although at least 2 people there spoke with an American accent which I am sure John is extremely comfortable with. Interestingly both were poets and I am sure John would have turned in his grave, if he was dead, when he heard their poems. Dick Warwick, disconcertingly pronounced War-Wick, presented a number of gentle and nostalgic poems in the cowboy idiom then on the last day he presented a lengthy poem that basically slammed George W in a way that has been rarely heard from Americans in Australia. The Green Man estimates that it was no stunt. He was pallid and drawn when he left the stage, clearly he felt grief stricken and betrayed by a country he loves dearly.
Who would have thought this kind and gentle man from Idaho was a terrorist but clearly he must be because George W knowingly informed us that anyone who did not support him was a de-facto, if not a real, terrorist.
Anyway on the photo. This is a bronze statue cast recently which gained some notoriety. There has been a suggestion that John Howard took us into Iraq, in part, because he had always fancied the notion of being a war time Prime Minister. Hence the “digger” outfit he is wearing. The Green Man would normally not be comfortable with a parody of a person’s size, the uniform being that of a man of greater stature, however in this instance he prefers to look on it as a statement of Johns integrity and moral stature rather than his physical stature.
Each of the plastic hearts you see surrounding it contained a message of grief or compassion or empathy for the thousands who have suffered, one way or another, from the divisive, isolationist or military policies of the current government.
For some considerable time there has been considerable moaning and several law suits by the Music Industry regarding the online sharing of music in peer-to-peer networks. They point to declining sales of CDs as evidence of the problem.
Research by Felix Oberholzer-Gee of Harvard Business School and Koleman Strumpf of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill points to a different reason for the declining sales. Namely that the music is crap and noone wants to buy it. They say:
While downloads occur on a vast scale, most users are likely individuals who, when hearing it, realise that their old BeeGees and ABBA CDs aren't that bad afterall
RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss does not agree. She claims that the BeeGees and ABBA were just as crap as the current musicians.
For a final word on the subject we turn to University of Texas at Dallas professor Stan Liebowitz
My conclusions, in a nutshell, are that MP3 downloading does appear to be causing harm, particularly in the aethetics of the nerds who are downloading it.
Read what they actually said in Wired.
Here is a photo of the main harbour in Hobart Tasmania with Mt Wellington in the background. It is one of the earliest settlements in Australia and a picturesque destination if you are in the general area.
The homesick British embraced life in Tasmania because its climate is somewhat similar to Britain and they were able to successfully plant and build a small replica of British life there. Of course it was not Britian it was a remote and foriegn land populated by natives who, quite understandably, were not entirely happy with having their land usurped and the way of life disrupted.
Naturally we have very little evidence of their life in Tasmania prior to and around the time of settlement. In 1831, however, John Glover, an artist of some reknown in England at the time, arrived in Australia to join his sons who had emigrated earlier. Independantly wealthy he devoted himself to the recording of early life in Australia.
He was quite prolific, producing many drawings and sketches. Although he had been a well respected painter at the time he left England, few of his Australian paintings made it back there. They simply were not interested in the reality of life in Tasmania. Here we can gain an image of what this area was like before it was destroyed to create Hobart, attractive as Hobart is.
Similarly we can gain a feeling for aboriginal life at the time through his documenting of their life style. Of the painting below he wrote
I wish to shew the Natives at a Corrobary, under the wild woods of the country – to give an idea of the manner they enjoyed themselves before being disturbed by the White People...
![Natives at a corroborry, under the wild woods of the Country [River Jordan below Brighton, Tasmania]](http://www.spin.net.au/~soren/corrob.jpg)
Read more about Glover, his art and his relationship with the aboriginals at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
Ever wondered what
"g(x,y) = cos(y*sin(y)), h(x,y) = cos(x*sin(x))"
looked like, I know I have. Well wonder no longer. Hyon Lee of MIT has provided the answer.
It is an entrant in a competition that exists at the intersection of art and science. Each year John Belcher at MIT holds the "Weird Fields" competition for his physics students. The competition involves using a Java applet that was written in 1993 to enable students to visualise energy fields to generate patterns that are both scientifically sound and of artistic merit.
Read more about the competition in Wired or check out some more of the entrants at the MIT site.
The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square has been vacant for 150 years. During all this time the argument has been raging as to which General or notable figure image should occupy the spot. The matter has now been settled with the selection of a statue by Marc Quinn of Alison Lapper a thalidomide victim naked when she was eight months pregnant.
Whilst some may be confronted or uncomfortable with the 4.5 metre statue in white marble the subject certainly isn't. Whilst unable to attend the ceremony, because she was holidaying in South Africa with Parys, the product of the pregnancy, she sent the following message
"I regard it as a modern tribute to femininity, disability and motherhood. It is so rare to see disability in everyday life - let alone naked, pregnant and proud."
The Green Man can't help but feel that it makes a much more positive statement than yet another General, however she will only get to occupy the plinth for 18 months when she will be replaced with another art work. Where she goes from there who can tell but, being marble, she is built to last.
It's going to be a huge marble statue well capable of taking care of itself against the elements or the people. What it will gain from not being inside a gallery is incontrovertibly forcing people to deal with it directly. It's about the different kind of heroism.
Said Quinn, the artist.
Read a more detailed review and see the runners up in The Guardian
Art comes in many forms and none more intriguing than the website that allows you to spell your name in naked people.
Via The Living Room who is taking the emerging church in an entirely fascinating direction. When the Adam and Eve night is on The Green Man will be there, as he was with the original Adam and Eve of course and a very nice couple they were too.
The Museum of Bad Art is a web site dedicated to the less illustrious attempts at artistic endeavour.
A brief journey through the site will demonstrate that it does contain some works of questionable merit. I am sure however that the people who painted them thoroughly enjoyed the experience and many are probably still painting today. Good luck to them. Art is a journey and as long as they are still enjoying it then they should be encouraged to continue.
Who knows, Modigliani may have started this way.
Naive art exists in all contexts. The painting you see to the left is by Sister Gertrude Morgan. Entitled New Jerusalem From the Prayer Room it is from a collection of her works that is on display at American Folk Art Museum.
In the mid 1950s she decided that God had called upon her to spread his message via paint and, with no prior art experience, acquired pencils and paints. She launched into a prolific period, creating paintings that illustrated her "fire and brimstone" view of life.
For a slideshow, with accompanying commentary, of her work, courtesy of the New York Times click here.
It seems that the one combination that is incompatible in the domain of art is the naive artist and the naive observer. The paradox is that it is that to appreciate this art form you must have devoted a degree of intellectual effort to the appreciation of art. It is easy to dismiss naive art as childish but it has a special quality that is impossible to reproduce once you have it trained out of you.
Most art is a view of the landscape it is representing with a hint of the artist. Naive art is a view of the mind of the artist within the context of the subject of the painting. ArtBrut.com has an interesting collection of naive art. Let go of the civilised part of yourself and embrace the images. They have a resonance at a low level.
Take a look at this photo.
Is that the honourable George W with his hand on that trollop's breast? It might be. Whether it is or not it has caused quite a stir in the hallways of the Humanities Department at Lehigh University where it is on display at the moment. It is part of a series by Larry Fink entitled The Forbidden Pictures which is a satire of political leaders.
The Green Man is still waiting for the picture of the nude wrestling match between GWB and John Kerry from their Yale days.
See more of Larry's work here.
Yes, one of the great photographers of the 20th century has fallen off his perch. Helmut Newton crashed his car in a brick wall, which is ever a good idea but when you are 83 it is an extremely bad one. He died some time later at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
He was born in Germany and, after spending some time in Australia, made a career for himself in fashion and art photography.
In 1967 he published a book of his work entitled "White Women". The photographs were sexually provocative and the book similtaneously scandalised society and skyrocketed him to prominance in the heady world of fashion photography.
His signature style however was portraits of tall naked women photographed against a stark white background and lit by head lights.see here.
It is good work if you can get it.
Find more examples of his work here.
Here is a photo of Ned Kelly from a not so recent film. It is from the 1906 classic Story of the Kelly Gang, believed to be the world's first feature film.
Films this old are rare and delicate. They were made using processes that were subject to deterioration of time and extensive efforts are being made to preserve them using the latest computer technology.
In the UK a 3-year initiative is being carried out at the University of Surrey, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to preserve the cultural heritage that in encapsulated in these ancient films.
"The techniques we are exploring may vastly increase access to films of major historical, cultural and artistic value. Ultimately, our work could benefit public service and commercial film archives, which are experiencing growing demand from new multimedia and broadcasting outlets".
says Dr Theodore Vlachos of the University's School of Electronics and Physical Sciences.
You can read more about the project here. If you are interested in this sort of thing you may also like to take a virtual trip to the ScreenSound Australia which is the latest incarnation of The National Film and Sound Archive which was established in 1984. It so easy to while away several hours investigating their fascinating collection.
You can see that tanks are typically designed by blokes and not your arty-farty blokes of questionable sexuality either. They are designed by real macho men who do a lot of grunting and farting as they walk around. This clearly accounts for the appalling colour schemes that you usually find in military weaponry of this type.
If you happen to be hopping off the tube (London underground) at Elephant and Castle station you might like to make a small detour to Old Kent Road to see a more creative approach to tank camouflage.
The project is the brainchild of Aleksandra Mir who, with some assistance, has recently completed the paint job.
You can see the work in progress here.
An artistic image is concerned with form and the flow of the eye through the image. A good painting or photograph engages the eye.
Here is a painting of Brighton Beach by John Constable (click here to see a bigger version)Notice how the artist is taking your eye on a journey that follows a path through the painting, in this case along the beach and then out to sea. This is not accidental, it is the way the artist designed and constructed the painting. If you can look at a painting and take it in at a glance then it is a poorly constructed painting.
The same goes for photography and it is what distinguishes great photographs from the pictures that The Green Man is currently taking with his digital camera. You may find them interesting because they are supported with a written story. Great photographs tell their own stories.
Edward Burtynsky has taken the fundamentals of creating a visually intriguing and thought provoking image and applied them to some scenes typically associated with visual unpleasentness.
Here is a tire pile presented that demonstrates that even scenes that seem an eyesore can be presented in a manner engages the eye and the mind.
Visit Cowles Gallery to see more of his excellent work.
For the last seven years Chloe has been the most popular girls name in Britian. In Britian there are Chloes everywhere but in Melbourne, Australia the name "Chloe" brings only one thing to mind - painting of a naked 19 year old girl that is hanging on the wall of Young and Jackson's pub situated on one of Melbournes busiest intersections. It has hung there for nearly 100 years. Chloé was purchased by Henry Figsby Young, an ex-gold prospector turned publican, for the 800 pounds in 1908. That was a lot of money back then! His wife was not at all pleased with the purchase and relegated it to the public bar where it has resided ever since.
The story goes that, in 1895, the real Chloe was in love with painter Jules Lefebvre and agreed to pose for the painting. When Lefebvre married her sister instead she was heart broken and committed suicide by drinking a poison made from boiled up phosphorous match heads. The painting spent some time in the National Galary but was removed after an outcry from prudish socialites that were characteristic of the period.
The cliched beauty of a scene on Japtan Island is diminished by the knowledge of the reality of this falsely tranquil scene. The temporary sun silhouetting these visitors to the island is the outcome of the detonation of a 360 kiloton atomic bomb on the nearby Eberiru island on July 3, 1956.
It can be difficult to separate the brutality and death arising as a consequence of the act from the beauty of act itself however there is a natural elegance and drama to a nuclear explosion. It is the quintessential fireworks display and captivates us for exactly the same reason that we find the fireworks at New Years so entrancing.
Reaching back across the millennia man took control of his environment through his taming of fire. He was no longer at the mercy of the vagaries of nature but began his journey to 
become the master of the environment in which he found himself, where once he had been a slave. Fireworks, once the stuff of wizards, are a dramatic demonstration of this mastery over nature and the atomic bomb is its most potent symbol.
The term “Shock and Awe” has diminished the value of the word “awe” lately but the photos contained in the book “100 Suns” are awful in the original sense of the word. Put aside your knowledge of the use and consequences of the atomic bomb and be in awe at the sheer majesty of the spectacle that is a nuclear explosion; that is recorded in these photographs.
See more photos, and possibly purchase of copy, of 100 Suns here.
Here is Barbie nuding up for a bit of action in the barbie equivalent of a spa, the kitchen blender.
Hmmmmm you find it strangely erotic do you? Just lie back on the couch and tell Dr Green Man about your relationship with your mother.
Right, now that you have got that out of your system, and are feeling strangely cleansed, it is time to get down to the real story. After plying Barbie with acetone, which has roughly the same effect on Barbie that alcohol has on her human equivalents, artist Thomas Forsythe convinced her to pose for a series of provocative photos entitled "Food Chain Barbie". Mattal, who own the copyright for Barbie, were not amused by the compromising photos of her and sued Mr Forsythe, as any red blooded American company would.
Mr Forsythe played a trump card in the form of the First Amendment claiming the photo series was meant to critique the "objectification of women" and "beauty myth" associated with the popular doll. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday agreed that a trump card always wins and rejected toymaker Mattel Inc.'s appeal of a lower court ruling in favor of lampooning the dolly icon.
You can see more of Barbies salacious photo shoot here. (It's in french but you are not even pretending you are going for the articles are you?)
Melissa Harrington may like to contact Tom to get a few pointers. Melissa, it seems has been flashing her own pointers, so to speak, in Lincoln, Nebraska and publishing the pictorial results on her website. She now faces a maximum of six months in jail and a $500 fine for public nudity. Not that the police caught her at it but they claim that the photos on her porn site are sufficient evidence.
You can see a couple of the photos that are being used as evidence at The Smoking Gun, with the aforementioned pointers politely frosted over.
It is good to see that the crime rate in Nebraska is so low that the constabulary have time to be cruising porn sites to look for attractive 21-year-old Nebraskans to prosecute for flashing their assets in The Marz Intergalactic Shrimp and Martini Bar.
Australia is a big country. It is big and sparsely populated so it was probably a natural consequence that the crasser end of tourism latched on to "The Big ???" as a way of placing your part of Australia on the map.
The Big Pineapple is one of the oldest and my first experience with this cultural phenonemon. Situated north of Brisbane on, somewhat unsurprisingly, a pineapple farm it has been a must stop for every tourist bus for decades.
Inspired by its success other towns clammering for similar financial rewards have built their own big something. Some times it is easy to find a big something that represents your town, other times the links are tenuous at best.
The big something has become so popular in Australia that it has moved from the crass to a cultural art form, well almost.
Click "Continue Reading" to see a, no where near complete, list of Australias big things.
Big Banana Coffs Harbour, Queensland
Big Apple in Donnybrook Western Australia
The Big Koala, The Grampians Victoria
The Big Galah in Kimba, South Australia
The Big Lobster, Kingston Sout Australia
The Big Bull, Wauchope, NSW
Captain Cook, Cairns, Far Noth Queensland
Here in Australia we prefer our patriotism a bit on the under done side, a bit like our steaks, well rare actually. All that rushing round waving flags, singing the national anthem and stuff, we find that all a bit embarrassing really. It is a standing joke in Australia that noone knows the words to the national anthem, not past the first couple of sentences anyway.
It is not like that America, patriotism is big there, and it is even bigger than normal at the moment. Since America invaded Iraq, with us hanging on to their coat tails, any questioning of the justification for the invasion has been howled down as unpatriotic, even though it has changed along the way.
Anyway, enough ranting, here is a patriotic cow. It is part of an exhibition of cows that was held in Chigago in 1999, you can see more of the entrants here.
I chose the patriotic cow because American cows have good reason to feel patriotic, not that they will of course, that emotion is far too complicated for your average simple minded cow. America's Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday a $33 million plan for a pair of academic centers to combat possible terrorist attacks on cows.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, isn't impressed by this current flurry of panic about agro-attacks, saying
Why are we getting around to that one, but we're dragging our heels on protecting passenger planes from shoulder-fired missiles?" he asked. "We're spending a couple of hundred million dollars over the next couple of years thinking about it. And that's a proven threat.
The Green Man would have thought it was obvious. If you can't protect your cows what is the world coming. These cows are dying to feed the soldiers in Iraq, they must be protected from being killed at all costs.
If you see a painting that looks something like this at a fleamarket it might be a good idea to snap it up, someone else did and their 1,500 euros ($1,800) investment, is expected to turn into up to three million euros ($3.6 million) at an auction in France on Saturday.
The painting that they bought was a "lost" painting by Vincent Van Gogh.
Now that is the sort of return on your investment that The Green Man is aiming for. Sadly, at this stage, no Van Gogh's have come his way.
"The Scream", that iconic painting that captures the internal angst we all experience from time to time was painted by Edvard Munch in Norway in 1893.
A source of interest for many in this painting is the vibrant red sky that provides the backdrop to tortured soul depicted. Donald Olson, a physics and astronomy professor at Texas State University thinks he has the answer to Munch's inspiration. He believes that debris thrown into the atmosphere by the great eruption at the island of Krakatoa, in modern Indonesia, created vivid red twilights in Europe from November 1883 through February 1884.
Olson believes he has stood on the spot where Munch was standing when the inspiration for the painting occured.
One of the high points of our research trip to Oslo came when we rounded a bend in the road and realized we were standing in the exact spot where Munch had been 120 years ago.It was very satisfying to stand in the exact spot where an artist had his experience, the real importance of finding the location, though, was to determine the direction of view in the painting. We could see that Munch was looking to the southwest -- exactly where the Krakatoa twilights appeared in the winter of 1883-84.
The Green Man would be very satisfied too, if he could find someone to pay for a trip to Norway.
"you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song. There is a great heap of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men's ears with wax that none of them may hear; but if you like you can listen yourself, for you may get the men to bind you as you stand upright on a cross-piece half way up the mast, and they must lash the rope's ends to the mast itself, that you may have the pleasure of listening. If you beg and pray the men to unloose you, then they must bind you faster. "
This is a piece from Homer's classic work The Odyssey written in 800 BC. It is some sage advice given to Ulysses by Circe a sorceress who knew the secrets of the seas and guided him in his great adventure. It is also one of the first recorded references to the legendary Sirens who, through song, lured men to their deaths.
They are a manifestation of the peril that women were seen to hold for men and, to a large extent this perception still exists. The feminist movement has changed the nature of the rocky shore upon which males find themselves dashed but the rocky shore still remains. It is an integral part of the male/female dynamic and you can see it reflected in comtemporary films and novels. The context is changed but the underlying metaphore remains constant. A beautiful young woman can bring a hero unstuck as successfully today as she did in 800BC.
Further to my earlier post on air burshing T-shirts I thought I might share some wisdom on one of the pitfalls of painting on t-shirts. Below is a air brushed impression of Gandalf from Lord Of The Rings.
I painted this t-shirt for a female friend. It looked great until the weather turned cold and then Gandalf's eyes bulged.
It was an auspicous day for The Green Man yesterday. On arriving home there was an order in the mail for an air-brushed t-shirt. My first commissioned bit of art. Here is a photo
Someone saw me wearing a test version and approached me, asked me where I bought it. When I said I painted it, ordered one on the spot.
Before the green dragon called envy eats away at you be assured that I will be selling them on the net in the near future. Naturally you can email me earlier if you are really eager to get one.
Before you say one is an awefully small product range I will be painting up some other images over the next few weeks as well as doing unique images on commission of course.
Those readers who drop by The Green Man for their daily dose of having their sensibilities affronted are going to have a field day with this one.
One of Englands highest prizes in art has been won by Grayson Perry. This is a picture of him at the ceremony where he was awarded the prize dressed as his alter ego, Claire. A style of dress he usually prefers. Perry is a potter of renown and The Green Man suspects that he has something a little more practical set aside for the countless hours that he undoubtedly spends at the potters wheel.
Accepting his award he said
"I want to make something that lives with the eye as a beautiful piece of art, but on closer inspection, a polemic or an ideology will come out of it,"
His vases typically depict controversial topics such as sex and child abuse. Vases depicting sex scenes and child abuse are, however, quite bland for the Turner Prize. Previous winners have included a soiled bed, a pickled cow and a painting adorned with elephant dung. Last year's winner, Keith Tyson, presented lead casts of every item on a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant's menu.
Below is a sample of one of his vases.
See more of Grayson Perry's work in Ceramics Today.
Fancy yourself as the great cubist artist of your generation? You can be via MrPicassoHead.
Using drag and drop technology you can create your own masterpiece and save it to a gallery.
Go on, free the cubist within you and give your artist soul wings, click here.
The assumption amongst many is that great art is old art. This implies permanence or, at least, longevity is an important characteristic of a piece of art. Given this it seems self-defeating to create art that is transient by the very nature of the medium.
This is picture of an original work in chalk on a street pavement by Kurt Wenner. We have some impression of magnificence of the work from the photo but the full impact is lost. The image washed down the drain at the next rain, as was intended.
See more of Kurt Wenner's work here.
Cherry Cayabyab, president of the local chapter of National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum has succeeded in gaining world wide publicity for Pioneer Square nightclub in Washington which has adopted the practice of serving sushi to clients on a young female model attired only in a g-string. " It's dehumanizing to be treated as a plate," she says.
Sadly, The Green Man can think of a lot more dehumanising things than that that Ms Cayabyab could be focusing on. The million women and girls sold into sexual slavery each year springs to mind but that's another topic
The club has defended itself by saying that it is performance art.
So what do the "plates" have to say for themselves? Well one describes the experience as relaxing, sensual and meditative. "It's ridiculous to comment on it without experiencing it. It's hearsay," she said. The Green Man thinks that Ms Cayabyab is unlikely to take her up on the offer.
It seems that women are free to make choices as long as they make choices that Ms Cayabyab approves of.
Naturally The Green Man would be prepared to give it a go. Unfortunately sushi rice and body hair are not a good combination, I am a bit "bear like" after all. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
All right I know you want a picture, click here.
Do you feel in the need of a blessing? I think we all do from time to time and in this online world it was only a matter of time until this facility was moved into cyberspace. The Tate Gallery in London has a new online service to provide blessings in any one of a number of religions.
Simply choose your religion, press your forehead against the screen on the spot marked with an "X" and receive your blessing. Of course those of you without broadband access will have to leave your forehead against the screen a touch longer. Even blessings are slower on dial up modems.
Notice anything different about this photo of Grand Central Station in New York.
Yep they are all women, how unusual!
What? They are all naked? Is that unusual for Grand Central Station? I wouldn't know, I haven't been there.
Ah, must be the latest Spencer Tunick photo shoot.
Darren a the Living Room has an interesting photoblog going. He has some excellent stuff there, even the inside of the church looks interesting although I failed to spot The Green Man in architecture. Modern churches seem to be always leaving me out these days. Not like Gloucester Cathedral, I'm everywhere in there.
On another matter I see he is developing an interest in the style of Spencer Tunick. Personally I think it was courageous to post those photos of the recent nude church service in the archives.
I know you have taken the time to find out who the Green Man is so I don't need to tell you that he is a mythic figure from western Europe who is the Lord of Misrule and a general trouble maker in the pagan pantheon of Europe of the middle ages.
Knowing this you will not be surprised to find out that The Green Man has a penchant for things that challenge society and its social mores. It is in this spirit that The Green Man wholeheartedly recommends Illegal Art , a site that celebrates art that has been the subject of legal proceedings usually from large corporations who are offended by the way it lampoons their products or, in the case of movies, characters. It is interesting to see how thin skinned some of these corporations are. Obviously surgical removal of the humour centre in the brain is a prerequisite to a job in management.
Here is a picture of Mao constructed with US dollar bills by Ray Beldner that resulted in the knotting of numerous pairs of legal and administrative underpants.
The whole sorry mess starts when Saturn, using a flint sickle given to him by his mother, Earth, castrates his father, Uranus. (whole male readership flinches) The blood flowing from the wound gives rise to the Furies, Titans and Nymphs.
Saturn goes on the marry his sister Rhea, a somewhat questionable practice, that is completely overshadowed by his habit of eating each of their children as they are born. Rhea is understandably not particularly happy with this practice and conceals her final pregnancy from Saturn. She gives birth the Zeus.
Zeus, following a full and happy childhood that you would expect from such a stable relationship, grows up and challenges his father. Saturn is forced to regurgitate Zeus' previously devoured siblings. Together they then wage war on the Titans that were given life at the original castration.
In this mythology Saturn is the diety of time, ageing and death. In this context the devouring of the children is the ageing process. The image on the right is a painting of entitled "Saturn Devouring One Of His Children" by Goya painted circa 1822.
I have been working on a new image for the Green Man. The Green Man is normally depicted full face but I am experimenting with half profile at the moment.
Here is the first draft. It was drawn with Derwents last weekend.
As a child I longed for a complete set of Derwent pencils but they were for children with wealthier parents than I had. I had to wait for my son to give me a set, which he did, for Christmas, two or three years ago.
The final will probably be in water colour or possibly oil paint but, after all these years, I still turn to pencils first when working up new ideas.
The Australian environment is hash and insect survival relies on their ability to find what shade and moisture that is available. These exhaust pipe and construction steel bullants find the underneath of the house an excellent base from which to launch their forays into the surrounding gardens.
Here is a question for those of my readership who have an enormous ...... vocabulary.
A female dancer in the ballet is a ballerina.
What is a male dancer in the ballet called? Apart from Rudolf of course.
Here is a picture of a new mural in Helena, Montana.
It dipicts naked bordello dancers. Any of them look familiar to you? Well, if you are from Montana and familiar with the image of your govenor then you may recognise her visage in the mural. For those of you who have barely (pun intended) even heard of Montana, let alone its Govenor Judy Martz, here is a photo of her with clothes on.
When questioned Govenor Martz replied "yep it's me. Not bad for a woman my age heh. It's part of my new electral campaign and I believe it will be a real vote winner, by the way, it was great fun posing for it. "
Local analysts have praised the move saying that early trends report a significant positive swing towards Governor Martz. "This is an innovative and dramatic endorsement by the Govenor of whatever that ammendment was that guarantees freedom of expression." said one "I think we can expect to see a rush of govenors posing nude after this."
Whilst Gov. Martz is happy with her participation, her experience was not completely positive. When asked about the place where she was posing in the nude with other people she replied "There are no naked men up there. It's just another prejudice against women,"
Oh how I wish this was true. Sadly Govenor Martz took the boring, prudish option instead. In bizarre event that you actually care, you can read the real story at CNN here.
A new statue called "Redemption Song" that has been recently unveiled in Kingston, Jamaica. The statue is to celebrate the freedom of slavery of the blacks and it seems that they are taking the opportunity to undermine the self-esteem of white men at the same time .
Caucasian men have secretly wondered about those rumours of a racial disparity in endowment and the size of a certain appendage on the male member of the couple seems to confirm it. It has raised some Kingston eyebrows and questions are being asked by certain females as to the identity of the model.
The Jamaica Observer has some discussion on the merits of the sculpture, artistic and otherwise, click here.
This is the oldest piece of figurative art discovered to date. Carbon dating places it at approximately 30,000 years old. It is old enough to have been the work of either early modern man or our neanderthal relatives. It was discovered by archaeologist Nicholas Conard of the University of Tübingen in Germany, at the Hohle Fels cave near Ulm. As well as this "lion-man" other pieces included representations of a bird and a horse.
We can only guess at the meanings that pieces such as this had for their makers but the combination of both human and lion characteristics in the piece is significant. This signals an important develop in man where we augmented the concrete reality in which we find ourselves with the abstract world of symbols and metaphores. Objects such as these show a human mind that is making sense of and interpreting the world rather than just experiencing it. If they were, in fact, done by Neanderthal artists then we need to rethink our understanding of our near relatives. They may not have been as primitive as has been proposed.
Picture this, on the steps of Flinders St Station, 120 people, each wearing one yellow dish-washing glove and pointing at the sky. Here's a picture of Flinder Street Station if you are having trouble.
This is an example of a newly evolving art form, called "Flash Mob". Flash Mob installations are brief and anachronistic. They are organised across the internet in a purely anonomous manner, even the artist organising has no idea how many people will show up.
People register and just before the event are emailed a list of instructions for some bizarre activity. People wishing to participate arrive at the appointed time, perform the act and disperse.
Begining in US a few months ago, over 40 cities world wide have experienced a Flash Mob.
In researching the previous entry I came across this site. Maintained by the Guardian it contains images of some of the most striking recent visual advertisements. Some make it here because they are sensational, like the Easyjet ad, but most because they are stunning examples of a contemporary art form. It is well worth a browse, click here.
The 3rd annual "Stuck At The Prom" award was won convincingly by Meg Roberts and Tyler Mickley with their spectacular outfits.
Constructed completely from duct tape their costumes beat entrants from around the US and Canada for the annual award sponsored by Duck brand duct tape. Note even the hair pieces were of duct tape. Each received a $2,500 scholarship.
(Cultural note: In the Australian vernacular "duds" means clothes)
Who amongst us has not been affected in one way or another by the surreal imagery of Salvadore Dali.
Visit Virtual Dali to explore the fascinating work of this artistic genius.
(via J-Walk)
This is a picture of a statue of Tara that I purchased in Patan, Nepal. Patan has been known for 800 years as a city of sculptors and artisans, much of the world’s great Buddhist sculpture originated here. It is a short taxi ride from the centre of Kathmandu.
The real Tara is a Bodhisattvas or enlightened being. She has attained enlightenment yet choses to forego nirvana to attend humans in the eternal cycle of suffering, birth, death and rebirth. She is the Buddhist personification of feminine sexuality. The statue is a typical stylised stance in which you commonly see Tara portrayed.
I had been climbing in the mountains of the Solo Khumbu, which are approximately 100kms, and 8 hours drive east of Kathmandu. They are the children of Everest, dwarfed by its massive stature and yet still 5 times taller than the highest mountain in Australia. The trip had lasted a bit over a month and I had 10 days to kill in Kathmandu before my return flight to Australia. The rest of the party had departed for Chitwan, a wild game reserve in the tropical lowlands in the south of Nepal, seeking tigers and rhinos but, having been before, I elected not to go. The trip had been the hardest I had undertaken yet and I was quite tired, returning with a substantially bigger beard and a substantially smaller waistline.
I was staying at a Royal Palace in the Kathmandu suburb of Lazimpat that had been converted into a grand hotel, well at least by Kathmandu standards. It was contained within a large wall with a magnificent garden scattered with tables and chairs that were attended by listless waiters. The drinks were limited in variety and slow coming but it is a metaphor for Nepal generally. If you are prepared to like what is on offer and display patience then there are many joys to be had. If you try to impose western standards you will be both frustrated and disappointed. Time runs slower here and all things happen in due course.
One day during my recuperation I decided to visit Kathmandu’s sister city of Patan. It has a relationship to Kathmandu somewhat like that of Dandenong to Melbourne. Once separate cities, the urban sprawl has partially fused them now. I left the sanctuary of the hotel grounds to be accosted by a swarm of taxi and rickshaw drivers. I selected a taxi that was prepared to use the meter in his car. They prefer to bargain for the fare but this is their profession and I am a mere amateur. We hurtled through the narrow streets at around 30 kph. Sounds slow? Try it in a narrow cobble stoned street with rickshaws, pedestrians and other taxis going in all directions. After some 20 minutes we arrived at the central market in Durbar Square.
The square is surrounded by shops selling bronze sculptures often extremely old and usually very expensive. Outside there are numerous street stalls selling cheaper wares. My budget dictated that my Tara was of this poorer quality.
Numerous requests have been flooding into the Green Man vis-a-vis air sickness bags, for example, "Green Man, in your wisdom, tell me what did the Qantas air sickness bags look like in 1995."
Well ask no more, The Air Sickness Bag Virual Museum can provide you with an answer to this question and many more in your quest for the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
The yard bird is an interesting species. Whilst it is completely comfortable in the suburban backyard of the Green Man, any student of morphology will recognise the influences of the automotive and building construction ecologies on its evolution.
Click continue reading below for images.
State sponsored development of a huge tourist mall less than 300 metres from the Tal Mahal has been stopped when the federal government discovered that no environmental impact studies had been completed. Not only would changes to the flood plain have damaged the base of the momument but its golden glow in the evening reflecting from the planes would have been lost.
If you go to India for no other reason, you must go to see this. It was built by the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan as a monument to his love for his favourite wife, Mumtazmahal, who died giving birth to her 14 child. Commencing in 1632, it took 20,000 stone masons 22 years to construct. White marble is inlaid with countless pieces of jade, lapis lazuli, and other semi-precious stones. Inscriptions from theQuoran are inlaid in black marble surrounding the entrance.
Nestled amongst the squalor of India is one of humanities most precious gems. It is truely is awe inspiring.
In February 2001 the Taliban destroyed what was left of the collection of antiquities in the Afghanistan museum. This followed an edict by Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban's leader, that statues from Afghanistan's pre-Islamic past were blasphemous.
Pieces such as the 1,500 year old buddha are being painstakingly reconstructed from the shattered pieces. The UK, US, Japan and Greece have all contributed funds and the British Museum has constructed a new conservation room.
I am trying not to be anti-muslim, really I am, but it makes it mighty hard when confronted with cultural and historic vandalism on the scale that has been perpetrated in Afghanistan. (from The Guardian)
Tattoos are forever, well almost, so when you get one it needs to be both meaningful and of good quality.
Sadly tattoo artists have to learn like everyone else. Here is a site dedicated to some of the art of tattoos less glorious accomplishments.
These poor people have to live with these!
The BBC report primitive cave art found on stone walls at Creswell Crags, Derbyshire.
"This is an example of an extremely primitive mind a work" they said "Unfortunately it was done in the 1940's"
Underneath however was much more advanced art work produced around 12,000 years ago.
Fancy yourself as an artist but find the "grand canvas" a little daunting. Here is the site for you. The Post-It Note Gallery is running a competition for art work submitted on a 3"x3" Post-It note. (via J-Walk)
Check it out to see the current entries. I'll be posting mine shortly, well I have to draw it first!
Can you spot me? I'm the overweight middle aged man!
As part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival American artist Spencer Tunick asked for people to strip off and pose nude on mass for a photo shoot. On a cold and rainy Sunday morning in Melbourne 4,300 people turned up. I was one of them.
Click here to read my story of this remarkable and exhilarating event.
American Academy of Neurology reports that certain creative functions may actually interfered with by high cognitive functions. They report that the onset of dementia may release untapped creative ability in sufferers.
Studies of a elderly art teacher found that her art improved with the onset of dementia and, importantly, that the practice of art appeared to improve her quality life. This may be an important step forward in understanding the needs of some of our most vulnerable older people.
The challenge for our nursing homes is to provide some quality of life for their occupants. Art may become a new and valuable tool in their toolbox.
