Skin Deep, Self Portrait by Lisa Moran

Skin Deep, Self Portrait by Lisa Moran

Fresh Flesh-Zombified, Self Portrait by Lisa Moran

Fresh Flesh - Zombified, Self Portrait by Lisa Moran

Reconstructive Surgery-Melting, Self Portrait by Lisa Moran

Reconstructive Surgery // Melting, Self Portrait by Lisa Moran

Salvador Dali - My favorites

The Broken Bridge and the Dream

Metamorphosis of Narcissus

The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus

The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali (4)

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Let me suggest a psychological view on "The Persistence of Memory," i.e. that of trauma.

First, there is a decidedly stark theme and despondent tone to the painting. It's not outright, but rather quietly, horrifying, as we see some figure - animal, part-human, monster? - in the center.

Some people who experience a trauma cannot help but re-live the trauma, i.e. via "flashbacks." It is as if they cannot forget what traumatized them; it is as if they are doomed to remember it forever; they see it everywhere they go. This is what I believe the soft clocks represent.

So am I saying that Dali is expressing some trauma in his life through this painting? Perhaps I am. His parents told him, when he was a boy, that he was the reincarnation of a dead brother, who was a theme in his paintings.

Also, Dali's beloved mother died about 10 years before he painted "The Persistence of Memory." It was quite traumatizing for him, as it "was the greatest blow I had experienced in my life. I worshiped her... I could not resign myself to the loss of a being on whom I counted to make invisible the unavoidable blemishes of my soul."

If my thinking is correct, then I can argue that painting was a form of psychoanalysis for Dali and perhaps the means by which he came to grips with whatever trauma he may have experienced.
 

The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali (3)

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This interpretation (below) by Tan Sertthin is pretty good, I think. Dali certainly probed the unconscious as both a source and a subject of his art. So Sertthin's references to dreams and symbolism make sense.

There is a fine line between a dream and a memory. A dream only happens when humans are in a state of sleep. A memory has the ability to appear in any time of the day in the human mind. Humans recall their memories to deal with their current situations. Memories can manifest in dreams. Dreams are memories that are distorted by fantasy. Both dream and memory reveals the state of the human’s subconscious mind. Dali’s goal is to depict coded messages that are hidden in the subconscious world. 

Salvador Dali, a surrealist painter challenged himself to portray “hand painted dream photographs”. In order to paint these images, Dali subjected himself into self-inducing hallucinations, which is a process called paranoiac- critical method. The melting and distorted clocks represent the frozen time where dreams take place. Dali mocks the human society’s view on keeping track of time by painting the powerless distorted clocks melting away in the dream world. In “reality”, time is powerful and it rules and limits the humans in their daily routine. However in a state of dreams, time is irrelevant. Dali also painted his hometown in the horizon of the image, which reveals Dali’s attempt of recollecting his childhood memories. The distorted face implanted in the middle represents the artist’s self-portrait. In the world of dreams, memories can be distorted. Dali represents the malleability of memories and dreams by painting the solids into liquid (watches) and the liquids into solids (water). The tree is inorganically grown on man-made material and the ants are eating a time piece made out of metal. The environment feels deep, lonely, quiet, and still. Humans are wired to think in one dimension. We think of time as a linear concept. We reason with cause and effect. Our perception of what is right or wrong is based on how our brain is wired. Surrealists, on the other hand, believe that the rational world that society has so much faith is ridiculous. Surrealist artists are known for humor, sarcasm, and wordplay. The word “persistent” contradicts with the image depicted- melting clocks, red ants, distorted faces, and desert symbolize desolation and decay. The combination of a sarcastic title and the strategic placement of concepts reveal Dali’s attack on the rationale.

The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali (2)

Salvador Dali painted "The Persistence of Memory" in 1931, when he was just 27 years old.

What does this painting mean, and what is it all about?

Sigmund Freud

Some have interpreted "The Persistence of Memory" in a Freudian perspective: e.g. The soft clocks represent impotence, even emasculation.

Maybe, but I'm not so sure that's right.

Albert Einstein

Some have invoked Einstein and his notion of time dilation, from the Theory of Special Relativity.

Yes, time dilation does challenge the idea that time is unchanging. Specifically, the closer we travel to the speed of light, the slower time moves. Moreover, if my understanding is correct, if we can somehow travel faster than the speed of light, time actually starts moving backward.

In either case, time dilation is really not about soft clocks. So this reference vis-a-vis "The Persistence of Memory" doesn't sound correct.
 

The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali (1)

The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali (1931)

Clay Forsberg posted this painting, along with the following:

“Masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common, of thinking by the body of people, so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice.” ~Virginia Woolf

Jennifer Hathaway commented:

Back when, there was a painting trade. Artists were apprenticed, worked their way up through the ranks of journeyman, etc, and then eventually struck out on their own.

A "master's piece" was, technically, the moment when a "journeyman" painter "arrived"- it was kind of like hanging out one's shingle, and was designed to show one's abilities.

The Woolf quote above is both right and wrong. Yes, artists are grown on the shoulders of those who've gone before, yes, there is an element of communication [ergo common thinking] involved [or the work would not be understood at all].

But there is so much beyond that in any given work of the arts, and the artists, musicians, and writers who bring forth 'masters' pieces' are also bringing both their reach beyond 'what is'- into the realms of other possibilities- AND their own internal evolutions to their work.

A "master's piece" is not just the "experience of the mass", it is also its transcendence via the combination of hard work and persistent idealism.

So I chimed in, too:

The 20th century saw artists pushing the boundaries of convention and innovating on what art was, to begin with. Surrealism, and Salvador Dali in particular, were born of that century. To Woolf's point, there is a history or a context that gave rise to the birthing of this movement and such a painter. But to Jennifer Hathaway's point about transcendence, the Surrealists advanced, challenged, and transformed our notions of art - and of time, memory and dream, as in "The Persistence of Memory."
 

Portraits of Greta Garbo, by Edward Steichen

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Finally, Edward Steichen (1879 - 1973) was an all around artist, who was born in Luxembourg and grew up in the US.  He had the fortune of working for high society magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair, and gained both fame and wealth in the process.  I love his pensive, curious and reminiscent portraits of Greta Garbo.
 

Portraits of Georgia O'Keeffe, by Alfred Stieglitz

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Alfred Stieglitz (1864 - 1946) was another photographer, whom I admired in the 1980s.  He was an American pioneer in modern art.  Georgia O'Keeffe, a renown American artist in her own right - his lover, then wife - was a favorite subject.  I was enthralled by her hands, as evidently he was, too.
 

Portraits of Artists, by Arnold Newman

Marc Chagall

Man Ray

Igor Stravinsky

Arnold Newman was an American photographer (1918 - 2006), whom I admired when I was an aspiring photographer in the 1980s.  I loved his careful composition, especially portraits where context loomed large over his subject.  It was as if a piece of work, the space of the studio, or an instrument of art was far more telling of that subject than the subject itself and was therefore more than warranting of portraiture.
 

Speaking of Banksy...

A colleague mentioned that Banksy was in Gaza not too long ago.

Banksy, the elusive London street artist, has just published a new video from Gaza [February 25th 2015], a Palestinian city on the Mediterranean coast which is separated from the rest of the Palestinian territories.

The new video, which on YouTube has surpassed the 100,000 views in just a few hours, is from Gaza, a Palestinian city on the Mediterranean coast which is separated from the rest of the Palestinian territories.

The city has been the target of Israeli operations several times, the last one in the summer of 2014, when at least 2,000 Palestinians were killed under Israeli shelling.

In 2005, Banksy painted nine satirical graffiti images on the wall between Israel and the West Bank.

Reference: Banksy just published a new video from Gaza.
 

Reza: The Humanist and Photojournalist

Reza Deghati

Reza Deghati, born July 26, 1952 in Tabriz, Iran is an Iranian-French photojournalist of Azerbaijani origin, who works under the name Reza (Persian: رضا‎).

Reza has covered much of the globe for National Geographic Magazine. Several films about Reza's work have been produced by National Geographic Television, most notably Frontline Diaries, which won an Emmy Award in 2002. In 2003, Reza served as Creative Director for National Geographic's most viewed documentary, Inside Mecca.  As part of its Exceptional Journeys series, National Geographic released a DVD in May 2008 looking at Reza's career as a photojournalist, with special features highlighting his extensive humanitarian work.

Reference: Reza Deghati.

A philanthropist, idealist, humanist, architect by training and famous photojournalist, primarily for National Geographic, Reza, lives to photograph another day. For the past 30 years he has traveled the world bearing witness to moments of war and peace. Reza is not just a photographer. He is committed to training women and children, through world-wide workshops, in visual media and communications to help them strive for a better life. In 2001, he founded the NGO Aina in Afghanistan to encourage media training around the world, while continuing to produce incredible images of original scenes from his travels for the international media.

Reference: About Reza.
 

Reza: The Power of Photography

Reference: Photos from Reza Photography, showcased in The power of photography to change the world: REZA at TEDxHECParis.
 

Reza: The Power of Visual Storytelling

For the past 30 years, REZA has traveled the world bearing witness to moments of war and peace, as a photographer. He has been awarded numerous prizes, including the World Press Photo Award and the Infinity Award. REZA is committed to training women and children, through workshops in visual media and communications to help them strive for a better life. REZA talks about the power of visual media to stimulate social changes and to reveal the beauty of humanity.

This is the poem that Reza speaks to early in his Talk:

I said: what about my eyes?
He said: Keep them on the road.

I said: What about my passion?
He said: Keep it burning.

I said: What about my heart?
He said: Tell me what you hold inside it?

I said: Pain and sorrow.
He said: Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you.

Reference: I said: What about my eyes? by Rumi.

I love the quiet spirit and understated passion with which Reza speaks.  When I captured his TED Talk in my Dr. Ron Art journal, I attached a kind of Post It:  Someday I will buy an SLR with high pixels, and my photography will live again. Like him, I believe in the power of art in general to do good for people, to lend meaning in their lives, and to effect change for the better.  I don't know how close I actually am with any of my art projects, but of late I felt that I was getting closer.  Now, for instance, I have the means to buy an SLR (single lens reflex) camera. 

Chiaroscuro

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David Brainbow

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Recurrent

By Rina Barbieri

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By Edwin Martinez

Evanescent

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Bolt Poetry, by Tobbe Malm (3)

Bolt Poetry, by Tobbe Malm

Malm is from Norberg, Sweden, who lives and works in Oslo, Norway.  He is an artist blacksmith and photographer.

The bolts are from an old farm in the heart of the area Bergsladen in Sweden. I found them in a barn. They had been lying there for a long time and they might have continued to lie there until they had rusted away and returned to their original mineral form.

The bolts reminded me of human forms, and I felt they had something to tell. I heated them, forged, bent and twisted. I tried to create relations, meetings and situations and suddenly stories emerged about sorrow, joy, pain, warmth and humour. A kind of poetry was created, hence the title.

All sculptures are without title, it is up to the viewer to create his or her own. The bolt people are few in numbers, and maybe these are the last ones, but those that exist will remain to tell their stories.  

Malm is the blacksmith, and I am the poet.  I will write the poetry to Bolt Poetry.  In the meantime, here are some notes, as a kind of prelude to a poetry:

Perhaps some covert conversation, something out of the Watergate scandal and All the President's Men.  Perhaps two lovers, in a bit of a tense tête-à-tête.  In either case, what shields them from prying eyes is hardly enough to shield them completely.  As if the urgency with which they come together overwhelms their need for discretion and privacy.

Stay tuned.

Bolt Poetry, by Tobbe Malm (2)

Bolt Poetry, by Tobbe Malm

Malm is from Norberg, Sweden, who lives and works in Oslo, Norway.  He is an artist blacksmith and photographer.

The bolts are from an old farm in the heart of the area Bergsladen in Sweden. I found them in a barn. They had been lying there for a long time and they might have continued to lie there until they had rusted away and returned to their original mineral form.

The bolts reminded me of human forms, and I felt they had something to tell. I heated them, forged, bent and twisted. I tried to create relations, meetings and situations and suddenly stories emerged about sorrow, joy, pain, warmth and humour. A kind of poetry was created, hence the title.

All sculptures are without title, it is up to the viewer to create his or her own. The bolt people are few in numbers, and maybe these are the last ones, but those that exist will remain to tell their stories.  

Malm is the blacksmith, and I am the poet.  I will write the poetry to Bolt Poetry.  In the meantime, here are some notes, as a kind of prelude to a poetry:

It could be that he wakes up in the early hours of morning, after a night of lovemaking, and sits awkwardly transfixed on his still soundly sleeping lover.  Then, again, to Malm's disclosure, it looks like a matter of joy and warmth, turned to sorrow and pain.

Stay tuned.