by Marty Coleman | Jan 22, 2013 | Bodyless Ghirl Ghosts - 2012-2013 |
The Adventures of the Bodyless Girl Ghosts continue…
The Bodyless Girl Ghosts Have Dinner
After they left Ethel and Mabel, they made their way past the billboard advertising the new Wolla Tompo Crematorium and flew into the center of town. Penelope, the Girl Ghost leader, thought they should get something to eat. In truth, bodyless ghosts don’t really eat since they can’t digest anything, not having any bodies, but they like to chew and swallow and they like to smell so they do it anyway.
It was very cold out so when Isabel saw the cute little Italian place with a warm glow through the windows they decided to try it out. They could see a crackling fireplace and candles at the table and knew it would be just perfect. Since they have no bodies they can never get in without someone opening doors for them. You would think they could, being ghosts and all, but they’ve tried and just end up getting frustrated trying to turn knobs with no hands.
They did what they usually do, press up against a window looking sad and cold until someone opens the door and lets them in. In this case it was the hostess, a young girl still in high school named Persephone. Mergatroid, the picky ghost, made fun of her name when she saw it on her name tag. That made Persephone cry which in turn made Tootie, the smallest, most sensitive of the girl ghosts, butt heads with Merg and tell her to shut up.
Tootie floated over to Persephone and told her to ignore Merg, that she was a bitter old ghost who didn’t like anything. Persephone felt better and told her she was just overtired because she had to work everyday in this place until spring, when she could go visit her parents down in the valley. She was stuck in this supposed winter wonderland until then. Persephone dried her eyes, came back and set up a table for them.
The Girl Ghost gang floated at a table and enjoyed big bowls of pasta and plenty of bold red wine. Bodyless ghosts like pasta because they can suck it straight up out of the bowl without worrying about forks and spoons, which they can’t use very well at all. Plus, as they drink, they love to whip the pasta around in their mouths and splatter each other with sauce. It’s there dining entertainment.
Later they said their goodbyes to Persephone, promising to visit her again in the valley come springtime. Tootie got her email address, and though bodyless ghosts aren’t very good at typing, she promised to write her during the cold winter months remaining so she wouldn’t be so lonely. They flew over to the Wolla Tompo Inn and hovered outside, not wanting to go in, being a bit tipsy with pasta sauce all over their faces. Finally the cold got the better of them and they had to go in and check into their room with the 2 double beds (girl ghosts sleep at least 5 to a bed since they don’t have to worry about being kicked).
They slept well and woke up excited to try skiing later that day, even if they were hungover.
The End
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Drawing and story by Marty Coleman, who made it all up.
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Mythology trivia question of the day:
Who is the Queen of the Underworld in Greek Mythology?
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 20, 2013 | Art, Artists I Love, Robert Irwin |
Transfixed
I first came across Robert Irwin while I was visiting Minneapolis for an art conference when I was in my 20s. I took some time off and went to the Walker Art Center, one of the best museums in North America that I had heard about for many years. This is what I saw.
Robert Irwin – Untitled – 1968-69
If it’s hard for you to figure out what it is you are looking at, it’s on purpose. It was slightly less hard in person and that is what made it so profound for me. I had come across that incredible creative moment when something skews your understanding of space, of what is real, of what it is you are actually seeing.
What you are looking at is a convex plexiglass disk that is out from the wall. It is painted and lit so that it looks as if it is hovering in space. Then it disappears and is flat tones on a wall. The it comes back and is pushing out towards you with power. It was amazing to just stand there and get lost in it’s visual everythingness.
Shortly thereafter I learned of a biography written about Irwin and found it.
The book told the story of his creative art journey from the disk you see above through his work as a master within the ‘Light and Space’ movement in art. The work in the book was incredible and I was hooked. The book is now one of my treasured possessions because it contains the autographs of both the author and Mr. Irwin. I will return to the story of the book after showing you some of his work.
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Robert Irwin – Untitled – 1968
Robert Irwin – Untitled – Installation view
Here’s another example of that same mysterious, disorienting visual balancing act Irwin does between dimension and flatness, solidity and ethereality.
Robert Irwin – Old Post Office, Washington D.C.
Irwin started to move out from the gallery and put work in larger, less traditional art spaces. These panels hang in the middle of the atrium and both stand out and disappear depending on your location and the light at the time.
Robert Irwin – Violet Running Form
This is a very playful piece. It’s in a beautiful stand of Eucalyptus trees on the UC San Diego campus. It is a blue chain link fence that starts at a height twice as high as the normal person. Obviously it plays off the idea of utility but it also plays with the light that come into the grove and one’s perception of the color that is normally there in the trees, leaves and air.
I had the pleasure of coming across this art piece unaware when I took Caitlin to visit UCSD as a possible college location. I had seen the photos of it many years before in the book but completely forgot that it was on campus. We just happened to walk through the Eucalyptus grove and there it was. It really did change the beauty of the space in wonderful ways.
Robert Irwin – 1°2°3°4° – 1997
Robert Irwin – 1°2°3°4° – 1997
Irwin loves to isolate and divide while keeping something unified. It’s his way of saying look at all of this and look at just this at the same time. I love that about his work.
Robert Irwin – Who’s Afraid of Red Yellow Blue – 2006
Later in his career he moved into using other elements to define space and light. Here he is using solid panels that appear light and heavy at the same time. The top ones levitate but also are dangerous in their percieved weight. Where do you stand, what do you think about walking in and around the space? The answers say more about you than the art.
Robert Irwin – Getty Gardens
Robert Irwin – Getty Gardens
Irwin took on a huge commission when he agreed to design the gardens surrounding the new Getty Museum in the Santa Monica Hills overlooking Los Angeles. As you can see, he was able to use completely non-art world material and create an amazing visual space that still insists on confronting your understanding of space and light in a way that both illuminates and enriches.
In the end, for all the intellectual and art-bound theories and philosophies I might find in Irwin’s work, in the end I am left with a true and unadulterated joy in the sensations of the world around us. Irwin is able to present us with a visual world that makes us think and makes us smile. How cool is that? I can think of no greater art achievement one can really hope to make.
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The Story of the Book
Ok, back to the book. In 1976 I continued my education at University of California, Santa Barbara. While I was there I had a girlfriend for a while. Here is a picture of her a few years later visiting my then wife and me in San Jose.
While Toni was visiting was us I showed her the book about Robert Irwin. She laughed and looked at us funny and said, “You know that Lawrence, the author, is my brother, right?” No, I did not know that. Yes, I knew her last name and yes I saw his last name on the cover, I just never made the connection. So, I sent the book back with her to LA where she lived so she could hunt down her brother and get him to autograph it for me. She sent it back to me a few months later with inscription you see below.
You may have noticed that Robert Irwin also signed it. Here’s how that came down. I had attended San Jose State University as a graduate student pursuing my MFA. A year after I graduated I heard he was coming to school to give a guest lecture. I was pretty psyched, and if possible, meet him and have him sign my book. When the day finally arrived I had a dilemma. I was not able to go due to my work schedule at the restaurant where I worked. But, I could go to the very beginning of the lecture and perhaps meet him beforehand if I timed it right.
I was on the second story of the student union building standing looking over the edge into the large central atrium area, waiting for him to arrive for the lecture from the Art Department. When he came in he was surrounded by at least a dozen or more people, including the chairman of the department and many professors, including a number who had been my advisors. I was bummed about the crowd, figuring I would not get a chance right them to meet him. I saw them disappear under the walkway I was on to come up the stairs.
Robert Irwin
When they arrived at the top of the stairs they were all there except Mr. Irwin. I immediately asked the Chairman where he was and he said he had stayed downstairs to find a bathroom. That was all I needed to hear. I rushed down the stairs and found him walking down a hallway, indeed looking for a bathroom. I introduced myself, directed him to the bathroom and went in with him. We stood at side by side urinals taking a leak and talking. Luckily for me we both had to go really bad so it lasted a long time. I was able to to tell him of my admiration for his work, and the book, explaining about knowing Lawrence’s sister. I told him my status as a recent MFA grad, my working 3 jobs, including 2 part time teaching gigs at community colleges. He was incredibly gracious, especially considering we were peeing together.
Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
When we were done we continued to talk and I asked him if he would autograph the book, which he did. He also gave me encouraging advice about how to deal with the first few years out of graduate school, how to work through hard things and keep creating worthy art at the same time. I then led him back up to the auditorium and to the front of the audience so he could give his lecture. I meanwhile skeedaddled to the restaurant to work my shift. I didn’t hear the lecture but I gained more than I had hoped!
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If you are interested in learning more about Robert Irwin, you can check out these resources. There is a huge body of work he has done that will amaze you.
Ace Gallery
Pacific Standard Time project- Getty.org
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
Robert Irwin – Light and Space – Video
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Fall/Winter 2016
Winter/Spring 2015
Summer 2014
Winter 2012/2013
Winter 2011/2012
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 18, 2013 | Fools - 2013 |
The sun sets on Foolish Things Week with day #4
The Simplicity Knot
We often think of fools as being simple. But I think people act like fools when the get too complex, not too simple. We overanalyze, hesitate and stall in taking action, second guess ourselves because of all the other choices we could make. We have no effective way of deciding things and thus get lost in the minutia of what ifs. And the result is we miss opportunities, make rash decisions, make stupid mistakes. We tie simplicity in a knot and act like fools amidst the made up complexity.
The Simple Pain
Why is that? What is it that keeps us from being able to see the simple truths, the real choices, the obvious answers? Why do we insist on fooling ourselves for so much of our lives about who we are and what our lives are made of? Maybe it’s because simple equals pain. What I mean is that simple means facing a truth about ourselves. Maybe a moral failing, maybe a hope dashed for the future, maybe a character trait that sabotages us and hurts others. It’s easier to pile on layers of other things, complexities, to hide the simple truth.
The Dark Forest
There is a famous quote that goes something along the lines of ‘If you want to get to the other side of pain, you have to go through it, not around it.’ I know in my own life that when I faced pain directly I moved most assuredly to healing. When I avoided it, avoided truths about myself, I simply delayed the healing. Going through pain is hard, but never getting to the other side of it is even harder.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, whose had his share.
Quote by Pete Seeger, 1919 – not dead yet, American folk singer
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Trivia question of the day
Who replaced Napoleon as the leader of France?
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 17, 2013 | Fools - 2013 |
Let this be a lesson to you, wait long enough and day 4 of ‘Foolish Things’ week will arrive!
The Right To Think
If you were online at all in the past year you know how intense many debates got about the Presidential election. I know this because I am a liberal in conservative Oklahoma. Say you like Obama and BOOM! let the debates begin! I had many very intelligent discussions with people of all political stripes. I also had completely frustrating discussions with complete fools who wouldn’t know a cogent thought if it schmacked them in the kisser. Those blithering idiots were irate, simplistic, irrational, unthinking, hateful, dumb, embarrassing and reactionary in their thoughts and words. And those were just the Democrats I agreed with! Those I disagreed with (mostly far right Republicans) who were also in the fool category were all those things and wrong at the same time.
The Right Fool
But guess what? Even among the fools I heard and read some truths. In among the paranoid conspiracies of Obama being a Muslim communist marriage hater were some bits and pieces of thoughtful ideas. Amidst the irrational hatred for Rep. Pelosi, Sen. Reid and all the other wannabe Marxist dictators were some nuggets of sensible thoughts. In between the anti-scientific, empty headed, religious zealotry were some wise insights. Of course it’s much easier to mine these brief moments of clarity out of people when they are rational, but even among the lunatic fringe the moments are there. Sometimes the fringe is right.
How To Know
How do we find what is right in amongst the toxic landfill of bad ideas poorly presented? It takes two things. One, a diminishing of your own foolishness. You must be willing to see how you might be playing the fool and retreat from it. Two, you must listen to or read entire sentences and paragraphs and pages of junk to get to it, not dissimilar to digging a mine through ton after ton of dirt and rock to find gold.
The Foolish Friend
Now, that isn’t all that necessary in a lot of cases because it is just some random knucklehead off in internetland saying whatever and really, who cares, right? But what if the fool is also my friend? What if I care about this fool? What if I am trying to find some common ground so I can sustain and nurture a friendship, or a working relationship. Then doing that digging is probably worth it. It’s how I find the part of them that is not the fool. The part that is right. And I can hope my friend is digging to find what is right in me as well. After all, isn’t that what it really takes to get along?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who started drawing on napkins 15 years ago.
Quote by Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, British Prime Minister 1940-1945, 1951-1955
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Trivia question from yesterday:
What is the name of the literary competition (now in its 31st year) that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels?
Answer: The Bulwer-Litton Fiction Contest. Named after the author of yesterday’s quote, it is a “whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.” It originated at San Jose State University in 1983 while I was going to graduate school there. Go check it out and enter if you dare!
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 16, 2013 | Fools - 2013 |
I am flattered you came back for day 2 of ‘Foolish Things’ week!
The Ego Whisperer
Beware the person whispering sweet nothings in your ear that happen to coincide with your ego’s weakness.
Overconfidence
I am reading a book right now called ‘The Social Animal – A Story of How Success Happens’. In it the author explains how much of what goes into our success or failures in life are from the unconscious realm, not the conscious. He spends a lot of time quoting and extrapolating from various academic research studies regarding people’s thinking and behavior. There is one area of the book in particular that is germaine to this quote and that is overconfidence.
Here are a few of the statistics the author, David Brooks, quotes:
- 90% of drivers believe they are above average drivers.
- 94% of college professors believe they are above average teachers.
- Golf pros believe they sink 70% of their 6 foot putts. They actually make only 54%.
- 50% of Penn State students said they would object if they heard a sexist comment in their presence. When it happened, only 16% actually objected.
- Those who scored in the bottom quartile on logic and grammar tests were the most likely to overestimate their abilities.
- When given questionnaires about their industry (to test competence), Advertising professionals thought 90% of their answers were correct. Actually, they were wrong 61% of the time. Meanwhile the computer professionals thought they got 95% correct on the questionnaire. They were wrong 80% of the time.
- 99% of all those tested (in the questionnaire mention immediately above) overestimated their success.
Inocculation
The point of these statistics is to show that we are all going to overestimate how smart and competent we are. We can all be fools about ourselves, in other words. The more self-aware we can become about where we truly are in the scheme of things the better protection we have against those who would try to manipulate us and our easily fooled egos.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who is 90% correct 50% of the time when 35% of the people aren’t among the 99% and 20% are among the 47%.
Quote by Edward G. Bulwer-Litton, 1803-1873, English writer and politician. He is the originator of the famous opening line for a novel, “It was a dark and stormy night.” He also came up with “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
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Trivia question of the day:
What is the name of the literary competition (now in its 31 year) that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels?
Answer tomorrow
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 15, 2013 | Aleksander Fredro, Fools - 2013 |
It’s a joy to present this foolish drawing for day one of ‘What a Fool’ week!
Who is a Fool?
How do you know when someone is a fool and when they are not? Obviously not all big busted women and body building men are fools so why did I choose to show them together? Because they were fun to draw, of course. No, seriously, it’s because they are representations of those who are focused and obsessed on one shallow or dangerous thing while ignoring the larger reality they live in. They are oblivious to the high cliff they are standing on. That, to me, is the definition of a fool. And it’s not that a fool goes looking for another fool. They just go looking for someone like them, and that turns out to be another fool.
What a Mirror Doesn’t Show
You might think that me of all people would be the one to say, ‘Don’t worry about what others think of you.’ But the truth is we all have a bit of the fool in us. How self-aware we are of those foolish parts is the key to moderating them so they don’t send us over a cliff of some sort. One of the best ways to be self-aware is to be other-aware. What I mean is we often don’t see ourselves from but one side. In the mirror we see a front view for example, we don’t see our profile. We don’t see our back in the mirror. That is why, if you have a partner, you might ask him or her to see how you look from the back. Is there a tag showing, a stain on your dress, a big patch of cat hair on your bottom? Having someone else see you helps you see yourself better.
Caring What Others Think
The same is true in your behaviors and words, not just your knit sweater. To have friends and family who you trust and who trust you to listen is really important. To have good and honest feedback in work and play is critical to growth. You hear how others see you and you can make a choice about whether what they said is important or not, whether it’s actually a fair criticism or not. And if that is the case, then what you heard from another person then becomes something you believe as well and can decide to work on from the inside. It’s part of how you see yourself now. And that means you are more self-aware than you were before. That is a good thing.
Overdose of Other
Of course, a big problem in many societies is that there is too much attention paid to what others think. Your life becomes all about satisfying the expectations of others. You must be this way, you must believe this, you must respond like this, you must wear this, and for God’s sake, you must NOT wear that! And if you don’t, you are shunned and bullied and made fun of. And as hard and scary as it is to withstand that and decide for yourself if you do or do not want to do, believe, respond, wear this or that, it is truly the only way to ensure you don’t become that other sort of fool, the fool who is so other-aware that they cease to have a self to be self-aware about.
Taking a Stand
It is much better to take your stand as early as you can, with courage, with grace, with forgiveness for the person coming at you, and most importantly, with humor and a smile. If it’s late in the game, you can still do it. It’s harder, but it’s also more rewarding to finally let the world know, this is me, and this is not. No one is a fool who does that with love in their heart.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who looks just like that guy.
Quote by Aleksander Fredro, 1793-1876, Polish Poet and Author
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Trivia Of The Day answered
Trivia question from last week:
If a Saint is depicted with three balls, who is he?
Answer: You know him really well, It’s SANTA CLAUS!
St. Nicholas gave 3 gold balls (or sacks of gold depending on the story version) to an impoverished father who could not afford the dowry needed to have his 3 daughters get married. Check it and other symbols for St. Nick here.
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 14, 2013 | Philbrook Museum of Art, Photography |
Recently I went to Philbrook Museum of Art here in Tulsa to do a photo shoot for a friend, Kathi Morrison, and her family. When we were done I left the family and went traipsing around the museum on my own for a while. When I came down stairs I found Kathi’s daughter, Lauren, at a little kid’s drawing table drawing herself in a mirror. Her brother was there as well and asked me, “Do you know how to draw”? I said yes and sat across from his sister and started to draw her drawing herself as he watched. This is the drawing that resulted.
Lauren Morrison
Here is a photo I took of her earlier in the day during the family portrait session.
Lauren Morrison
Here is Lauren with the rest of her family in one of the group portraits.
Kathi Morrison and Family
If you haven’t had a chance to get to Philbrook you really should go. It’s the former home of Waite Phillips of Phillips 66 gasoline fame and is now a world class museum. It has the original mansion as well as a large modern addition where temporary exhibitions, lectures and educational activities take place. It even has a fantastic restaurant called ‘The Villa’ that serves lunch and a great Sunday brunch. And, as the photo below shows, it’s got an incredible outdoor space. What you see here is both the formal and informal Italian gardens. Behind and to the left and right are great open spaces with sculptures, walkways and a creek.
Philbrook at Sunset by Marty Coleman
You can find more information at Philbrook.org.
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 10, 2013 | Bodyless Ghirl Ghosts - 2012-2013 |
Prints are still available. $25.00
The Girl Ghosts Get Lost
Mabel and Ethel were frightened by the sudden sound at their kitchen window. They were in the living room watching a show about the French Revolution and Ethel didn’t want to miss the part about the decapitations so she asked her ‘sister’ to put it on hold while she went to investigate. Ethel figured it was probably a bird that had hit the window but instead was greeted by 15 bodyless girl ghosts pressed up against the glass looking cold and lost. Ethel called to Mabel to come right away.
Mabel yelled from the other room, “Is it a person? Cuz I ain’t gotta bra on and am not going in there if it is!”
Ethel said, “Not Exactly.”
After Mabel came in, covering herself just in case Ethel was lying, they discussed what to do. It was decided that they looked harmless enough and it was very cold out so they should do something. They opened the door and let them in.
The first girl ghost who came in asked, ” Can you tell us how to get to Wolla Tompo? We are lost because our GPS (ghost positioning system) gave out on us in Belltramp.”
Mabel brought out an old fashioned paper map and laid it out on the table and pointed in the upper right corner, “If you just go over this hill behind our house and fly…you are flying, right?… fly north until you see the big ugly rock quarry that is shaped like a peeing dog, you will find the town just east of there. Look for the big sign advertising the new crematorium.”
Penelope, the leader of the Girl Ghost gang said, “Thanks, can you tell me how long it might take?”
Ethel responded, “Well, it takes us about 15 minutes on our brooms, but we aren’t very fast.”
Isabel, Penelope’s wise-cracking sidekick said, “I wish we had brooms but since we don’t have hands they probably wouldn’t help much.”
Mabel asked them if they would like some tea, to which they all replied yes except for Mergatroid, the picky one. She wanted to know if it had caffeine in it and any fruit or flowers because that made her try to throw up. Bodyless ghosts don’t actually throw up of course, not having bodies, but they can gag really well. Mabel found a tea that fit the bill, went to the stove and put on some water to boil.
They spent about an hour having a fun time talking while floating around the kitchen area. They explained about their flight, why they were going to Wolla Tompo, and what there was to do there. They left shortly thereafter, warm and refreshed. Mabel and Ethel mopped up all the ice tea that landed on the floor since they had no stomaches and went back to watching the TV show.
Ethel thought the decapitation part was very interesting.
The End
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Drawing and short, short story by Marty Coleman, who made it all up.
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Trivia question from yesterday:
What year did Televisions appear on retail shelves?
Answer: 1938
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 7, 2013 | Art, Artists I Love, Veruschka
When I was a young boy, around 13 years old, I would sneak a look at my father’s Playboy Magazines. I was no different than any other boy when it came to what excited me. Then again I was different. The famous 60s supermodel, Veruschka, showed me that with these photos from Playboy that I first saw when I was perhaps 16.
Veruschka – Playboy Magazine, 1971
Seeing a naked woman in art and photography was not that big a deal to me, having grown up around the nude in artworks of all types in my grandparent’s and parent’s homes. But this was not a naked woman, this was a woman transformed into something other than herself while at the same time expressing an even greater sense of who she was. It was a revelation.
Veruschka as a Peacock
Veruschka in Pink
In that and other pictorials she also became men, Marilyn Monroe, unzipped herself and transformed from animal to vegetable among other things. No other woman transfixed my imagination as a youth like she did. All the rest came and went, but Veruschka stayed in my mind as a woman apart. Not a model only, not a muse only, but an artist.
Verushka as a Man
Veruschka the Redneck
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Veruschka started out as Vera Lehndorff but was unsuccessful as a model under that name and so reinvented herself as the mysterious Russian, Veruschka. She actually was born in Prussia (Poland) before WWII and was a very tall and gawky 6’1″ by the time she was 14 years old. She was teased and made fun of for her looks and skinny angularity. She stopped growing at 6’4″. She, along with Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton, were the first supermodels, dominating the covers and editorials of Vogue and every other fashion magazine of the 60s and early 70s.
Veruschka – Vogue Cover
Veruschka – Life Magazine Cover, 1967
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One of the most amazing things about Veruschka was that she did almost all the creative work on her fashion shoots. She did her own hair and makeup, as well as have creative control over the editorial scheme of the shoots in many cases. If you look close at her early fashion images you can see the roots of her later artwork.
Veruschka – Early body painting work
Notice the ‘Flower Power’ body painting work from the late 60s.
Veruschka in Brown
Veruschka in Green
Notice how she creates a visual image in which she completely blends in to her background. It’s a life long obsession to blend into the background that you will see reach it’s apex in her artwork.
Cheetah and Veruschka
Early on in her modeling career she worked to incorporate herself as animal into her shoots.
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Fast forward to the 1980s and I find a book by Vera Lehndorff called ‘Veruschka | Trans-Figurations’. It documents a 16 year collaborative art project between herself and the photographer Holgar Trulsch. During those 16 years Veruschka painting herself to match various surroundings, from oxidized metal in abandon factories to boulders to weathered wood to the sky itself. Finding the book was like finding a dear friend after many years and seeing the amazing things she had done with her life. It’s one of my most treasured books because it is that perfect combination of visual beauty, conceptual brilliance, individual creative drive and surprise that I love.
Here are some examples from that book.
Veruschka in the Forest
Veruschka Among Boulders
Veruschka and Electrical Box
Veruschka and Tree
Veruschka and Steel Pillar
Veruschka and Linen Closet
Veruschka and Window
Veruschka and Sky
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If you are thinking you’ve seen this sort of thing done many times before, you are right. Body painting has become a big thing over the past 2 decades in art and media culture around the world. You can see it among celebrities, in sports and in fine art. There are whole groups dedicated to it now with annual conferences and events. Take a look below to see some of the influence Veruschka has had.
Demi Moore
Sports Illustrated Body Paint book
Gotye video still – Somebody That I Used To Know – Emma Hack, artist
And finally here are some contemporary fine artists at work using the technique Veruschka developed.
Bookcase – Desiree Palmen
Bus Stop – Desiree Palmen
Qui Zhijie – tattoo 2
If you are interested in learning more about Veruschka or the evolution of the use of the body as a canvas start in google images and just type in Veruschka body painting and you will find plenty to investigate. Search under Qui Zhijie and Desiree Palmen to find out more about their art.
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Fall/Winter 2016
Winter/Spring 2015
Summer 2014
Winter 2012/2013
Winter 2011/2012
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 4, 2013 | Body Image - 2016, 2013 |
The New Year is resolution time and one of the most popular is to ‘get fit’. With that in mind I thought I would explore the idea of body image for a few days.
Who Owns You?
I saw a report about a murder trial yesterday where a woman is accused of stabbing and murdering her boyfriend. Her defense is that she was abused and it wasn’t murder but self-defense. One of the pieces of evidence is a photo of her in this t-shirt.
Jodi Arias
The defense submitted this t-shirt as evidence that the boyfriend, Travis Alexander, was possessive, going so far as to feel that Jodi was his property and making a shirt that stated such. Now, I don’t know anything about the trial, her guilt or innocence. I am simply using this as an example of how someone can abdicate ownership of themselves. Sometimes it is emotional or psychological, but it can also be physical. You can give up your rights to your own body (or have them taken away under force). A slave is what you become.
A Quandary
This is the quandary we humans find ourselves in. We both own our own body and we are slave to it, bowing to what it tells us to do. If we decide to sit on the couch all day every day, our body has no choice but to obey our command. It will not get up and take a walk unless we tell it to (sleepwalking excluded).
Owning Your Body
As a running coach I start each new season with some simple ideas for the participants. One of these ideas is that we really only have 2 things we run with. Our minds and our bodies. I ask them which controls which? The answer? The mind controls the body. We tell it to run and it runs. The body does what the mind tells it to do. Your body is slave to your mind.
Body Owning You
But that same body we can make bow to our mind’s wishes is also the body that can make our mind cease to exist. Our mind is dependent on our body. Without our body we can’t think, talk, listen, eat, laugh, cry, run, sleep, make love, etc. We cease to function. There are examples such as a concussion that takes our ability to think clearly away for a time or Alzheimers where our physical body slowly but surely causes our ability to think to diminish completely. And then we have the final example of death, where our brain function completely stops and all we could do and all we were conscious of via that brain ceases to exist.
The Bad Marriage
You have heard of marriages, you might even be in one, where you are constantly fighting with each other. You are not on each other’s side and the marriage is destructive. That is what we often do with the relationship between our minds and our bodies. We put our bodies through utter crap and then expect it to sustain us. We follow down paths of destructive thoughts and judgmental ideas about our bodies (and others) and then are surprised when our body and it’s shape becomes something we hate.
The Good Marriage
In the body/mind dichotomy analogy the marriage will always end in divorce. The body will indeed eventually die and our mind/consciousness/spirit/soul will either cease to exist or go on to another plane of existence without the body with which it started.
What we want is that while the marriage is intact for there to be a healthy, happy, and communicative relationship. Our mind listens to our body and takes it seriously and our body listens to our mind and does what is asked of it. It is no different than a real marriage, it takes patience, compromise, communications, love and attention for it to work.
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Drawing © 2019 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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