so, somebody’s BIG DREAM – CAME TRUE !!
CONGRATS TO A VERY TALENTED ARTIST.
MATT THURBER . . GOT HIS FIRST CARTOON PUBLISHED – in THE NEW YORKER / JUNE 2, 2017
in their . . DAILY SHOUTS.
for the complete page, and yes it is . . great !!
so . . horse-in-cheek !!
see: MATT THURBER / ‘What do You Like to Do on the Computer’ – THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE
BLOW-OUT !!
LAST CHANCE TO CATCH !!
THE GALLERY WILL BE OPEN, TODAY & TOMORROW / JUNE 3 & 4, 2017 / HRS: 12 – 6 PM
‘DANIEL HERR / GUY WALKER’
extended thru weekend / SAT & SUN / JUN 3 & 4, 2017
SAFE GALLERY, 1004 Metropolitan, Brooklyn
see: background & installation photos
PAINTINGS BY DANIEL HERR / SCULPTURE BY GUY WALKER
PAINTINGS BY DANIEL HERR / SCULPTURE BY GUY WALKER
INTERIOR / SCULPTURE BY GUY WALKER
“the sculptures are plaster casts formed from inside the fluid billows of large plastic bags tied in diverse formations.”
~gallery notes
IMAGES COURTESY: SAFE GALLERY
BOMB POP-UP PRESENTS:
VIDEO SCREENINGS / 6 – 8:45 PM
PETER CLOUGH / NICHOLAS STEINDORF / KYLE WILLIAMS
MUSIC / DJ 7 – 8 PM
BY DAEVA / RANDIBABYPOO
ON SALE: MAGAZINES, T-SHIRTS & DRESSES
ALL $$$ RAISED GOES TOWARD ‘PRECOG VOLUME 3’ – PRINT FUNDS
FIRST FRIDAYS – PETE’S CANDY STORE
709 LORIMER ST – BROOKLYN, NY
see: BOMBPOPUP.COM
BOMP POP-UP! . . is a Brooklyn-based, artist-run initiative producing pop-up Art & Music shows.
CHANGING . . GEARS !!
‘HELL BENT / HEAVEN SENT’ !!
last 2 weeks to catch . .
‘SIN COYOTE’ – ‘WITHOUT GUIDE’ . . . WORKS BY EMMANUEL LIMON
up thru JUNE 10, 2017
DRESS SHOP GALLERY, 322 TROUTMAN ST, BUSHWICK. BROOKLYN
HRS: by appointment only / there’s a ‘contact’ at the bottom of their home page
EMMANUEL LIMON / ‘SIN COYOTE’ . . . PIX FROM THE OPENING – APRIL 28, 2017
always fun – to swing by the DRESS SHOP GALLERY, on Troutman St. in Bushwick.
always deep underground & . . very cutting edge / even . . for Bushwick.
just not your ‘usual’ . . gang.
that was EMMANUEL LIMON’s self-customized ‘chopper’ . . parked outside.
an art work – all to itself, and that’s what I mean by . . not your usual gang.
but, still: skills, skills, & more skills.
I don’t know much about choppers, but just enough – to know this one is special.
you can follow Emmanuel Limon . . on Instagram @awkwardchopper (!!)
this is called a ‘King and Queen’ seat.
Emmanuel told me this particular one is “an offbeat of that – which is referred to as a ‘camel hump’ . . ”
must be an outrageous ride !!
and, I heard it does get . . use.
EMMANUEL LIMON . . .
Emmanuel Limon is also the founder, and one of the four current directors of DRESS SHOP GALLERY . .
a hardcore indie project / gallery space – with several artist studios behind the front showing room.
EMMANUEL LIMON, ‘Vida Ajena’, 2017.
hand worked leather, dye. 39 x 55.5 x 3.5 in.
‘Ajena’ translates . . as FOREIGN.
the ‘foreign’ life ?
the ‘alien’ life. the ‘strange’ life.
the . . DRAGON LION – REIGNS.
I think perhaps in general, the more you live life . . as a ‘foreigner’ – the better.
esp if foreigner, means headstrong & . . mythical.
yes, that’s . . PETER SUTHERLAND.
he’s like a flame to . . fire – when he’s around, it’s bound to be hot.
been a fan for many years.
see: PETER SUTHERLAND – PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
KEVIN EMMERSON, of LQQK Studios. silkscreener. and wearing a CNY / CHINESE NEW YORK cap.
def, check out: LQQK
def, check out: CNY / CHINEE NEW YEAR
on the wall:
EMMANUEL LIMON, ‘Cosido’, 2016. / translates as: SEWING !!
Leather / Steel. 22 x 20 x 1.5 in.
what can beat: hand-worked, butter-colored, rounded & baby smooth leather vs raw steel.
Pills, . . . . !!
EMILY DICKINSON, not.
but just as poignant – a journey.
EMMANUEL LIMON, ‘Banana de Vaca’, 2017.
Leather & steel. 44 x 65 x 3 in.
the leather is hand-molded around actual guns.
Emmanuel Limon does all the work hands-on, himself, from the fabrication to the detailed etching on the steel.
the leather is molded around the gun & is in deep relief.
the metaphors & meanings . . of guns – are many.
EMMANUEL LIMON, ‘Hell Bent, Heaven Sent’, 2017
Leather / Steel. 18 x 32 x 2.5 in.
detail, EMMANUEL LIMON.
note . . the hand-stitching.
this still makes me think of EMILY DICKINSON, but more for the contrasts . .
the subtexts / as well as the poetry !! that’s a real reverie of .. thought.
not to forget, all the influences brought to bear, to this new country, by succeeding waves of immigration.
& unless you were a Native American, and Emily D. was surely NOT !! she comes from a line of immigrants.
EMMANUEL LIMON. ‘Plata-O-Ploma’, 2015.
Leather/copper
21.5 x 27.5 x 3 in.
detail, EMMANUEL LIMON. ‘Plata-O-Plomo’.
it’s a huge & interesting marvel of human experience – to consider . . the whole baggage / the whole ‘trip’.
it’s such a dynamic flux.
even just consider: the Protestant heart of Emily’s early Americana vs. . . Emmanuel Limon’s Mexican / South L.A. born . . Christ iconography / Spanish colonist, etc. etc.
which is a whole topic in and of, itself.
and also: what makes 18th/19th C Europeans . . more entitled to populate America, than . . indigent South Americans ? which would be the natural . . continental geo / bio flow ???
KATIE BRANHAM, a director at DRESS SHOP GALLERY, and one of my fave people to talk to, ever.
so, what do you think, KATIE ?
somehow, ‘hell bent / heaven sent’ . . seems like a phrase, Emily Dickinson might relate to.
besides, Emily hand-stitched . . her poems too.
well, bound the pages into booklets, but still . . not many artists, esp today – share needle-work !!
‘COSIDO’ / ‘SEWING’ . . !!!!!!!!!!!!!
my little slice of the art world is still – linking up / stone by stone.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
‘NIGHTJAR’ – curated by ASHLEY GARRETT
featuring: SHARON CORE, PRISCILLA FUSCO, VALERIE HAMMOND, DEBORAH MASTERS . . & RUTH MARTEN
up thru JUNE 18, 2017
UNDERDONK, BUSHWICK
the gallery is open for public viewing: Sat & Sun / 1 – 6 PM
more pix . . from this strange, and eerie / on the dark side, botanical offering.
& which I dedicate to: EMILY DICKINSON.
curator ASHLEY GARRETT beside:
VALERIE HAMMOND, ‘Touch’, 2011.
pigment, gouache, color pencil, wax on Japanese paper. 48 x 25 in.
($12,000)
note . . the texture / and waxy, ‘off-radiant’ . . profile.
detail, VALERIE HAMMOND.
is that the evil eye ?
in the palm of the hand ?
to scare away evil / & not invoke ?
is that the magic -in the science of the bio ?
from the gallery notes:
“VALERIE HAMMOND’S traces lie somewhere between the spirit world and the human world – perhaps even a decomposition. Beginning by tracing the arms and bodies of her friends and relations, Hammond visualizes what transmutations of organic forms might lie inside the human outline. Filling this skin with a floral and infernal essence. flowers and fruit become wounds and ferns are skeletal in Hammond’s figures, imagining the slipping away of the human into a primeval space that might be of the land,or the sea.”
SHARON CORE . . ‘Untitled 3’, 2015.
Archival Pigment print, 31.25 x 24.75 in., edition of 7
($8,800 framed)
detail, SHARON CORE.
I spy . . thorns, and ‘rusty’ butterfly / night omens ?
hands, can ‘strangle’ – as well, as ‘grow’ and . . nuture.
from the gallery notes:
“SHARON CORE . . plants and grows the subjects of her photographs with her own hands. Having created a geodesic dome at her upstate studio, she explores the function and effect that long durational time can have on works of art. Planting, choosing and framing the contents of each photograph, Core is like a scientist as she moves all the way through form, even before it’s inception. The resulting photographs embody both the literal ‘sottobosco’ of the floral bed and it’s ecosystem and references the 17th century Sottobosco painting genre (as in the work of Dutch painter OTTO MARSEUS van SCHRIEK). Core’s photographs evoke a possessed, spatial presence in the woods, while a marginal world sets the stage for the darkening, deepening forest, from which slowly emerges an awareness of the delicate microworld of the forest bed.”
sottobosco: nature studies focused on the ‘dark, damp floor of the forest’, as opposed to say, carefully arranged floral arrangements in vases – sottobosco is Italian for ‘undergrowth.
source: ‘Holland (17th C) – by LESLIE KUO’
see: SHARON CORE – Wikipedia, b. 1965.
note the controversy re: her baked recreations of WAYNE THIEBAUD paintings (!!)
RUTH MARTEN, ‘#907’, 2015.
watercolor on 19C. print, 7-3/4 x 8 in.
($3,200 framed)
from the gallery notes:
“As a tattoo artist in New York in the 1970s and 80s and an illustrator for many years, RUTH MARTEN understands the power of images. Her works on paper unravel symbols and historical settings into new, mysterious narratives that change the power relationships between humans and animals. Awakening curious narratives in the 18th and 19th century prints she overdraws, Marten unearths something provocative from known historical contexts: surreal worlds where animals can have as much stature, emphasis and power as humans, and sometimrs even more.”
though in this particular piece, which is my fave – the 2 prim, young ‘ladies’ are the . . bio-animals ?!!
and yet, it’s also a very erotic, sad, & thorny ‘bush’. .not about to burst into blooms, any time soon – despite the watering . . . ‘tears’ / ‘bio-sperm’ ?
the symbolism . . could go on for pages. totally love-ly, stark, strange, and . . sad ?
detail, RUTH MARTEN
detail, RUTH MARTEN
detail. RUTH MARTEN.
well, maybe there is some strange death here ?
leaves turning colors, and then to: die ?
but, then again: maybe it’s completely the opposite ?
something to really contemplate, at any rate.
ASHLEY GARRETT helps us see the micro detailing, in RUTH MARTEN’S ‘in Repose’.
note: the random design on the T-shirt (!!) . . .
bio / bio / bio / the male & female ‘strange’ science – seahorse.
RUTH MARTEN, ‘In Repose’, 2017.
collage and watercolor on 20C. photo reproduction. 3-3/4 x 4-1/2 in.
(NFS)
RUTH MARTEN, detail.
this one, is more like the gallery note: animals . . taking on empowered / unusual. human (/) roles.
it’s quite micro . . painstakingly crafted, too.
def, check out: RUTH MARTEN – ARTIST/PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
and then, bow – wow !!
how really – eerie, strange & magical !!
the show takes on a humorous turn, and how funny – since everybody in this city . .
is currently DOGGIE OBSESSED, including ME !!
my ZORA, a gorgeous, sweet tempered, but can be scary if you – be bad !!
American Long Coat Akita, just turned one yr & 3 mos & weighs . . 86 pounds !!
& she follows me around – just like the dragon, in ‘Neverending Story’.
DEBORAH MASTERS, an assortment of strange and wily nily – clay doggy, ‘ghost’ / ‘puppets’ !!
DEBORAH MASTERS, ‘Lupi’. raku, threaded rod, satin, maple.
($4,000)
well, this one looks like a dog, but it’s a . . baby cheetah !!
DEBORAH MASTERS, ‘Baby Cheetah’. ceramic. threaded rod.
from the gallery notes;
“With her raku-fired “Little Ghosts,” DEBORAH MASTERS conjures up the spirits of animals. Evocative of altarpieces or devotional objects, these figures intimate aspects of Masters’ personal relationships with and attachment to animals. One can feel the memory imbued in Masters’ hands as borne out by the textures and definition of the figures in the sculpted animal’s face. Their satin dresses (femme / femme / femme) mark their wraith-like detachment from the living world. As if attempting to reverse the dying process , they honor the deep connection that can exist between animals and humans.”
yes, check out: DEBORAH MASTERS – ARTIST PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
as for the word: NIGHTJAR – !!!!!!
it is . . as strange with meaning – as it seems at first glance, what a beautiful . . musical, poetic-laden, scientific sounding – word.
it ranges in meaning all the way . . from a blood-sucking, bad-luck bringing nocturnal bird, to a simple chamber pot . . and then turns a really pretty steep corner: to perhaps being the bodily form – of a Patronus Charm !!
in the wizarding world of Harry Potter.
an ancient & mysterious charm that can conjure a powerful, magical guardian / a projection OF ALL YOUR MOST POSITIVE FEELINGS !!
see: NIGHTJAR, PATRONUS CHARM / HARRY POTTER
it’s strange times / war-like and yet, charmed.
science has to meet poetry / and reign.
I’ve still got EMILY DICKINSON, running through my veins – so how delightful / that my jaunts
can bring me – here.
gathered around – the ‘NIGHTJAR’, in Bushwick.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
Rockin’ . . the Mystery.
Exploring . . the Biology.
Feeling . . the Science.
‘NIGHTJAR’
an all woman show, curated by a woman/artist at . . UNDERDONK / in BUSHWICK.
‘NIGHTJAR’ – curated by ASHLEY GARRETT
opened May 12, 2017
the show runs thru JUNE 18, 2017
featuring the work of:
SHARON CORE, PRISCILLA FUSCO, VALERIE HAMMOND, DEBORAH MASTERS, & RUTH MARTEN
UNDERDONK, 1329 WILLOUGHBY AVE, #211, Bushwick / Brooklyn
the gallery is open weekends !!
HRS: SAT & SUN / 1- 6 pm / & by appointment
“At last we saw water gleaming at a distance, and came to a clear tarn, lined with brown leaves and holding a fair picture in its bosom….what a place fir summer, and how one envies the frogs!”
~UNA HAWTHORNE / press release
‘UNDERDONK . . is pleased to present ‘NIGHTJAR’ a show of 5 artists confronting human relationship with nature and animals. This relationship is rapidly changing as the ecosystem becomes increasing hostile and threatening to both humans and animals. The exhibition explores the conceptual, spiritual, personal and investigative ways in which we can relate to the organic, natural world around us.’
~gallery press release
the show’s curator, artist ASHLET GARRETT on the right.
that’s Priscilla Fusco’s clay ‘bell’, and . . on the wall behind her, photographs by Sharon Core
PRISCILLA FUSCO, ‘Grunter (bell) 2017. ceramic, EU speaker, Grunter, sound file.
the large hand-built, coil technique / clay bell is suspended from the ceiling by a strong wire.
it’s quite stunning, and . . strange.
($1,200)
inside the bell a sound loop is playing: a ‘geophone recording conducted by Dr. Kenneth C. Catania, included in his report “Worm Grunting, Fiddling, and Charming – Humans Unknowingly Mimic a Predator to Harvest Bait.”
PRISCILLA FUSCO, b. 1973, Maine . . is a recent graduate (2016) of the Hunter MFA program.
see: PRISCILLA FUSCO – PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
VALERIE HAMMOND, ‘Reverse Reflection’ series. edition of 18.
set of 6 drypoints, 16 x 15-1/2 in paper / 5-7/8 x 5-7/8 image.
($800 unframed / $970 framed)
VALERIE HAMMOND, ‘Reverse Reflection’ series, drypoint.
Valerie Hammond come to us by way of Santa Maria, California.
She received her MFA from the University of California at Berkeley, she now is New York City based.
she has an impressive international list of exhibitions in her C.V.
see: VALERIE HAMMOND – PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
a-ha, so !!
I wasn’t so far off regarding: BUSH-wick !!
light that spark, my darlin’ chicks !!
curators, artists & poets !!
women ruling this . . art season.
more on the other artists & artworks in ‘Nightjar’ – up next !!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
finding stepping stones / in the art world . . . brook /
NYC, Spring 2017.
loving nothing better, then when the path I take through the various shows I see – takes on a subtext of it’s own !!
this past month – it was really quite the WILD ride !!
and it was all about . . GIRLS !!!!!!
EMBRACE – THAT !!!!!!
RUTH MARTEN, ‘Possession’, 2012.
POSTCARD . . OBTAINED FROM UNDERDONK, on a visit last weekend / May 14, 2017.
yeah, that was so F . . is for femme, femme, femme tripppppy !!!
it seems to have started, most unknowingly . . with the ‘SURREALIST DINNER ‘ at the woman-artist run SELENA / OLIVIA SWIDER, and ANJULI RATHOD.
that, got me to – thinking: Surrealist, Symbolist.
women / artists.
then, about a week later I walk into ‘Like Oxygen’ at MOUNTAIN / expecting a very tech-oriented / cutting-edge underground experience, only to be awe-struck by . . the shaman-centered ‘Crystal Flowers Radio’ 2017, install by ALLISON WADE !!
where the artist, ALLISON WADE . .
was presenting recorded seances, she had set up in the former apt/home of . . FLORINE STETTHEIMER !!
if, this wasn’t pushing ‘Surreal’ & ‘Symbolist’ . . right off the map / it was definitely raising the spirits.
because . .
not more than 4 days later, on Tuesday May 2nd, I found myself at the JEWISH MUSEUM for the press preview of one of the most wonderful exhibits you will ever happen upon, ‘Florine Stettheimer: Painting Poetry’ !!
& up thru Sept 24, 2017 – don’t miss it.
now, not only was this . . a ghost come to life / but a woman artist, who is long over-due a revival of interest & recognition !!
here we not only a have a . . . a ‘SYMBOLIST’ – !!
but, a magic realist / visionary.
resplendent with the most passionate paintings, and imagine that: passionate & whimsical in one sentence !!
including the most surreal theatrical costumes, fortune telling cards & . . garden scenes. imagine that: surreal and domestic in the same sentence ??/!!
you go, FLORINE !!!!
then somehow, while chasing the Old World treasures . . of Count Carl Gustaf Tessin (1695-1770) / which morphed into the ‘Treasures from the Nationalmuseum of Sweden’ at the Morgan Library, me & my friend . . took a stroll into another exhibit running concurrently: ‘I’m Nobody! Who are you?’ – a sweet, new take on EMILY DICKINSON, which had me totally enthralled, so much so, that I even hit up the movie: ‘A Quiet Passion’ – a new re-telling of her story.
so, it was all in all, all, all / it was: all-women . . stepping stones !!
though, what was even more surprising . .
was how the tour, took a most strange, and winding, and unexpected, but . . p-a-s-s-i-n-a-t-e turn !!
flowing from surrealism, and seances / thru symbolism . . . onto the fanciful / magic realism !! of GILDED AGE . . FLORINE STETTHEIMER,
to the . . classic Victorian parlor . . of EMILY DICKINSON !!
via herbarium / scientific nature collections, black paper profile cut-outs, Daguerrotypes / shaped poetry & the hand-bound / hand-stitched fascicle booklets of Emily DICKINSON !!
so how strange, is the meandering art world I prowl . . . ?
that last weekend . . .
I find myself at . . ‘NIGHTJAR’ / at UNDERDONK !!!!
there’s a CHARLES BURCHFIELD painting from 1955 / Estimate: $120,000 – $180,000
up for auction – this weekend,
at Christie’s ‘American Art Online’ sale / open for bidding / from 17 May – 24 May, 2017.
see: CHRISTIE’S ‘AMERICAN ART ONLINE’ . . 17-24 MAY 2017
and, it’s no small potatoes, either /
titled: ‘June Wind’ . .
it is: 27 x 39-3/4 in / 2ft-4in x 3ft-1/4in !!
though it is watercolor & charcoal & chalk on paper, but laid down on board / vs. oil on canvas.
but prob very durable, if taken proper archhival care of.
if you wanted to double your money as soon as you dropped it / this would be it – art world-wise.
and, art world-wise . . this is small change / chump change.
jump the chump, is all I can say !!!
Image via Instagram @christies
CHARLES EPHRAIM BURCHFIELD (1893-1967), ‘June Wind’, 1955.
watercolor, charcoal and chalk on paper laid down on board
27 x 39-3/4 in.
executed in 1955.
LOT 110
Estimate: $120,000 – $180,000
Bidding starts at $100,000.
note: the lots from this auction, including this work / can be viewed at Christie’s Rockefeller Center Galleries, NYC
20 – 22 MAY 2017.
and, don’t say . . I never tell you – anything !!!! $$$ blue chip $$$ !!!!!
EM & me . . .
yesterday, May 16 . . was the day Emily died – in 1886, at her home in Amherst.
the Ghost – is in the room !!!!!
besides the current exhibit on Emily Dickinson, ‘I’m Nobody! Who are You?’ at the Morgan Library, up only til the end of the month / don’t miss it.
a feature length film . . on EMILY DICKINSON, titled, ‘A Quiet Passion’ / opened last week, here in NYC.
between the two of them / one can begin begin to feel closer to the austere Emily.
her times, her family and friends, her upbringing, and her life’s work . . with each endeavor, the museum show and the feature length film – dovetailing with the other, to fill in the blanks.
‘A QUIET PASSION’, (2017) . . . a feature film on EMILY DICKINSON,
directed by TERENCE DAVIES & starring CYNTHIA NIXON as Emily Dickinson – is now playing,
at the Quad Cinema . . here in NYC.
unlike the press I saw online just now, I would say, no – it is not a brilliant blockbuster, lordy.
what-ever . . are they thinking ?
it’s really only for . . diehard Dickinson fans; and perhaps some diehard poetry, and early Americana religious & history buffs / or . . . . ,
those with stressed-out jobs in, say . . the fashion world, who are just dying to veg-out on a pretty & yet informative / sensitive & delicately . . spaced-out 2 hour, period docu-drama, with . . good costumes.
speaking of which:
the various, period-correct / hand-tatted lace collars, seem to be authentic museum pieces ?!!!
PASSION ?
did somebody say: passion, albeit . . quiet ?
turns out, at the beating heart of the Emily Dickinson real life drama / lies a most passionate & most illicit, yet apparently hardly hidden . . love affair; that between her brother Austin, and his mistress . . MABEL LOOMIS TODD /
while of course, wouldn’t you know: EMILY and his proper wife, SUSAN . . were best friends.
go figure !!
it gets even more complicated by the evil woman Mabel’s apparent utmost devotion to Emily’s poetry, if not to Emily herself, but who really knows ?
. . turns out, it was MABEL who first edited, preserved and published Emily’s poems, after her death !! and a most interesting facet of the whole tale – and which is more fully addressed in the Morgan Library exhibit.
and, in fact not mentioned here at all. the publishing. the devotion to Emily’s work.
instead, this film’s focus, is to try / to fill us in on, cinematic-ally . . on how hard it was, for the contrarian Emily, so rebellious, and yet in her own way / so very rigid . . to come to terms with her brother’s absolute flaunting of convention / to live and to work . . amidst a very complicated betrayal of her life, on all levels.
it’s a long meandering road, but we do get . . how Emily’s stubborn, questioning & contrary views – the depth of which gave rise to her inward / haunting voice, and which followed closely nevertheless upon the strict & repressed Protestant / Puritanical upbringing she had been raised in; and whose conventional practices she upturns & questions at all turns . .
and which clearly has its own individualist / stubborn yet undeniably ‘passionate’ set of narrow beliefs, . . how that ‘QUESTIONING’ . . . is thrown right back at her, to rationalize and ask her to accept Austin’s deviant behavior.
as in: doesn’t everyone have a right to find their own path, passion, and way / and, most importantly to ber to be . . forgiven ?
there is some gentle alluding – to the fact that the long suffering wife, Susan . . might be lacking in the passion department / or else, ‘why did she resist Austin’s proposals of marriage – so many times ‘?
there’s also some ‘alluding’ to some ‘acceptable’ veneer for the affair; as to the fact that ‘Mabel’s husband might be compromised by . . venerality’/ or, as we say . . std / and in those days, it was quite a devastating situation, re final solution ‘surgery’.
at any rate, unlike the Morgan museum exhibit, which keeps a petty tight pace attuned to the intellectual & ‘literati-life’ / whirl of passion, that complicated Emily’s life, and I guess made her akin to a contemporary reality star – in her own little village, no ?
college town, or not.
‘A Quiet Passion’ . . treats us to a physical, lustful . . . scene of Emily actually walking in on Austin and Mable, getting it on, while innocently on the way to the kitchen – for a midnight snack !!!
oh my !!!!!
you know, and then all that Protestant – faith questioning /comes on-board / so you see them all argue it out – from both sides of the ‘righteous’ ledger / or any side, actually.
back & forth endlessly !!
one thing’s for sure, Mabel does not get kicked out.
but, my question is: is it ever directly addressed in the poems, or in any of the huge correspondence she is supposed to have kept up ? how Emily felt about this affair ?
what was the low-down ?
what’s in the real . . archive / and, what was . . re-imagined by these filmmakers ?
a poem is narrated overhead, after the ‘outing’, to the effect that: ‘why has my world spun out of my control’ ?!!
I don’t think there is much mention, either on paper, in letters or diaries / or at least in ones that haven’t been long burnt (!!) by now . . . because there’s absolutely no portrayal in this film, on how that relationship / the between Emily and her brother’s mistress, Mable – evolved over the years. though it seems it did, re the Morgan exhibit.
and that’s one reason I would like to read the poems – now.
searching for references . . to the ‘goings-on’ / between the . . lines !!
though, that’s where the Morgan Library pipes in again, letting you know how MABLE was a big fan of Emily’s work, and sent her letters, and Emily sent her poems.
in fact, it was red letter ‘Capital A’ MABEL LOOMIS TODD, and not wife/ friend Susan, who was to publish Emily’s poems after her death . .
the Morgan does give us some tantalizing facts, but with very little emotional detailing.
again, I guess none exists on record ?
but still, who knew . .
that under all that carefully crafted, minimalist phrasing, a questioning, troubled emotional ‘storm’, based on a most purple love triangle, though not of her own making / but one sibling step away – was a-brewing,
all along . . confounding & confusing her ????
no wonder, she looked so outward for order – in the world.
but the singular, most important aspect of this film, and one that fills in a big void at the Morgan exhibit, is not an emotional ‘coloring’, of her life, but an actual . . DEMONSTRATION !!
of EMILY, at work on her famous ‘fascicles’ / or hand-sewn tiny packets of poems, small folded paper pages stitched together / or, in other words . . as we would say today, DO-IT-YOURSELF-BOUND !!
at the ‘spine’, or fold.
although the Morgan exhibit speaks of these ‘fascicles’, or ‘packets’ – there are no photos or reproductions, let alone a precious archival one. turns out Mabel, who actually gave the name ‘fascicle’ to these little hand-sewn packages of poems, and the other early editors . . dismantled them !!
oh. no !!!!!!!!
wow, that’s a whole other story, somebody else – has to write.
A quiet passion . . ?
indeed !!!!!!!
CYNTHIA NIXON, as a pretty good, very believable . . EMILY DICKINSON, first stabs a few holes, clear through a few leafs of folded paper, upon which she has scribbled her poems / to ready them for hand-stitched sewn binding, or DIY, as we would term it today !!
and that’s another reason, Dickinson is seeing a sudden revival, & relevance today.
her shaped pages, scraps, collages . . and DIY binding !!
are allowing us to see her / through the magic of modern digital / photographic reproduction, not just the old typeset printing of yore, as the singular poet – artist / she really was !!
the times, they just be a-catching up . . to her.
rebel, outsider. visionary. self-driven.
Emily pulls the thread – through the holes, to hand-bind the tiny books into packets, the easier to store the poems.
or . . what we would call today, self-published ZINES !!!!!!!
a priceless moment in the film . . ‘A Quiet passion’.
EMILY stitches . . a hand-bound – ‘fascicle’.
you can see how good CYNTHIA NIXON is, too.
all 3 images: screen grabs / via a short clip on the @aquietpassion / Instagram page
how strange / funny, well actually sad:
that although, as the Morgan gets it . . Emily is now being seen through new eyes as a poet-artist, and they, the filmmakers . . did make a point of re-creating this well-informed scene of her hand-binding her little books, and it’s produced so well, and so lovingly . . .
the footage doesn’t make the . . commercial trailer ???
I guess they forget, that in the end, probably . . it would be only artists and writers, in effect the scholars . . who know, and are desperate for this kind of historical detail / that would be the ones who would be watching the trailer, and they should have included it.
they should not never have dumb-ed it down, for the masses.
a ‘Hallmark’ film, despite the illicit affair – this is, not.
a cross-over film / this is . . not !!
why not revel in what it – is.
it definitely has its moments.
see: ‘A QUIET PASSION’ – OFFICIAL WEBSITE / TRAILER
UNDERDONK / Bushwick Artist Collective PRESENTS: ‘NIGHTJAR’
OPENING FRI MAY 12 / 7-9 PM
the show runs thru JUNE 18, 2017
UNDERDONK, 1329 Willoughby Ave, Bushwick
HRS: SAT & SUN: 1- 6 PM & by appointment
a group exhibition, curated by . . ASHLEY GARRETT
including . .
SHARON CORE, PRISCILLA FUSCO, VALERIE HAMMOND, RUTH MARTEN, and DEBORAH MASTERS
is this too coarse ?
BUSH-wick / great spark – for an all women show / !!
~from the press release:
“At last we saw water gleaming at a distance, and came to a clear tarn, lined with brown leaves and holding a fair picture in its bosom…what a place for summer, and how one envies the frogs!” ~UNA HAWTHORNE
“UNA HAWTHORNE, NATHANIAL HAWTHORNE’S eldest daughter, describes in a personal letter .. following in the footsteps of THOREAU’S journey through Walden Pond.”
read more: ‘NIGHTJAR’ – GROUP SHOW at UNDERDONK
RUTH MARTEN, ‘#907’, 2015
Watercolor on 19th c. print, 7-3/4 x 8 in.
image via UNDERDONK