Plastic tree
you are melancholic
and now I see
my dream is life
and this life
sometimes only a dream
copyright
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Plastic tree
Plastic tree
you are melancholic
and now I see
my dream is life
and this life
sometimes only a dream
copyright
save the planet
why the distance
your feet so thoroughly grounded
on this planet
save your deepest self
and the planet will follow
copyright
your feet so thoroughly grounded
on this planet
save your deepest self
and the planet will follow
copyright
Doubting Thomas
In Patriccia Puccinini's exhibition "Relativity" my attention was drawn to the sculpture "Doubting Thomas"
It portays a young boy at around the age of 7 who cautiously tries to touch something that looks unreal. A creature that seems to be a transgenic fantasy mixture of a hen and a dog. The creature has a mouth with fingers and teeth in it, and it has no eyes. Thomas tries to touch the fingers in it's mouth gently.
Juliana Engberg, the curator for this exhibition says about Puccinini's work that her sculptures are made in such a way to provoke reactions, the travel from horror to empathy in a swift moment.
The sculptures are often appealing with a touch of cuteness and sentimentality. They lure us to accept difficult biological scenarios that we would otherwise find repulsive or taboo.
"Many of her creations are a response to the crisis of extinction already confronting many living things and in such circumstances, responsibility and care must become necessary primary instincts" says Engberg.
Piccinini is drawn to the evidence that human and animal are linked closely in terms of their DNA structure. For Piccinini this means all things can be, and probably are, relative.
In Puccinini's work "Doubting Thomas" the artist makes reference to Saint Thomas and the account of belief and doubt and also Caravaggio's painting the "Incredulity of Thomas"
Doubting Thomas is a term used to describe someone who refuse to believe something without direct, physical, personal evidence. The term is based on the biblical account of Thomas the Apostle, a disciple of Jesus who doubted Jesus' resurrection and demanded to feel Jesus' wounds before being convinced. After seeing Jesus alive and offered the opportunity to feel his wounds, Thomas professes his faith in Jesus.
Caravaggios painting shows St Thomas inserting his forefinger into the wound of Christ's figure. The finger led by Christ's hand on St Thomas' wrist, pushes into a hole surrounded with flesh. The wound in Christ portrayed in this painting can be seen as the point where one body blends in with another or a portal where one soul steps into another reality. The spot have also been regarded as a vagina, a maternal site in Jesus.
Juliana Engberg wonders if Puccinini's sculptures metaphorical oddity could be daunting for people, envisioning a version of the "Vagina dentata"
Juliana Engberg, the curator for this exhibition says about Puccinini's work that her sculptures are made in such a way to provoke reactions, the travel from horror to empathy in a swift moment.
The sculptures are often appealing with a touch of cuteness and sentimentality. They lure us to accept difficult biological scenarios that we would otherwise find repulsive or taboo.
"Many of her creations are a response to the crisis of extinction already confronting many living things and in such circumstances, responsibility and care must become necessary primary instincts" says Engberg.
Piccinini is drawn to the evidence that human and animal are linked closely in terms of their DNA structure. For Piccinini this means all things can be, and probably are, relative.
In Puccinini's work "Doubting Thomas" the artist makes reference to Saint Thomas and the account of belief and doubt and also Caravaggio's painting the "Incredulity of Thomas"
Doubting Thomas is a term used to describe someone who refuse to believe something without direct, physical, personal evidence. The term is based on the biblical account of Thomas the Apostle, a disciple of Jesus who doubted Jesus' resurrection and demanded to feel Jesus' wounds before being convinced. After seeing Jesus alive and offered the opportunity to feel his wounds, Thomas professes his faith in Jesus.
Caravaggios painting shows St Thomas inserting his forefinger into the wound of Christ's figure. The finger led by Christ's hand on St Thomas' wrist, pushes into a hole surrounded with flesh. The wound in Christ portrayed in this painting can be seen as the point where one body blends in with another or a portal where one soul steps into another reality. The spot have also been regarded as a vagina, a maternal site in Jesus.
Juliana Engberg wonders if Puccinini's sculptures metaphorical oddity could be daunting for people, envisioning a version of the "Vagina dentata"
However the boy in the sculpture "Doubting Thomas" is looking curious and simply stretches out his hand ready to believe. Engberg describes the boy as unperplexed and that it mirrors the childs way of exploring and understanding the world.
To me the creature's face lacking it's eyes looks mute or expressionless. What hides behind the outer layer of this creature I ask myself. I look for it's inner voice it's sound and expressions. It is a living creature, yet not. It is made in wax and it looks natural, like a living creature, not a blanket or a cup. Yet what we regard as non-living things has their own value. They have meanings and energies connected to them.
How would it look like if I replaced the creature with a cup. Looking at Thomas' reaction and his testing finger, the cup would have gotten the same value as the creature.
To me the creature's face lacking it's eyes looks mute or expressionless. What hides behind the outer layer of this creature I ask myself. I look for it's inner voice it's sound and expressions. It is a living creature, yet not. It is made in wax and it looks natural, like a living creature, not a blanket or a cup. Yet what we regard as non-living things has their own value. They have meanings and energies connected to them.
How would it look like if I replaced the creature with a cup. Looking at Thomas' reaction and his testing finger, the cup would have gotten the same value as the creature.
Simply Thomas would look astonished over the sighting of this cup and would need to touch it to believe it was there. Thomas could have had a dream and a history regarding this cup and therefore it is given meaning and context and in his view, it could become just as unbelievable and fantastic as the creature.
I personally felt between these two sculptures and intense energy. The moment before the touch, the feeling, connection that makes Thomas believe in this moment in time. There is nothing else to believe than just that. To believe in the moment you are in. The energy you are surrounded with, what is created through one instant interaction.
Yes I believe in you, yes you are here and yes we felt each other in this moment of time. If Thomas touched this creature he would get a verification of his beliefs, and for him that moment becomes true. I can imagine it would give him a sense of verification of his own realness in that moment, a confirmastion of his beliefs. This happens between all living things, but also between the non living material and the living. What ever we focus our energy on, will expand.
I can not see the "Vagina dentata" in Caravaggio's painting. There are no teeth in Jesus' wound. Thomas does not look afraid to loose his fingers, however the fright and doubt looks more fundamental since Thomas already know Jesus is dead
I personally felt between these two sculptures and intense energy. The moment before the touch, the feeling, connection that makes Thomas believe in this moment in time. There is nothing else to believe than just that. To believe in the moment you are in. The energy you are surrounded with, what is created through one instant interaction.
Yes I believe in you, yes you are here and yes we felt each other in this moment of time. If Thomas touched this creature he would get a verification of his beliefs, and for him that moment becomes true. I can imagine it would give him a sense of verification of his own realness in that moment, a confirmastion of his beliefs. This happens between all living things, but also between the non living material and the living. What ever we focus our energy on, will expand.
I can not see the "Vagina dentata" in Caravaggio's painting. There are no teeth in Jesus' wound. Thomas does not look afraid to loose his fingers, however the fright and doubt looks more fundamental since Thomas already know Jesus is dead
.
In Puccinini's work Doubting Thomas is a child, the child reacts to the creature in a obvious curious way. His body language shows interest and attentiveness, young Thomas is ready to learn. Even though the creature's mouth looks scary and it has teeth and fingers, the child does not know of or feel any threat.
Thomas in Caravaggio's painting is a grown up man and has to be guided with Jesus' hand on his wrist to touch him. He needs moral and physical support to approach the unbelievable. His stressed expression and cold wide open eyes is that of a grown up denying himself the curiousness of a child, diving into the electrical energy field of what this unknown land is. Instead of embracing it, he denies himself the discovering, the confirming and comforting experience of that meeting in that moment in time.
I can imagine grown up Thomas sits there in the aftermath totally confused, feeling seasick and unwell after this experience, only because he did not let go and dared to be open to the wonders in life.
Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) is the example of a grown up deciding to keep the child within to be able to properly discover, staying curious and open to change. To me he is the grown up Puccinini's doubting Thomas. He is a modern shaman or an artist, if you would like.
Beuys was born in Cleves, West Germany, in 1921, he was an artist and a politician. He believed that the key to understanding the world is to be found in material. By material he means everything that conveys energies which give meaning and direction in life.
In his sculptures he used materials as felt, fat , iron and copper and from there he started using intangible materials that people use to give expression and thoughts forms, namely speech, language, movement and social organization.
In Puccinini's work Doubting Thomas is a child, the child reacts to the creature in a obvious curious way. His body language shows interest and attentiveness, young Thomas is ready to learn. Even though the creature's mouth looks scary and it has teeth and fingers, the child does not know of or feel any threat.
Thomas in Caravaggio's painting is a grown up man and has to be guided with Jesus' hand on his wrist to touch him. He needs moral and physical support to approach the unbelievable. His stressed expression and cold wide open eyes is that of a grown up denying himself the curiousness of a child, diving into the electrical energy field of what this unknown land is. Instead of embracing it, he denies himself the discovering, the confirming and comforting experience of that meeting in that moment in time.
I can imagine grown up Thomas sits there in the aftermath totally confused, feeling seasick and unwell after this experience, only because he did not let go and dared to be open to the wonders in life.
Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) is the example of a grown up deciding to keep the child within to be able to properly discover, staying curious and open to change. To me he is the grown up Puccinini's doubting Thomas. He is a modern shaman or an artist, if you would like.
Beuys was born in Cleves, West Germany, in 1921, he was an artist and a politician. He believed that the key to understanding the world is to be found in material. By material he means everything that conveys energies which give meaning and direction in life.
In his sculptures he used materials as felt, fat , iron and copper and from there he started using intangible materials that people use to give expression and thoughts forms, namely speech, language, movement and social organization.
His theory on sculpture formed into a social sculpture which in turn led to the formation of the German Student Party, the organization of Direct Democracy and the Free International University.
He said my objects are to be seen as stimulants for the transformation of the idea of sculpture, or of art in general. They should provoke thoughts about what sculpture can be and how the concept of sculpting can be extended to the invisible materials used by everyone.
He used the term" thinking form" and explained that this is how we mould our thoughts or how we shape our thoughts. "Spoken form" is for how we shape our thoughts into words. Social sculpture is how we mould and shape the world in which we live.
"Sculpture as an evolutionary process and therefore everyone is an artist " Joseph Beuys
He said that the nature of his sculptures are not fixed and finished. Processes continue in most of them, chemical reactions, fermentations, color changes, decay, drying up. Because everything is in a state of change.
The wound as portrayed by Caravaggio I find is by Beuys portrayed through his piece The Bathtub (Die Badewanne).
The wound represents birth and according to Beuys his artwork Die Badewanne, refers directly to this event. He says the wound or trauma is directly experienced by every person as they come into contact with the hard material conditions of the world through birth.
This is the tub in which he bathed as a child, only extended with meaning. Sticking plaster and fat soaked gauze. The plaster indicates the wound while fat suggests a less physical level. Fat can appear in solid or liquid form, definite in shape or chaotic in flow, according to temperature.
Here it indicates change, transformation and substance- like the act of birth.
Saint Thomas in Caravaggios painting, when putting his finger in Jesus' wound, confirmed Jesus' resurrection to the skeptic.
Also when young Thomas touches the wound or the mouth in Puccinini's creature an energetic change happens, a type of rebirth or transformation. When St Thomas doubted Jesus he had learned that death is nothing, death is the end only.
Death also means that when something ends, a change happens as an effect of the ending, change is new and therefore a beginning. Death is change, a type of rebirth. Jesus' death changes St Thomas way of thinking and this means a new beginning for Saint Thomas.
Beuys says about death that through western thinking and the science that grew from it, was only to reach material, the way to do it though said Beuys was through death. If you take the brain, he explained, as being the material basis of thought, as hard and glassy as a mirror, it becomes clear that thinking can only be fulfilled through death, and that a higher level exists for it through the liberation of death, a new life for thinking.
He also claimed that looking through all times, all animals have been viewed upon as psychopomps that accompany the soul into the beyond, or as the dead persons new form.
Puccinini's creatures act as mediators, that lures and guides us into a new world of technological wonders and mixtures. A world where humans and animals, regardless of any thinkable and unthinkable differences becomes nurtured with an acceptance of understanding. They are our modern times psychopomps that accompany us into a new life of understanding and nurturing of all living forms, both emotionally and physically.
What ever you focus your energy on, will expand, do not deny the wonders.
He said my objects are to be seen as stimulants for the transformation of the idea of sculpture, or of art in general. They should provoke thoughts about what sculpture can be and how the concept of sculpting can be extended to the invisible materials used by everyone.
He used the term" thinking form" and explained that this is how we mould our thoughts or how we shape our thoughts. "Spoken form" is for how we shape our thoughts into words. Social sculpture is how we mould and shape the world in which we live.
"Sculpture as an evolutionary process and therefore everyone is an artist " Joseph Beuys
He said that the nature of his sculptures are not fixed and finished. Processes continue in most of them, chemical reactions, fermentations, color changes, decay, drying up. Because everything is in a state of change.
The wound as portrayed by Caravaggio I find is by Beuys portrayed through his piece The Bathtub (Die Badewanne).
The wound represents birth and according to Beuys his artwork Die Badewanne, refers directly to this event. He says the wound or trauma is directly experienced by every person as they come into contact with the hard material conditions of the world through birth.
This is the tub in which he bathed as a child, only extended with meaning. Sticking plaster and fat soaked gauze. The plaster indicates the wound while fat suggests a less physical level. Fat can appear in solid or liquid form, definite in shape or chaotic in flow, according to temperature.
Here it indicates change, transformation and substance- like the act of birth.
Saint Thomas in Caravaggios painting, when putting his finger in Jesus' wound, confirmed Jesus' resurrection to the skeptic.
Also when young Thomas touches the wound or the mouth in Puccinini's creature an energetic change happens, a type of rebirth or transformation. When St Thomas doubted Jesus he had learned that death is nothing, death is the end only.
Death also means that when something ends, a change happens as an effect of the ending, change is new and therefore a beginning. Death is change, a type of rebirth. Jesus' death changes St Thomas way of thinking and this means a new beginning for Saint Thomas.
Beuys says about death that through western thinking and the science that grew from it, was only to reach material, the way to do it though said Beuys was through death. If you take the brain, he explained, as being the material basis of thought, as hard and glassy as a mirror, it becomes clear that thinking can only be fulfilled through death, and that a higher level exists for it through the liberation of death, a new life for thinking.
He also claimed that looking through all times, all animals have been viewed upon as psychopomps that accompany the soul into the beyond, or as the dead persons new form.
Puccinini's creatures act as mediators, that lures and guides us into a new world of technological wonders and mixtures. A world where humans and animals, regardless of any thinkable and unthinkable differences becomes nurtured with an acceptance of understanding. They are our modern times psychopomps that accompany us into a new life of understanding and nurturing of all living forms, both emotionally and physically.
What ever you focus your energy on, will expand, do not deny the wonders.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
The rainforest and the cave
In the streets I walk along the beach
A man greets me and takes me down
into deep water
I let him lead I know I can breathe, and my feet become a fishtail
The darkness transformes into a red light in the distance.
Boiling alive, we dive into magma, and it feels so good, to boil in her
Like a vulcano eruption she shoots us out of the void, on to the Earth
Walking barefoot in the desert, the magma falls from the heaven to the ground, and blue mountains are singing in the background
A whisper lets me know an elderly man is talking to me, calmly
There are scents I recognise, but can not remember.
His language I know, but can not remember
Together we feel the plants
I see our hands make patterns in the sand
We start to walk and we never get tired
The old man holds my hand.
My hand feels warm and vibrant.
I am tiny, my feet are strong and my hands feel warm.
Another man is coming through the desert.
We sit down together and all is silence
Suddenly he takes my hand, I trust him, and we run towards a cliff.
We jump off the cliff
Free falling I loose myself and let go
His body transformes into an Eagle, I hold on to the Eagle and we fly south
Rainforest, the endless green greets us. Our bare feet on her ground
The sticky, muddy, green. I cover myself in dirt. I know this place. I am naked.
Leaves, dirt and water touch me
I lead into the forest. The water here looks brown and dark green. There are leaves floating on top, flowers too, golden and blue
A woman arrives, I know her well, but can not remember.
She talks calmly, takes my hand and cleanses me in that water. Her hands feels so thorough and warm. She gently touches my arms, my feet, my back. I cleanse her the same way. Her dark thick hair and skin feels like a vibrant gold when I touch her
I cleanse my friend from the desert and I take away faded marks of a distant city life. The grey and heavy. The rainforest cleanses his toes his fingertips, his mind.
He is fresh and cleansed by the rainforest
He takes me into a cave. The water here looks black. blue, purple and golden.
It feels cold and refreshing. He takes me into the dark water, pushes my head gently under.
I remember I can breathe and the water cleanses me.
The sound from the traffic becomes clearer.
I walk in the streets with the rainforest in my mind. It cleanses. The rainforest cleanses my mind
Leaves, dirt and water touch me
copyright
I lead into the forest. The water here looks brown and dark green. There are leaves floating on top, flowers too, golden and blue
A woman arrives, I know her well, but can not remember.
She talks calmly, takes my hand and cleanses me in that water. Her hands feels so thorough and warm. She gently touches my arms, my feet, my back. I cleanse her the same way. Her dark thick hair and skin feels like a vibrant gold when I touch her
I cleanse my friend from the desert and I take away faded marks of a distant city life. The grey and heavy. The rainforest cleanses his toes his fingertips, his mind.
He is fresh and cleansed by the rainforest
He takes me into a cave. The water here looks black. blue, purple and golden.
It feels cold and refreshing. He takes me into the dark water, pushes my head gently under.
I remember I can breathe and the water cleanses me.
The sound from the traffic becomes clearer.
I walk in the streets with the rainforest in my mind. It cleanses. The rainforest cleanses my mind
Leaves, dirt and water touch me
copyright
Wisdom
they did their work
and then they left
for us to wonder and learn
Wisdom embraced it all
and we will become
part of the truth
out in the open
we are free
from our secrets
it is only left there
with a kiss
my Shadow and I
out in the open
we go
free from
guilt and shame
copyright
and then they left
for us to wonder and learn
Wisdom embraced it all
and we will become
part of the truth
out in the open
we are free
from our secrets
it is only left there
with a kiss
my Shadow and I
out in the open
we go
free from
guilt and shame
copyright
today
I went to the beach
by a mistake I buried a heart
the sea took it away
my heart
lies in the sea
there it will
forever be
copyright
by a mistake I buried a heart
the sea took it away
my heart
lies in the sea
there it will
forever be
copyright
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