2013-07-01 MONDAY
Adam Naked In The Long Grass
Shakespeare got the plot for Macbeth and for most of his histories from Hollingshead. All collage artists create their art from things they found—not created themselves. But there are people who claim that is some kind of theft, and call it ‘appropriation’. I think that is ridiculous and yet another example of trying to restrict freedom of expression. Here is one of my own art pieces that might be considered shameless appropriation or—just maybe, as intended—as a tribute to one of the great masters.
http://kenstange.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1813x
Fluid Dynamics
Fluid Dynamics
My digital art often involves ‘appropriating’ images for modification and integration into the work. It also often involves ‘appropriating’ ideas from science. (This work also was made possible by the scientific application of sophisticated image manipulation software that allowed me to bottle that poor girl.)
You Can’t Judge It A Book By Its Cover
You Can’t Judge It A Book By Its Cover
“Ever since Marcel DuChamp’s infamous urinal, what is considered art seems to be more based on context than substance. That is equivalent to a book being defined by it having a binding.” –Hippokrites
I’ve Been Dreaming Of My Dead Grandmother
I’ve Been Dreaming Of My Dead Grandmother
Here is a new “Offering”.
Your Man Friday’s Ideas: Sexology
Your Man Friday’s Ideas: Sexology
There is an old wisecrack people make to a mother who announces she is pregnant again: “Don’t you know what’s causing it?” Actually it isn’t known when hominids first figured out the connection. It is known that we didn’t really know much more…
Lust
Lust
“Love's unjust but lust is always fair.” –Hippokrites
“If love’s a religion, lust must be mass.” –Hippokrites
Probably Even Pigeons Don’t Like Pigeonholes
Probably Even Pigeons Don’t Like Pigeonholes
Probably even pigeons don't like pigeonholes. Literary genres are pigeonholes for writers. I've been thinking about this because there is a lot of great poetry that isn't filed under poetry, but rather is to be found inside works from what seem very unpoetic genres, such as crime fiction. I've been thinking about this because I've been reading more of James Lee Burke‘s series of Dave Robicheaux crime novels set in and around New Orleans. I've been to the Big Easy half a dozen times, and the first time, being alone, I picked up one of Burke's novels to read while having a few beer in one of that city’s many and varied drinking establishments. These many years later I'm still reading him and remain impressed with the pure poetry of so much of his 'prose'—writing so much better than much of the stuff filed in the poetry pigeonhole just because it has line breaks. In browsing through reviews and commentaries on Burke, I find I'm definitely not alone in my admiration. The man is a poet.
Sex And Death
Sex And Death
It’s not a profound observation that the two major themes that writers explore are sex and death. (Okay, also their variations: love and suffering.) That they are intimately connected is exemplified by the phrase “the little death” to describe orgasm.
In at least one translation of Plato’s Symposium there is a line: “Love is a grave mental illness.” I truncated that for the title of my very first book: Love Is A Grave.
When I was completing a more recent collection of erotic poems, I thought a great title for the book would be one that was explicit about these two ubiquitous themes. Unfortunately I knew that the excellent Canadian poet, Al Purdy, had scooped me for that title, because I had a copy of his fine book: Sex and Death.
It’s interesting and seems appropriate that a book about the philosophy of biology also shares that title.
I finally decided to title my collection The Sad Science of Love.
An Educational Bridge Across The Cultural Divide
An Educational Bridge Across The Cultural Divide
Here is a virtual presentation of my contribution to The Eight International Conference on Arts In Society, held in Budapest this June. It is based on my years of teaching a course on "The Psychology of Art" at Nipissing University.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Pt-4xSHaQ&list=PLFC6F6B8B85E9FC52&index=53
Your Man Friday’s Ideas: Political Pseudoscience
Your Man Friday’s Ideas: Political Pseudoscience
Strong political views do not make good viewfinders when it comes to…
Bite The Bullet And Bite The Apple
Bite The Bullet And Bite The Apple
“All variations of the Garden Of Eden are Gardens of Ignorance. Civilization would collapse if we stopped giving into the serpent’s temptations.” –Hippokrites
http://www.kenstange.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1644&g2_imageViewsIndex=1
Freezing Fire
Freezing Fire
Getting back to concentrating on a work-in-progress: my memoir about growing up on the infamous South Side of Chicago, an experience very different from that our kids had growing up here in North Bay, Ontario.
On The Road But Still On The Island
On The Road But Still On The Island
I’ve been ‘on the road’, but Your Man Friday has still been sending his messages in a bottle every end of week.
About Those That Bug Us
http://kenstange.com/yourmanfriday/?p=1360
Art Is Useless, Right?
http://kenstange.com/yourmanfriday/?p=1364
Riding the Rails
Riding the Rails
We were recently in Boulder, Colorado, to visit our daughter, her husband, and our new grandson. We then took the Amtrak Zephyr from Denver to Sacramento. As we rode through the spectacular vistas of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, I was reminded that trains are the most literary way to travel. (You won’t find a lot of poems about traveling by plane.) I specifically remembered a great poem by Blaise Cendrars I first read many years ago: “Trans-Siberian Prose and Little Jeanne from France”.
