Saturday, May 31, 2008
Seven Ages Of Man
by William Shakespeare
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face,
creeping like snailUnwillingly to school.
And then the lover,Sighing like furnace,
with a woeful balladMade to his mistress' eyebrow.
Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths,
and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden,
and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.
And then the justiceIn fair round belly,
with good capon lin'd,With eyes severe,
and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws,
and modern instances,
And so he plays his part.
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face,
creeping like snailUnwillingly to school.
And then the lover,Sighing like furnace,
with a woeful balladMade to his mistress' eyebrow.
Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths,
and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden,
and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.
And then the justiceIn fair round belly,
with good capon lin'd,With eyes severe,
and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws,
and modern instances,
And so he plays his part.
History of Poetry
Poetry as an art form predates literacy. In preliterate societies, poetry was frequently employed as a means of recording oral history, storytelling (epic poetry), genealogy, law and other forms of expression or knowledge that modern societies might expect to be handled in prose. The Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic which includes poetry, was probably written in the 3rd century BCE in a language described by William Jones as "more perfect than Latin, more copious than Greek and more exquisitely refined than either." Poetry is also often closely identified with liturgy in these societies, as the formal nature of poetry makes it easier to remember priestly incantations or prophecies. The greater part of the world's sacred scriptures are made up of poetry rather than prose.
The use of verse to transmit cultural information continues today. Many English speaking–Americans know that "in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue". An alphabet song teaches the names and order of the letters of the alphabet; another jingle states the lengths and names of the months in the Gregorian calendar. Preliterate societies, lacking the means to write down important cultural information, use similar methods to preserve it.
Some writers believe that poetry has its origins in song. Most of the characteristics that distinguish it from other forms of utterance—rhythm, rhyme, compression, intensity of feeling, the use of refrains—appear to have come about from efforts to fit words to musical forms. However, in the European tradition the earliest surviving poems, the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, identify themselves as poems to be recited or chanted to a musical accompaniment rather than as pure song. Another interpretation, developed from 20th-century studies of living Montenegran epic reciters by Milman Parry and others, is that rhythm, refrains, and kennings are essentially paratactic devices that enable the reciter to reconstruct the poem from memory.
In preliterate societies, all these forms of poetry were composed for, and sometimes during, performance. As such, there was a certain degree of fluidity to the exact wording of poems, given this could change from one performance or performer to another. The introduction of writing tended to fix the content of a poem to the version that happened to be written down and survive. Written composition also meant that poets began to compose not for an audience that was sitting in front of them but for an absent reader. Later, the invention of printing tended to accelerate these trends. Poets were now writing more for the eye than for the ear.
The development of literacy gave rise to more personal, shorter poems intended to be sung. These are called lyrics, which derives from the Greek lura or lyre, the instrument that was used to accompany the performance of Greek lyrics from about the seventh century BCE onward. The Greek's practice of singing hymns in large choruses gave rise in the sixth century BCE to dramatic verse, and to the practice of writing poetic plays for performance in their theatres.
In more recent times, the introduction of electronic media and the rise of the poetry reading have led to a resurgence of performance poetry and have resulted in a situation where poetry for the eye and poetry for the ear coexist, sometimes in the same poem. The late 20th-century rise of the singer-songwriter and Rap culture and the increase in popularity of Slam poetry have led to a renewed debate as to the nature of poetry that can be crudely characterised as a split between the academic and popular views. As of 2005, this debate is ongoing with no immediate prospect of a resolution.
The use of verse to transmit cultural information continues today. Many English speaking–Americans know that "in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue". An alphabet song teaches the names and order of the letters of the alphabet; another jingle states the lengths and names of the months in the Gregorian calendar. Preliterate societies, lacking the means to write down important cultural information, use similar methods to preserve it.
Some writers believe that poetry has its origins in song. Most of the characteristics that distinguish it from other forms of utterance—rhythm, rhyme, compression, intensity of feeling, the use of refrains—appear to have come about from efforts to fit words to musical forms. However, in the European tradition the earliest surviving poems, the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, identify themselves as poems to be recited or chanted to a musical accompaniment rather than as pure song. Another interpretation, developed from 20th-century studies of living Montenegran epic reciters by Milman Parry and others, is that rhythm, refrains, and kennings are essentially paratactic devices that enable the reciter to reconstruct the poem from memory.
In preliterate societies, all these forms of poetry were composed for, and sometimes during, performance. As such, there was a certain degree of fluidity to the exact wording of poems, given this could change from one performance or performer to another. The introduction of writing tended to fix the content of a poem to the version that happened to be written down and survive. Written composition also meant that poets began to compose not for an audience that was sitting in front of them but for an absent reader. Later, the invention of printing tended to accelerate these trends. Poets were now writing more for the eye than for the ear.
The development of literacy gave rise to more personal, shorter poems intended to be sung. These are called lyrics, which derives from the Greek lura or lyre, the instrument that was used to accompany the performance of Greek lyrics from about the seventh century BCE onward. The Greek's practice of singing hymns in large choruses gave rise in the sixth century BCE to dramatic verse, and to the practice of writing poetic plays for performance in their theatres.
In more recent times, the introduction of electronic media and the rise of the poetry reading have led to a resurgence of performance poetry and have resulted in a situation where poetry for the eye and poetry for the ear coexist, sometimes in the same poem. The late 20th-century rise of the singer-songwriter and Rap culture and the increase in popularity of Slam poetry have led to a renewed debate as to the nature of poetry that can be crudely characterised as a split between the academic and popular views. As of 2005, this debate is ongoing with no immediate prospect of a resolution.
What is Poetry?....
Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose.
It may use condensed or compressed form to convey emotion or ideas to the reader's or listener's mind or ear; it may also use devices such as assonance and repetition to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poems frequently rely for their effect on imagery, word association, and the musical qualities of the language used. The interactive layering of all these effects to generate meaning is what marks poetry.
Because of its nature of emphasising linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another: a possible exception to this might be the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary. In most poetry, it is the connotations and the "baggage" that words carry (the weight of words) that are most important. These shades and nuances of meaning can be difficult to interpret and can cause different readers to "hear" a particular piece of poetry differently. While there are reasonable interpretations, there can never be a definitive interpretation.
It may use condensed or compressed form to convey emotion or ideas to the reader's or listener's mind or ear; it may also use devices such as assonance and repetition to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poems frequently rely for their effect on imagery, word association, and the musical qualities of the language used. The interactive layering of all these effects to generate meaning is what marks poetry.
Because of its nature of emphasising linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another: a possible exception to this might be the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary. In most poetry, it is the connotations and the "baggage" that words carry (the weight of words) that are most important. These shades and nuances of meaning can be difficult to interpret and can cause different readers to "hear" a particular piece of poetry differently. While there are reasonable interpretations, there can never be a definitive interpretation.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
World's Largest Photo
"The Great Picture" is the world's largest photograph taken with the biggest camera in the world. I love the fact that my little digital camera with 7 mega pixels fits in my pocket and can be taken anywhere, but I don't think a giant jet air craft hangar sized camera will ever be very popular!In July this year the Guinness Book of Records certified the hangar as the largest camera in the world, measuring 13.71 x 48.76 x 24.38 m (45 x 160 x 80 ft). The photograph was also confirmed to be the largest photograph on canvas, measuring 9.62 x 33.83 m (31ft 7in x 111ft).
The photo depicts the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. It is currently on show at the Art Center College of Design, South Campus Wind Tunnel, Pasadena, California until the 29th of September.
The Legacy Project says "The photograph is a magnificent tribute to a historic turning point in Orange County history as well as a statement about the evolution of the photographic medium, hand versus mechanical/technological processes, and the importance of “vision machines” to the advancement of culture." See more about the making of the picture and the Legacy Project.
DEVOTION....
by: Thomas Campion (1567?-1619)
FOLLOW your saint, follow with accents sweet!
Haste you, sad notes, fall at her flying feet!
There, wrapt in cloud of sorrow, pity move,
And tell the ravisher of my soul I perish for her love:
But if she scorns my never-ceasing pain,
Then burst with sighing in her sight, and ne'er return again!
All that I sung still to her praise did tend;
Still she was first, still she my songs did end;
Yet she my love and music both doth fly,
The music that her echo is and beauty's sympathy:
Then let my notes pursue her scornful flight!
It shall suffice that they were breathed and died for her delight.
FOLLOW your saint, follow with accents sweet!
Haste you, sad notes, fall at her flying feet!
There, wrapt in cloud of sorrow, pity move,
And tell the ravisher of my soul I perish for her love:
But if she scorns my never-ceasing pain,
Then burst with sighing in her sight, and ne'er return again!
All that I sung still to her praise did tend;
Still she was first, still she my songs did end;
Yet she my love and music both doth fly,
The music that her echo is and beauty's sympathy:
Then let my notes pursue her scornful flight!
It shall suffice that they were breathed and died for her delight.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Featured Poet
Sarah Lindsay
Sarah Lindsay is the author of Primate Behavior (Grove Press), a finalist for the National Book Award in 1997, and Mount Clutter (Grove Press). Copper Canyon Press will publish her next book, Twigs and Knucklebones, this fall. She earns her keep as a copyeditor for a custom publisher in Greensboro, North Carolina.
View featured poem
About Parnassus: Poetry in Review
Parnassus: Poetry in Review was founded in 1973 by Herbert Leibowitz (editor) and Stanley
Lewis (publisher) to provide a forum where poets, novelists, and critics of all persuasions could gather to review new books of poetry, including translations — international poetries have occupied center stage from our very first issue — with an amplitude and reflectiveness that Sunday book supplements and even the literary quarterlies could not afford. Reviews and essays, to be effective, would have to shun academic thinking and prose, and above all, embrace the diverse voices of democratic pluralism. Our literary profile has been defined by a passion for disinterested, wide-ranging, incisive commentary — and lilting prose; a poet’s reputation has never guaranteed a favorable or negative review. We never impose a point of view on any of our writers.
"For poetry reviewing, the best magazine, of course, is Parnassus: Poetry in Review."
—James Laughlin
"Parnassus: Poetry in Review, like the mountain whose name it bears, rises up unchallenged."
—Helen Vendler
"Parnassus: Poetry in Review plays a central role in contemporary letters."
—Octavio Paz
"Without Parnassus: Poetry in Review, American poetry would be dangling from a blurb."
—Rodney Jones
Parnassus: Poetry in Review
Volume 30, Number 1 & Number 2
Publisher & Editor: Herbert Leibowitz
Co-Editor: Ben Downing
Assistant Editor: Adam L. Dressler
Poetry Daily / Amazon.com Bookstore
Selected books available by Sarah Lindsay:
Primate Behavior
Mount Clutter
Sarah Lindsay is the author of Primate Behavior (Grove Press), a finalist for the National Book Award in 1997, and Mount Clutter (Grove Press). Copper Canyon Press will publish her next book, Twigs and Knucklebones, this fall. She earns her keep as a copyeditor for a custom publisher in Greensboro, North Carolina.
View featured poem
About Parnassus: Poetry in Review
Parnassus: Poetry in Review was founded in 1973 by Herbert Leibowitz (editor) and Stanley
Lewis (publisher) to provide a forum where poets, novelists, and critics of all persuasions could gather to review new books of poetry, including translations — international poetries have occupied center stage from our very first issue — with an amplitude and reflectiveness that Sunday book supplements and even the literary quarterlies could not afford. Reviews and essays, to be effective, would have to shun academic thinking and prose, and above all, embrace the diverse voices of democratic pluralism. Our literary profile has been defined by a passion for disinterested, wide-ranging, incisive commentary — and lilting prose; a poet’s reputation has never guaranteed a favorable or negative review. We never impose a point of view on any of our writers."For poetry reviewing, the best magazine, of course, is Parnassus: Poetry in Review."
—James Laughlin
"Parnassus: Poetry in Review, like the mountain whose name it bears, rises up unchallenged."
—Helen Vendler
"Parnassus: Poetry in Review plays a central role in contemporary letters."
—Octavio Paz
"Without Parnassus: Poetry in Review, American poetry would be dangling from a blurb."
—Rodney Jones
Parnassus: Poetry in Review
Volume 30, Number 1 & Number 2
Publisher & Editor: Herbert Leibowitz
Co-Editor: Ben Downing
Assistant Editor: Adam L. Dressler
Poetry Daily / Amazon.com Bookstore
Selected books available by Sarah Lindsay:
Primate Behavior
Mount Clutter
Saturday, May 17, 2008
What is Body Painting?...
Body painting, or sometimes bodypainting, is a form of body art, considered by some as the
most ancient form of art. Unlike tattoo and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, painted onto the human skin, and lasts for only several hours, or at most (in the case of Mehndi or "henna tattoo") a couple of weeks. Body painting that is limited to the face is known as face painting.
most ancient form of art. Unlike tattoo and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, painted onto the human skin, and lasts for only several hours, or at most (in the case of Mehndi or "henna tattoo") a couple of weeks. Body painting that is limited to the face is known as face painting.Traditional body painting
Body painting with clay and other natural pigments existed in most, if not all, tribalist cultures. 
Often worn during ceremonies, it still survives in this ancient form among the indigenous people of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific islands and parts of Africa. A semi-permanent form of body painting known as Mehndi, using dyes made of henna (hence also known rather erroneously as "henna tattoo"), was and is still practised in India and the Middle East, especially on brides. Since the late 1990s, Mehndi has become popular amongst young women in the Western world.
Indigenous peoples of South America traditionally use annatto, huito, or wet charcoal to decorate their faces and bodies. Huito is semi-permanent, and it generally takes weeks for this black dye to fade.
Often worn during ceremonies, it still survives in this ancient form among the indigenous people of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific islands and parts of Africa. A semi-permanent form of body painting known as Mehndi, using dyes made of henna (hence also known rather erroneously as "henna tattoo"), was and is still practised in India and the Middle East, especially on brides. Since the late 1990s, Mehndi has become popular amongst young women in the Western world.Indigenous peoples of South America traditionally use annatto, huito, or wet charcoal to decorate their faces and bodies. Huito is semi-permanent, and it generally takes weeks for this black dye to fade.
Actors and clowns around the world have painted their faces--and sometimes bodies--for centuries, and continue to do so today. More subdued form of face paints for everyday occasions evolve into the cosmetics we know today.
Modern body painting
Body art today evolves to the works more directed towards personal 
mythologies, as Jan Sterbak, Rebecca Horn, Youri Messen-Jaschin or Javier Perez.
Body painting is not always large pieces on fully nude bodies, but can involve smaller pieces on displayed areas of otherwise clothed bodies.
mythologies, as Jan Sterbak, Rebecca Horn, Youri Messen-Jaschin or Javier Perez.Body painting is not always large pieces on fully nude bodies, but can involve smaller pieces on displayed areas of otherwise clothed bodies.
Body painting led to a minor alternative art movement in the 1950s and 1960s, which involved covering a model in paint and then having the model touch or roll on a canvas or other medium to transfer the paint. French artist Yves Klein is perhaps the most famous for this, with his series of paintings 'Anthropometries'. The effect produced by this technique creates an image-transfer from the model's body to the medium. This includes all the curves of the model's body (typically female) being reflected in the outline of the image. This technique was not necessarily monotone; multiple colors on different body parts sometimes produced interesting effects.
Joanne Gair is a leading body paint artist whose work appeared for the tenth consecutive year in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She burst into prominence with a August 1992 Vanity Fair Demi's Birthday Suit cover of Demi Moore.
Body painting is commonly used as a method of gaining attention in political protests, for instance those by PETA against Burberry.
Body painting festivals
Georgetown University fans with painted chests in Atlanta. Such painting is common in many
sports.
Georgetown University fans with painted chests in Atlanta. Such painting is common in many
sports. Today body painting is huge in both amateur and professional arenas. Body painting festivals happen annually across the world, bringing together professional body painters as well as keen amateurs. Body paintings can also typically be seen at football matches, at rave parties, and at certain festivals. The World Bodypainting Festival in Seeboden in Austria is the biggest art event in the bodypainting theme and thousands of visitors admire the wonderful work of the participants.
Bodypaint festivals that take place in the US include American Body Arts Festival in upstate NY and US Bodypainting Festival in Albuquerque, NM.
Fine art body painting
The 1960s supermodel Veruschka is often cited as being many body painters' muse.[citatio needed] Her images in the book Transfigurations with photographer Holger Trulzsch have frequently been emulated.[citation needed] Other well-known works include Serge Diakonoff's books A Fleur de Peau and Diakonoff and Joanne Gair's Paint a licious.
The 1960s supermodel Veruschka is often cited as being many body painters' muse.[citatio needed] Her images in the book Transfigurations with photographer Holger Trulzsch have frequently been emulated.[citation needed] Other well-known works include Serge Diakonoff's books A Fleur de Peau and Diakonoff and Joanne Gair's Paint a licious.
Since the early 1990s bodypainting has become more widely accepted in the United States, and more and more body artists are beginning to come onto the national community.
Starting in late 2006 Sacramento art galleries started to use fine art bodypainting as performance art to draw new patrons.[citation needed]
In 2006 the first gallery dedicated exclusively to fine art bodypainting was opened in New Orleans by World Bodypainting Festival Champion and Judge, Craig Tracy. The Painted Alive Gallery is on Royal Street in the French Quarter.
Body painting in the commercial arena
A woman is painted with an ad for Linux. Many artists work professionally as body painters across the world. Their work is seen regularly in television commercials, such as the Natrel Plus
campaign featuring models camouflaged as trees. Body painters also work frequently in the film arena especially in science fiction with more and more elaborate alien creations being body painted. Stills advertising also used body painting with hundreds of body painting looks on the pages of the world's glossy magazines every year.
A woman is painted with an ad for Linux. Many artists work professionally as body painters across the world. Their work is seen regularly in television commercials, such as the Natrel Plus
campaign featuring models camouflaged as trees. Body painters also work frequently in the film arena especially in science fiction with more and more elaborate alien creations being body painted. Stills advertising also used body painting with hundreds of body painting looks on the pages of the world's glossy magazines every year. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, published annually, has in recent years featured a section of models that were body painted, attired in renditions of swimsuits or sports jerseys. Sometimes accessories are used such as bows or buttons. Some allege this allows SI to skirt their own no-nudity guideline.[citation needed]
In the 2005 Playmates at Play at the Playboy Mansion calendar, all Playmates appeared in the calendar wearing bikinis, but Playmates Karen McDougal and Hiromi Oshima actually appeared in painted on bikinis for their respective months.[citation needed] In October, 2005, the Playboy magazine cover featured a foldout of two models (Sara Jean Underwood and Victoria Thornton) wearing only body paint. The February 2008 cover of Playboy magazine featured Tiffany Fallon body painted as Wonder Woman. These covers and other body paintings done for Hugh Hefner's parties at the Playboy Mansion are created for Playboy by artist Mark Frazier.[citation needed] Michelle Manhart, Playboy model and former Air Force Staff Sergeant, recently posed in body paint for the cover of a 2008 pin-up calendar (published by Operation Calendar).
Face Painting
Face paint is an artistic application of cosmetic "paint" to a person's face. There are special 
cosmetic "paints" made just for face painting; people should ask before having face paints applied what kind of paints are being used. "Craft" paints are not meant for use on skin and are not acceptable, nor are watercolor pencils or markers. These can cause staining and allergic reactions.
cosmetic "paints" made just for face painting; people should ask before having face paints applied what kind of paints are being used. "Craft" paints are not meant for use on skin and are not acceptable, nor are watercolor pencils or markers. These can cause staining and allergic reactions. From ancient times, it has been used for hunting, religious reasons, and military reasons (such as camouflage and to indicate membership in a military unit). In re-entered the popular culture during the hippie movement of the late 1960s, when it was common for young women to decorate their cheeks with flowers or peace symbols at anti-war demonstrations.
For several decades it has been a common entertainment at county fairs, large open-air markets (especially in Europe and the Americas), and other locations where children and adolescents are. Face painting is very popular among children at theme parks, parties and festivals throughout the Western world. Though the majority of face painting is geared towards children, many teenagers and adults enjoy being painted for special events, such as charity fund raisers.
There are many kinds of face paint, including:
Designs that include the emblems of favorite sports teams, cartoon characters, and other designs that are "cute" or otherwise appealing to the young.
Dramatic designs that appeal to all ages.
Costuming designs which transform the wearer into someone/something completely different, such as Jack Haley's silver face makeup as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz.
Designs that endeavor to color the face in such a way to indicate solidarity with a cause, usually the outcome of a sporting contest or membership in a group.
Most theme parks have booths scattered around where a person can have a design painted on their face. A similar activity is the application of "instant tattoos", which are paint or ink-based designs that are put on as one unit and removed by means of water, alcohol, soap, or another mild solvent
Use in military
A soldier applies green face paints as camouflage.
It is common in militaries all over the world for soldiers in combat scenarios to paint their faces and other exposed body parts (hands, for example) in natural colors such as green, tan, and loam for camouflage purposes
A soldier applies green face paints as camouflage.
It is common in militaries all over the world for soldiers in combat scenarios to paint their faces and other exposed body parts (hands, for example) in natural colors such as green, tan, and loam for camouflage purposes
Body Paints
Modern face and body paints are made according to stringent guidelines, meaning these are non-toxic, usually non-allergenic, and can easily be washed away. These are either applied with hands, paint brush, and natural sea sponge, or alternatively with an airbrush. Contrary to the popular myth perpetuated by the James Bond film Goldfinger, a person is not asphyxiated if their whole body is painted, although wearing body paint for a prolonged period may cause heat stroke by inhibiting perspiration. Liquid latex may also be used as body paint and allows for better perspiration, however care should be taken to avoid the painful removal of hair when the latex is pulled off.
As for Mehndi, natural brown henna dyes are safe to use; however, synthetic black dyes can cause serious skin allergies, and require patch tests before the actual paintings commence. Jagua is a dark indigo plant based dye that is safe to use on the skin and is approved for cosmetic use in the EU.
Whatever the type of body paint (the same is true for cosmetics), should the skin show any sign of allergy, one should immediately cease using it. Moreover, it should not be applied onto open wounds, nor should it be applied too close to the eyes. It is not advisable to use paints or products which have not been formulated for use on the body as these can result in serious allergic reactions.
Manufacturers of widely available professional body and face paint include: Kryolan, Mehron, Snazaroo, Wolfe Face Art & FX, Ben Nye and Fardel.
Hand Art
Hand art is the application of make-up or paint to a hand to make it appear like an animal or other object. Some hand artists, like Guido Daniele, produce images that are trompe l'oeil representations of wild animals painted on people's hands.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Can I be Your Soldier...
by Danny Dork
Lost and alone of the battlefield of love
With no way to shield yourself from the pain
Falling down again and again,
Surrounded by fire, wishing for rain.
Living life trapped in the depths of your mind,
with an iron case surrounding your heart.
Not being able to trust in anyone,
for to many times you've been ripped apart.
But....Can I be you soldier?
Rescuing you from all your pain,
carrying you off the battlefield,
through the fire and after the rain.
Tending to each emotional wound,
while dusting off that old iron case.
Making right all the wrong that was done to you,
putting that quality glow back in your face.
All these words I say to you,
Might not come as a surprise.
Because of all the other guys
that came in your life,
telling you nothing but lies.
I can't tell you to trust me,
with all you've been through.
But everything I say here,
I say because I truly love you!
Lost and alone of the battlefield of love
With no way to shield yourself from the pain
Falling down again and again,
Surrounded by fire, wishing for rain.
Living life trapped in the depths of your mind,
with an iron case surrounding your heart.
Not being able to trust in anyone,
for to many times you've been ripped apart.
But....Can I be you soldier?
Rescuing you from all your pain,
carrying you off the battlefield,
through the fire and after the rain.
Tending to each emotional wound,
while dusting off that old iron case.
Making right all the wrong that was done to you,
putting that quality glow back in your face.
All these words I say to you,
Might not come as a surprise.
Because of all the other guys
that came in your life,
telling you nothing but lies.
I can't tell you to trust me,
with all you've been through.
But everything I say here,
I say because I truly love you!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Road Not Taken By ROBERT FROST
Mountain Interval1916
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
POEM OF THE DAY....
Godzilla Headache in Reverse
more than anything i would like
to see the morning come up over the hills
and know that the haze that clutters these
rooms will dissipate
forever in the heat of the coming day &
more than anything i would like a river or
rivers of molten lava
to come crashing down this door that holds
this city captive &
more than anything i would like to sleep
under branches that wave in the wind
as if motioning to some unseen secret way
over there where
the morning comes up over the hills
like a star-spangled-banner type of sound
that repeats itself through all the valleys
covered with all the nervous laughter of
another morning
coming slowly
up over the hills
Robert Todd
more than anything i would like
to see the morning come up over the hills
and know that the haze that clutters these
rooms will dissipate
forever in the heat of the coming day &
more than anything i would like a river or
rivers of molten lava
to come crashing down this door that holds
this city captive &
more than anything i would like to sleep
under branches that wave in the wind
as if motioning to some unseen secret way
over there where
the morning comes up over the hills
like a star-spangled-banner type of sound
that repeats itself through all the valleys
covered with all the nervous laughter of
another morning
coming slowly
up over the hills
Robert Todd
Thursday, May 8, 2008
OCTAVIO PAZ (Spotlight Poet)
A Nobel Prize-winning poet, Paz was born in Mexico City. His literary mentors included Pablo Neruda, and he served as Mexico's ambassador to India in the 1960s.
Octavio Paz was born in Mexico City in 1914 to a family of Spanish and native Mexican descent. He was educated at the National University of Mexico in law and literature.
Under the encouragement of Pablo Neruda, Paz began his poetic career in his teens by founding an avant-garde literary magazine, Barandal, and publishing his first book of poems, Luna silvestre (1933).
In his youth, Paz spent time in the United States and Spain, where he was influenced by the Modernist and Surrealist movements. His sequence of prose poems, Aguila o sol? (Eagle or Sun?, 1951) is a visionary mapping of Mexico, its past, present, and future.
His collection Piedra de Sol (Sun Stone, 1957) borrows its structure from the Aztec calendar. This long poem, and Paz's sociocultural analysis of Mexico, El laberinto de la soledad (The Labyrinth of Solitude, 1950), established him as a major literary figure in the 1950s.
In 1962, Paz became Mexico's ambassador to India and resigned six years later in protest when government forces massacred student demonstrators in Mexico City.
His later work shows an ever-deepening intelligence and complexity as it investigates the intersection of philosophy, religion, art, politics, and the role of the individual. "Wouldn't it be better to turn life into poetry rather than to make poetry from life," Paz asks. "And cannot poetry have as its primary objective, rather than the creation of poems, the creation of poetic moments?"
His various collections of essays engage culture, linguistics, literary theory, history, and politics with a level of originality and erudition that is unrivaled; these and his poems form a breadth of work that expresses, in the words of Carlos Fuentes, "the existence of a plurality of possibilities for harmony and truth, outside the limited range of our inherited dogmas."
Paz was awarded the Cervantes Award in 1981, the Neustadt Prize in 1982, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. Paz died in 1998.
A Selected Bibliography
Poetry
Luna Silvestre (1933)
Baja tu clara sombra y otros poemas (1937)
Entre la piedra y flor (1941)
Aguila o sol? (1951)
Piedra de sol (1957)
Salamandra (1962)
Selected Poems (1963)
Pasado en claro (1975)
Vuelta (1976)
The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987 (1987)
Prose
El laberinto de la soledad (1950)
Corrientae alterna (1967)
Posdata (1970)
Tiempo nublado (1984)
La otra voz (1990)
Essays
El arco y la lira (1956)
Los hijos del limo (1974)
Sunday, May 4, 2008
SCULPTURE
Sculpture can concurrently be referenced as the most traditional and the most innovative of the visual arts. It is among the oldest and most contested forms of representation. In its complexity, sculpture is both noun and verb, both the means and the end to production. It is according to the Oxford English Dictionary, 
"originally, the process or art of carving or engraving a hard material so as to produce designs, or figures figure in relief, in itaglio, or in the round. In modern use, that branch of fine art which is concerned with the production of figures in the round or in the relief, either by carving, by fashioning some plastic substance, or by making a mould for casting in metal." Most basically, sculpture can be defined as an artistic medium in so much as it acts as a mode of communication through which the artist emotionally and intellectually expresses himself to the audience. Historically, sculpture has been defined against, and 
typically in direct opposition to, painting, largely because sculpture breaks the constraints of the canvas and embraces the possibilities of the third dimension. It occupies a space in a manner that is impossible to the very nature of painting. As such sculpture, "...is to be distinguished from painting as the plastic art that gives preference to the tactile sensations as against visual sensations," (Read, 232) and as an art form that, "...gives satisfaction in the touching and handling of objects (see touch) That indeed, is the only way in which we can have direct sensation of the three-dimensional space of an object" (Read, 228). Intrinsic to sculptures third-dimensionality is mass and volume, both actualities of form that cannot be captured in painting. As W.J.T. Mitchell argues, "it [sculpture] does not project a virtual space, opening a window into immensity as (say) a landscape painting does; it takes up space, moves and occupies a site, obtruding on it or changing it," (166). Essentially, sculpture takes up real, tangible space. In fact, it is possible to consider sculpture as the artistic embodiment of space, as does Heidegger in his definition of this particularly artistic medium. The philosopher explains, "We would have to learn to recognize that things themselves are places and do not merely belong to a place," and that sculpture is thereby "...the embodiment of places," (Heidegger, 6-7) (see body embodiment). Mitchell proposes that place, "...includes both physical and institutional sites, the cultural location of sculpture among the arts and media as well as its placement in real space," (169). The reference
to architectural place is key here, particularly since among the oldest of western sculpture originates within architecture. Within ancient Egypt, sculpture was, "...subordinate to architecture, and the nature of architecture determined the nature and even the technique of the sculpture," (Read, 229). Sculpture found its place within the architectural structure, largely in relief (Read, 229).
In the Egyptian conception of art, there was no reason for sculpture to be separated from practical function as the, "intention behind Egyptian art is functional. There is no room for fantasy," (Read, 229). There was simply no reason for art, and especially sculpture, to stand on its own as an artifact of nothing more than the creative experience. The architectural foundations of sculpture, both literal and figurative, continued into both the Greek and Roman conceptions of this medium. Sculpture was tied to temples, public buildings, and monuments (Rowell, §III, i). Two significant changes should, however, be noted. Whereas Egyptian sculpture existed primarily in relief form, Greek and Roman sculpture, the latter of which was mainly inspired in the replication and restoration of Greek sculpture began to experiment with freestanding figures (Rowell, §III, i), as, for instance, in the statue of Aphrodite of Melos.
Furthermore, whereas sculpture has previously been considered merely decorative in nature, it now began to take on a stronger significance as the representation of the gods (Penny, §I, i). Architecture, and particularly the temple, "...was designed as a showcase for the image of the god within it," (Rowell, §III, i). Among the best realized examples of this is the Parthenon and its tremendously complex frieze, which exists in a space all its own; "The concept of space here is not illusionistic. But the measurable, real space is not the significant factor. The space in the Parthenon frieze is purely sculptural" (Butler, 39). Though Classical sculpture certainly paid great attention to religious, sacred artistic creations, there certainly existed a secular sect as well. The concept of ideal beauty that figures so greatly into the sculpture of this period, "...must have had religious motivations, but it was a severely disciplined aesthetic exercise with an appeal translatable into secular terms," (Penny, §I, ii). In the mid 5th century BC, in the aftermath of the Persian wars, the Greek aesthetic centered itself on, "...ideal beauty, pure harmony, and physical perfection, with man wholly at the center" (Butler, 33). Mortals became artistic subjects presented in the light of aesthetic and ethical aspiration. Such is Youth, a bronze figure that captures ancient conceptions of perfect beauty. Important as well though within statue is the exploration of character by the artist. The figure represented is not merely a representation of ideals but a singular individual as well. Here, one can see the Classical movement from abstraction to naturalism, through which, "artists learned to search men's faces for what was revealed there," (Butler, 43). The real, as opposed to the ideal, has begun to achieve the significance it would later carry. The progression of Classical ideals that would eventually continue through rediscovery in the Renaissance was initially inhibited by a number of factors that would eventually lead to the advent of the Medieval era. Yet, perhaps the most important of these is the standardization of religion to Christianity, whose doctrine placed great restrictions on idolatry. Sculpture again became largely restricted to architecture, though some autonomy was eventually achieved. Statues were re-introduced into the architecture as 
columns and would later occupy niches or free-stand on alters (Penny, §I, iii-iv), as at Reims Cathedral. The Church, and aspiration to its own divine ideals, became the primary motivation and inspiration of sculpture at this time. The functionalism that marks this extended period in sculptural history simultaneously produced and was produced by the art "theory" of the times. This is particularly due to the fact that up until the Age of Enlightenment, artists were the prime authors of treatises on art. Among those ancient texts that dealt with sculpture were those by Polykleitor and Euphranor, both sculptors themselves. Not coincidentally, the content of these treaties were primarily instructional in nature. Likewise in the Middle Ages, the absorption into Christianity of ethics and aesthetics reduced the possibility and interest of personal creative exploration. The artist's mission was tracked purely into the wills of the Church; "...the paramount requirement for the craftsman - the imagier -was to teach the Church's lessons..." (Butler, 1). The expression of the individual was thereby devalued to a greater purpose, which was reflected in sculptural treatise. This is not to say that theory did not exist in relation to art at these times. Theory, which can perhaps be better understood as philosophy at this point, simply did not concern itself solely with the study of art. Rather, it explored art in the service of larger ideals. In both the ancient and medieval worlds, art, including sculpture, was largely defined and constructed towards the achievement of abstract ideals, whether they are divine, ethical, or intellectual in nature (Avery, §III). Art, and art thought, for its own sake simply did not exist, as we now understand it. The (re)birth of humanism in the western Renaissance brought with it the beginnings of a revolution in the concept and practice of sculpture. The nature of the work of art was no longer purely functional in nature. Rather, art began to take on an autonomous and unique significance as, "...having a purpose manifest in the work itself, independent of any teaching or ceremonial context," (Butler, 3). The result was a, "...new self-awareness about the intellect's involvement in creating the work..." (Butler, 3). Just as art began a life of its own, so did the artist. Individual creativity and vision were now recognized in a manner that the Classical artists had only begun to pursue. The sculptor in particular found himself in a position that had previously been reserved for his product. No longer was sculpture alone allied with the divine but the artist himself, "...resembled his creator through his ability to shape himself and his world. To create an image accurately representing his own body and to do it in a beautiful form became a sacred task for Renaissance man," (Butler, 109). Among the best known and appropriate of sculpture representative of this time is Michelangelo's David. The Classical figure is invoked here in the overall structure of the body. However, there exists something more natural, more direct than the work of the Greeks and Romans. The stance is more relaxed and fluid and the sculpture's expression contorts his face in a manner that is contradictory to conceptions of ideal beauty (Butler 130-131). This elaboration and exploration of understanding of sculpture and the sculptor was to explode in a conceptual revolution in the 
18th century. At this time, art history and art criticism are born as academic disciplines, particularly in the publication of Winckelmann's History of Ancient Art in 1764. Furthermore, the critical reviews of Denis Diderot cemented the significance of art criticism and its eventually transformation into art theory (Barasch, 3-4). A new field of study was established, one concerned solely with the history and theory of art. Though the approach to conceptualizing art changed drastically at this time, actually sculptural production, though not poor, focused mainly on the re-appropriation of classical style, as an answer to the simplicity lost through Rococo (Butler, 6). Though style may have been saved, however, innovation was sacrificed. "Winckelmann, Herder, Hegel, and other philosophers and connoisseurs of the time who say sculpture as the leading art form could only recognize it in Greek terms. Their approach allowed for no progress in sculpture... . The Neoclassical artist's response often lapsed into imitation" (Butler, 7). Through this point, sculpture maintained itself as a purely visual medium, striving to, "...create a pictorial illusion in which the ponderability of the material was etherealized.... The sculptor worked with and for the eye and never conceived his work as possessing any other unity than that of the visual image," (Read, 235). However, developments in painting throughout the course of the 19th century, and most particularly French Impressionism, transformed the concept of the picture in such a way alluded the very nature of sculpture. In response, and out of necessity, there came the introduction of the tactile in to sculpture, particularly through the work of August Rodin (Butler, 10, 11). The sculptor embraced the complexity of depth, though not only physically but emotionally and intellectually as well. As in his The Thinker , Rodin's figures speak to, "...the human condition-about solitude, longing, rapture, despair," (Butler, 225). No longer was sculpture purely an exercise in prescribed form, but an exploration of intuition and dynamics (Butler, 225). Herein can be located the next break in sculptural practice and theory, the point Rosalind Krauss defines as the fissure between the pre-modern and the modern sculpture. The former is allied with the Heideggerian definition of sculpture earlier proposed. The author recognizes that when sculpture was allied with the monument (pre-modernity) it held a specific place, "...and 
speaks in a symbolic tongue about the meaning or use of that place." In other words, monument and place are allied together to produce a sculptural cohesive whole. However, with the birth of modernism, Krauss argues that the internal logic of the monument begins to crack. This is not to say that place no longer holds a necessary spot in sculptural success. However, whereas the monument incorporated space positively, modernist space embodies it only as a negative. The birth of modernist sculpture enters into, "...its negative condition--a kind of sitelessness, or homelessness, an absolute loss of place," (Krauss, 34). The monument becomes, "...functionally placeless and largely self-referential," (Krauss, 34). The modernist rejection of space, she argues, demands that sculpture now be defined in the negative. It no longer "is" but has become the embodiment of what it "is not" (Krauss, 34-35). In the birth of modernism, "Sculpture, it could be said, had ceased being a positivity and was now the category that resulted from the addition of the not-landscape to the not-architecture," (Krauss, 36). Not insignificantly, it is in Modernism that one sees the severance of sculpture from architecture. Essentially, sculpture becomes the complex opposite to what Krauss defines as the combination of architecture and landscape: site-construction. With the advent of the postmodern, one begins to see the development of an even more complex comprehension of sculpture. Sculpture is no longer a simple negation of place, and subsequently a rejection of landscape and architecture. Instead, as Krauss argues, sculpture begins to explore the avenues of possible combinations between the negative and the positive: landscape and the not-landscape, architecture and the not-architecture (Krauss, 41). In this construction rests the various experiments of 20th century sculptural placement. For instance, the sculptural garden takes on a renewed significance, though at this point, the gardens are largely associated with a single sculptor. Taking one step further, Land Art developed in the 1960's. Site and sculpture have become a cohesive whole. A more contained and accessible version of this is the installation. Here too, the particularization of place is realized (Rowell, §III, ii). The 20th century has also witnessed the re-configuration of painting and sculpture. However, this time, sculpture became the defining force, and painting adopted the concerns of, "...plastic values, geometric forms, and the analysis of objects in terms of their weight, density, and volume," (Butler, 14). What then was sculpture to do? What else but to re-constitute the medium so that, "...the qualities of three-dimensional mass, contained surfaces, stability, and certain types of materials and settings are not essential to sculpture" (Butler, 18). The sculptural medium has freed itself to explore other dimensions, that are rooted not in the physical, but in the emotionally and intellectual.
Diana Konopka Winter 2003
"originally, the process or art of carving or engraving a hard material so as to produce designs, or figures figure in relief, in itaglio, or in the round. In modern use, that branch of fine art which is concerned with the production of figures in the round or in the relief, either by carving, by fashioning some plastic substance, or by making a mould for casting in metal." Most basically, sculpture can be defined as an artistic medium in so much as it acts as a mode of communication through which the artist emotionally and intellectually expresses himself to the audience. Historically, sculpture has been defined against, and 
typically in direct opposition to, painting, largely because sculpture breaks the constraints of the canvas and embraces the possibilities of the third dimension. It occupies a space in a manner that is impossible to the very nature of painting. As such sculpture, "...is to be distinguished from painting as the plastic art that gives preference to the tactile sensations as against visual sensations," (Read, 232) and as an art form that, "...gives satisfaction in the touching and handling of objects (see touch) That indeed, is the only way in which we can have direct sensation of the three-dimensional space of an object" (Read, 228). Intrinsic to sculptures third-dimensionality is mass and volume, both actualities of form that cannot be captured in painting. As W.J.T. Mitchell argues, "it [sculpture] does not project a virtual space, opening a window into immensity as (say) a landscape painting does; it takes up space, moves and occupies a site, obtruding on it or changing it," (166). Essentially, sculpture takes up real, tangible space. In fact, it is possible to consider sculpture as the artistic embodiment of space, as does Heidegger in his definition of this particularly artistic medium. The philosopher explains, "We would have to learn to recognize that things themselves are places and do not merely belong to a place," and that sculpture is thereby "...the embodiment of places," (Heidegger, 6-7) (see body embodiment). Mitchell proposes that place, "...includes both physical and institutional sites, the cultural location of sculpture among the arts and media as well as its placement in real space," (169). The referenceto architectural place is key here, particularly since among the oldest of western sculpture originates within architecture. Within ancient Egypt, sculpture was, "...subordinate to architecture, and the nature of architecture determined the nature and even the technique of the sculpture," (Read, 229). Sculpture found its place within the architectural structure, largely in relief (Read, 229).
In the Egyptian conception of art, there was no reason for sculpture to be separated from practical function as the, "intention behind Egyptian art is functional. There is no room for fantasy," (Read, 229). There was simply no reason for art, and especially sculpture, to stand on its own as an artifact of nothing more than the creative experience. The architectural foundations of sculpture, both literal and figurative, continued into both the Greek and Roman conceptions of this medium. Sculpture was tied to temples, public buildings, and monuments (Rowell, §III, i). Two significant changes should, however, be noted. Whereas Egyptian sculpture existed primarily in relief form, Greek and Roman sculpture, the latter of which was mainly inspired in the replication and restoration of Greek sculpture began to experiment with freestanding figures (Rowell, §III, i), as, for instance, in the statue of Aphrodite of Melos.
Furthermore, whereas sculpture has previously been considered merely decorative in nature, it now began to take on a stronger significance as the representation of the gods (Penny, §I, i). Architecture, and particularly the temple, "...was designed as a showcase for the image of the god within it," (Rowell, §III, i). Among the best realized examples of this is the Parthenon and its tremendously complex frieze, which exists in a space all its own; "The concept of space here is not illusionistic. But the measurable, real space is not the significant factor. The space in the Parthenon frieze is purely sculptural" (Butler, 39). Though Classical sculpture certainly paid great attention to religious, sacred artistic creations, there certainly existed a secular sect as well. The concept of ideal beauty that figures so greatly into the sculpture of this period, "...must have had religious motivations, but it was a severely disciplined aesthetic exercise with an appeal translatable into secular terms," (Penny, §I, ii). In the mid 5th century BC, in the aftermath of the Persian wars, the Greek aesthetic centered itself on, "...ideal beauty, pure harmony, and physical perfection, with man wholly at the center" (Butler, 33). Mortals became artistic subjects presented in the light of aesthetic and ethical aspiration. Such is Youth, a bronze figure that captures ancient conceptions of perfect beauty. Important as well though within statue is the exploration of character by the artist. The figure represented is not merely a representation of ideals but a singular individual as well. Here, one can see the Classical movement from abstraction to naturalism, through which, "artists learned to search men's faces for what was revealed there," (Butler, 43). The real, as opposed to the ideal, has begun to achieve the significance it would later carry. The progression of Classical ideals that would eventually continue through rediscovery in the Renaissance was initially inhibited by a number of factors that would eventually lead to the advent of the Medieval era. Yet, perhaps the most important of these is the standardization of religion to Christianity, whose doctrine placed great restrictions on idolatry. Sculpture again became largely restricted to architecture, though some autonomy was eventually achieved. Statues were re-introduced into the architecture as 
columns and would later occupy niches or free-stand on alters (Penny, §I, iii-iv), as at Reims Cathedral. The Church, and aspiration to its own divine ideals, became the primary motivation and inspiration of sculpture at this time. The functionalism that marks this extended period in sculptural history simultaneously produced and was produced by the art "theory" of the times. This is particularly due to the fact that up until the Age of Enlightenment, artists were the prime authors of treatises on art. Among those ancient texts that dealt with sculpture were those by Polykleitor and Euphranor, both sculptors themselves. Not coincidentally, the content of these treaties were primarily instructional in nature. Likewise in the Middle Ages, the absorption into Christianity of ethics and aesthetics reduced the possibility and interest of personal creative exploration. The artist's mission was tracked purely into the wills of the Church; "...the paramount requirement for the craftsman - the imagier -was to teach the Church's lessons..." (Butler, 1). The expression of the individual was thereby devalued to a greater purpose, which was reflected in sculptural treatise. This is not to say that theory did not exist in relation to art at these times. Theory, which can perhaps be better understood as philosophy at this point, simply did not concern itself solely with the study of art. Rather, it explored art in the service of larger ideals. In both the ancient and medieval worlds, art, including sculpture, was largely defined and constructed towards the achievement of abstract ideals, whether they are divine, ethical, or intellectual in nature (Avery, §III). Art, and art thought, for its own sake simply did not exist, as we now understand it. The (re)birth of humanism in the western Renaissance brought with it the beginnings of a revolution in the concept and practice of sculpture. The nature of the work of art was no longer purely functional in nature. Rather, art began to take on an autonomous and unique significance as, "...having a purpose manifest in the work itself, independent of any teaching or ceremonial context," (Butler, 3). The result was a, "...new self-awareness about the intellect's involvement in creating the work..." (Butler, 3). Just as art began a life of its own, so did the artist. Individual creativity and vision were now recognized in a manner that the Classical artists had only begun to pursue. The sculptor in particular found himself in a position that had previously been reserved for his product. No longer was sculpture alone allied with the divine but the artist himself, "...resembled his creator through his ability to shape himself and his world. To create an image accurately representing his own body and to do it in a beautiful form became a sacred task for Renaissance man," (Butler, 109). Among the best known and appropriate of sculpture representative of this time is Michelangelo's David. The Classical figure is invoked here in the overall structure of the body. However, there exists something more natural, more direct than the work of the Greeks and Romans. The stance is more relaxed and fluid and the sculpture's expression contorts his face in a manner that is contradictory to conceptions of ideal beauty (Butler 130-131). This elaboration and exploration of understanding of sculpture and the sculptor was to explode in a conceptual revolution in the 
18th century. At this time, art history and art criticism are born as academic disciplines, particularly in the publication of Winckelmann's History of Ancient Art in 1764. Furthermore, the critical reviews of Denis Diderot cemented the significance of art criticism and its eventually transformation into art theory (Barasch, 3-4). A new field of study was established, one concerned solely with the history and theory of art. Though the approach to conceptualizing art changed drastically at this time, actually sculptural production, though not poor, focused mainly on the re-appropriation of classical style, as an answer to the simplicity lost through Rococo (Butler, 6). Though style may have been saved, however, innovation was sacrificed. "Winckelmann, Herder, Hegel, and other philosophers and connoisseurs of the time who say sculpture as the leading art form could only recognize it in Greek terms. Their approach allowed for no progress in sculpture... . The Neoclassical artist's response often lapsed into imitation" (Butler, 7). Through this point, sculpture maintained itself as a purely visual medium, striving to, "...create a pictorial illusion in which the ponderability of the material was etherealized.... The sculptor worked with and for the eye and never conceived his work as possessing any other unity than that of the visual image," (Read, 235). However, developments in painting throughout the course of the 19th century, and most particularly French Impressionism, transformed the concept of the picture in such a way alluded the very nature of sculpture. In response, and out of necessity, there came the introduction of the tactile in to sculpture, particularly through the work of August Rodin (Butler, 10, 11). The sculptor embraced the complexity of depth, though not only physically but emotionally and intellectually as well. As in his The Thinker , Rodin's figures speak to, "...the human condition-about solitude, longing, rapture, despair," (Butler, 225). No longer was sculpture purely an exercise in prescribed form, but an exploration of intuition and dynamics (Butler, 225). Herein can be located the next break in sculptural practice and theory, the point Rosalind Krauss defines as the fissure between the pre-modern and the modern sculpture. The former is allied with the Heideggerian definition of sculpture earlier proposed. The author recognizes that when sculpture was allied with the monument (pre-modernity) it held a specific place, "...and 
speaks in a symbolic tongue about the meaning or use of that place." In other words, monument and place are allied together to produce a sculptural cohesive whole. However, with the birth of modernism, Krauss argues that the internal logic of the monument begins to crack. This is not to say that place no longer holds a necessary spot in sculptural success. However, whereas the monument incorporated space positively, modernist space embodies it only as a negative. The birth of modernist sculpture enters into, "...its negative condition--a kind of sitelessness, or homelessness, an absolute loss of place," (Krauss, 34). The monument becomes, "...functionally placeless and largely self-referential," (Krauss, 34). The modernist rejection of space, she argues, demands that sculpture now be defined in the negative. It no longer "is" but has become the embodiment of what it "is not" (Krauss, 34-35). In the birth of modernism, "Sculpture, it could be said, had ceased being a positivity and was now the category that resulted from the addition of the not-landscape to the not-architecture," (Krauss, 36). Not insignificantly, it is in Modernism that one sees the severance of sculpture from architecture. Essentially, sculpture becomes the complex opposite to what Krauss defines as the combination of architecture and landscape: site-construction. With the advent of the postmodern, one begins to see the development of an even more complex comprehension of sculpture. Sculpture is no longer a simple negation of place, and subsequently a rejection of landscape and architecture. Instead, as Krauss argues, sculpture begins to explore the avenues of possible combinations between the negative and the positive: landscape and the not-landscape, architecture and the not-architecture (Krauss, 41). In this construction rests the various experiments of 20th century sculptural placement. For instance, the sculptural garden takes on a renewed significance, though at this point, the gardens are largely associated with a single sculptor. Taking one step further, Land Art developed in the 1960's. Site and sculpture have become a cohesive whole. A more contained and accessible version of this is the installation. Here too, the particularization of place is realized (Rowell, §III, ii). The 20th century has also witnessed the re-configuration of painting and sculpture. However, this time, sculpture became the defining force, and painting adopted the concerns of, "...plastic values, geometric forms, and the analysis of objects in terms of their weight, density, and volume," (Butler, 14). What then was sculpture to do? What else but to re-constitute the medium so that, "...the qualities of three-dimensional mass, contained surfaces, stability, and certain types of materials and settings are not essential to sculpture" (Butler, 18). The sculptural medium has freed itself to explore other dimensions, that are rooted not in the physical, but in the emotionally and intellectual. Diana Konopka Winter 2003
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
One the greatest and unhappiest of American poets, a master of the horror tale, and the patron saint of the detective story. Edgar Allan Poe first gained critical acclaim in France and England. His reputation in America was relatively slight until the French-influenced writers like Ambroce Bierce, Robert W. Chambers, and representatives of the Lovecraft school created interest in his work.
TO THE LAKE
In Spring of youth it was my lot
To haunt of the wide world a spot
The which I could not love the less -
So lovely was the loneliness
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound,
And the tall pines that towered around.
But when the night had thrown her pall
Upon that spot, as upon all,
And the mystic wind went by
Murmuring in melody -
Then - ah, then, I would awake
To the terror of the lone lake.
Yet that terror was not fright,
But a tremulous delight -
A feeling not the jewelled mine
Could teach or bribe me to define -
Nor Love - although the love were thine.
Death was in that poisonous wave,
And in its gulf a fitting grave
For him who thence could solace bring
To his lone imagining -
Whose solitary soul could make
An Eden of that dim lake.
Edgar Allan Poe
(1809-1849)
THE ARTS OF INDIA
The Arts of India are the illustration of the religious life of the Hindus. Like their faith, the arts have been preserved for the past three thousand years, from change and decay, from foreign invasions, and from the fury of the nature. We owe its preservation to the future generations. For, it exemplifies how life can indeed revolve around the arts.
– K. L. Kamat
An Indian of African OriginFrom a Deccan Miniature Painting
Couple Rides A Camel
Rajasthani Painting
Paintings involving camels are a favorite topic of Rajasthani
(Rajasthani - people of province of Rajasthan) artists.
Artist Restoring a Painting at Minakshi
TempleMadurai, Tamilnadu
"Ardhanarishwara" from a Maithili Painting
Friday, May 2, 2008
Take a moment to view Alex’s works because one sculpture is worth a thousand words!
I try to achieve harmony of colour and shape in my works. I studied as a painter and as a sculptor and now use both these skills to create 3-dimentional works. My wall sculptures are comprised of a multitude of repetitive forms and gradations of colours.We live in the age of advance technology and machines and I try to reflect it in my art.The creative process us the most rewarding part of my work. To embody a big idea in a relatively small painting or sculpture, present this concept to others, and succeed in appealing to their senses is a very difficult, yet rewarding task. I hope that the energy, with which my paintings and sculptures are imbued, will touch the hearts and souls of others.
Please visit my website for more details and information about my works!!! http://www.alexroukart.com/
Leonardo Painting Has Coded 'Soundtrack'
Italian Musician Uncovers Hidden Musical Notes Encoded in Da Vinci's 'Last Supper'
"It sounds like a requiem," Giovanni Maria Pala said. "It's like a soundtrack that emphasizes the passion of Jesus."
Painted from 1494 to 1498 in Milan's Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the "Last Supper" vividly depicts a key moment in the Gospel narrative: Jesus' last meal with the 12 Apostles before his arrest and crucifixion, and the shock of Christ's followers as they learn that one of them is about to betray him.
In his book "La Musica Celata" ("The Hidden Music") Pala also describes how he found what he says are other clues in the painting that reveal the slow rhythm of the composition and the duration of each note.
By ARIEL DAVID Associated Press Writer
It's a new Da Vinci code, but this time it could be for real. An Italian musician and computer technician claims to have uncovered musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," raising the possibility that the Renaissance genius might have left behind a somber composition to accompany the scene depicted in the 15th-century wall painting.
A laptop screen shows musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," during an...
A laptop screen shows musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," during an interview with Italian musician and computer technician Giovanni Maria Pala, in Rome, Monday, Oct. 22, 2007. Pala, a 45-year-old musician who lives near the southern Italian city of Lecce, began studying Leonardo's painting in 2003, after hearing on a news program that researchers believed the artist and inventor had hidden a musical composition in the work. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A laptop screen shows musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," during an... A laptop screen shows musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," during an interview with Italian musician and computer technician Giovanni Maria Pala, in Rome, Monday, Oct. 22, 2007. Pala, a 45-year-old musician who lives near the southern Italian city of Lecce, began studying Leonardo's painting in 2003, after hearing on a news program that researchers believed the artist and inventor had hidden a musical composition in the work. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
"It sounds like a requiem," Giovanni Maria Pala said. "It's like a soundtrack that emphasizes the passion of Jesus."
Painted from 1494 to 1498 in Milan's Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the "Last Supper" vividly depicts a key moment in the Gospel narrative: Jesus' last meal with the 12 Apostles before his arrest and crucifixion, and the shock of Christ's followers as they learn that one of them is about to betray him.
Pala, a 45-year-old musician who lives near the southern Italian city of Lecce, began studying Leonardo's painting in 2003, after hearing on a news program that researchers believed the artist and inventor had hidden a musical composition in the work.
"Afterward, I didn't hear anything more about it," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "As a musician, I wanted to dig deeper."
"Afterward, I didn't hear anything more about it," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "As a musician, I wanted to dig deeper."
In a book released Friday in Italy, Pala explains how he took elements of the painting that have symbolic value in Christian theology and interpreted them as musical clues.
Pala first saw that by drawing the five lines of a musical staff across the painting, the loaves of bread on the table as well as the hands of Jesus and the Apostles could each represent a musical note.
This fit the relation in Christian symbolism between the bread, representing the body of Christ, and the hands, which are used to bless the food, he said. But the notes made no sense musically until Pala realized that the score had to be read from right to left, following Leonardo's particular writing style.
In his book "La Musica Celata" ("The Hidden Music") Pala also describes how he found what he says are other clues in the painting that reveal the slow rhythm of the composition and the duration of each note.
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Submit your best poem for a chance to win our online poetry contests. Read our best love poems, romantic poems, sad poems, inspirational poems and more.
Browse and explore the world of poetry through http://www.poetryamerica.com site that spans a deluge of works with a broad range of themes. Sonnets, ballads, limericks, narrative, haiku, acrostic and topical poems are just a few examples of different forms of poetry. In fact there are over 52 types of conventional poetry and another approximate 40 invented forms. The craft of poetry comes in so many ranges. Poetry makes so many allowances that traditional writing does not many times. Poetry permits one to express one’s emotions that otherwise would not find means to materialize itself.
Submit your best poem for a chance to win our online poetry contests. Read our best love poems, romantic poems, sad poems, inspirational poems and more.
Browse and explore the world of poetry through http://www.poetryamerica.com site that spans a deluge of works with a broad range of themes. Sonnets, ballads, limericks, narrative, haiku, acrostic and topical poems are just a few examples of different forms of poetry. In fact there are over 52 types of conventional poetry and another approximate 40 invented forms. The craft of poetry comes in so many ranges. Poetry makes so many allowances that traditional writing does not many times. Poetry permits one to express one’s emotions that otherwise would not find means to materialize itself.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Photo Gallery of Famous Paintings by Famous Artists
Famous Paintings: Claude Monet "Water Lilies"
Famous Paintings: The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
Famous Paintings: Degas "Four Dancers"
Famous Paintings: Van Gogh Self Portrait 1886/7
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