Day: April 5, 2021

Balaban by Jack Hirschman

~ JezzieG

Balaban
1969

I ran down the street and into the house smelled
of oregano and shook Mickey Monaco, said
C’mon, Balaban’s got a breadloaf
climbing over old Gruber’s fence, he thinks
the mad dogs is doves.

But Mickey grew up in the bed till he was too old
and besides Balaban was crazy, he sucked
his tongue and got left back twice.
So I ran to Joey Bellino’s house but his mother’s
black stocking said Joey was out early shoe
shining. And besides a, that Balaban he’s a
crazy a kid, he suck a the tongue and Joey says
he get lefback three times.

So I banged on Bitsy Beller’s window yelled he was
near the top, the mad dogs waiting down
below he thinks is doves.

But when Bitsy stood up he turned into a stiff
cue stick. And didn’t want nothing to do
with nobody cracked upstairs.
And Dickie Miller became a semipro. And Howie Fish
a doctor. So I ran down the street full of hope

by myself because I was on fire. But I got there
too late for Balaban. Two of them had a stretch
of skin between their teeth fighting over it,

and the foam of their mouths and Balaban’s blood
spattered in such a way, the most the greatest
picture looked me straight in the eye, made me
sit in the gutter and cry,

and when I got up vow to be
Balaban from that day on

Jack Hirschman
Born: 13 December 1922, New York, USA
Nationality: American

Hirschman is a poet and social activist, with an oeuvre of more than fifty volumes of poetry and essays. Born in New York City, he received a BA from the City College of New York in 1955, MA in 1957 and PhD(from Indiana University) in 1961.While studying at City College he worked as a copy boy for the Associated Press. At the age of 19 he sent a story to Ernest Hemmingway, who responded ‘I can’t help you, kid. You write better that I did ay 19.’ A copy of the letter was left with the Associated Press. When Hemmingway killed himself in 1961 ‘Letter to a Young Writer’ was disseminated by the wire service to be published around the world.

Beginnings by Kenneth Noland

~ JezzieG

Beginnings
1958
Colour field Painting
Magna on canvas
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA

Beginnings, on a perfectly square canvas, Noland places concentric circles, thus marking the artist’s first attempts at basic forms and archetypal patterns. The circles are slightly irregular which may or may not have been intentional in its effect. The colours complement or contrast with one another creating a lively perceptual effect to the viewer. The jagged penumbra of black paint framing the picture reinforces the feeling of improvisation of the work, and pulls the attention of the viewer beyond the nested circles to see the whole as a burst of energy.

Kenneth Noland
Colour Field Painting, Post-Painterly Abstraction, Washington Colour School
Born: 10 April 1924, North Carolina, USA
Nationality: American
Died: 5 January 2010, Maine, USA

Assigned to the Post-painterly Abstraction movement by Clement Greenberg, Noland’s Colour Field painting was some of the mot consistent and focused art produced in mid-20th century America. Noland developed his own signature style based on simplified and abstract forms, including targets, stripes, and chevrons.

The Power to Resonate

~ JezzieG

In its inward and more passive expression the element of earth governs the power to resonate. As in its outward expression we can see the paradoxical nature of earth since most would not consider resonance a passive trait. The power to resonate sounds vibrant and active. In terms of magic resonance is the energy that comes from silence. It represents the interconnectedness of all reality. It is the energy that widens perspective allowing us to understand there is no division or separation between us and everything else. The receptive nature of earth joins us with the undulating pulse of the universe, the spiritual vibrations that underlie all existence. In the moments of silence we naturally connect to this energy and feel the pulse of life throbbing around us. Through this power, we gain access to experiencing the divine manifesting in the world. It places our concepts of deity into a palatable experiential form.

Witches tap into the power to resonate with spontaneous utterances, their voice of the divine seen as the sounds and words of life itself. When tapping into the resonance of the earth its denseness renders itself luminous and weightless. Aligning with the power to resonate allows spontaneity to guide our actions, in effect the pulse of life is leading our way.

If the power to resonate falls out of balance it can cause an individual to appear light-headed, detached, disorientated, and out of touch with their world. When we notice these signs of resonance imbalance it is necessary to take time to ground ourselves. Firstly, heat up seven small river stones under hot running tap water, taking care the stones don’t get too hot to handle. When the stones are ready get undressed an lie flat on your back. Using table salt make a line down the centre of the body from the base of the throat to the pubic area. Place a pebble at the centre of the brow, at the base of the throat, at the centre of the chest, on the naval and just above the genitals. With a stone in each hand, lie with palms upward. Imagine absorbing the energy of earth from beneath the body and through the stones until the stones are cool. Repeat as required.

In love and light
Raven )O(

Dada Bowl by Sophie Taeuber-Arp

~ JezzieG

Dada Bowl
1916
Dada
Varnished/Lacquered Wood
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

With this almost-minimal object of turned wood Taeuber-Arp demonstrates the possibilities of infusing a functional every day thing with a radical aesthetic. Using the nascent Dada strategy she attacks the bourgeois sensibilities of the corrupt world to the decorative arts. The Dada Bowl straddles boundaries. It is abstract yet representational, made by hand yet uniform as if mass-produced, aesthetic yet utilitarian.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp
Dada, Constructivism, Performance Art, Readymade and The Found Object
Born: 19 January 1889, Davos, Switzerland
Nationality: Swiss
Died: 13 January 1943, Zurich, Switzerland

A prominent figure in many of the important European art scene of pre-World War II, Taeuber-Arp was one of the most active figures around the Café Voltaire in Zurich. She dedicated her career to the breakdown of static, artificial boundaries between genres and forms, and celebrating creative energy such liberation released. Her work attempted to destabilize the traditional norms in art and society, questioning the fixed ideas of gender, class, and nationality. For Taeuber-Arp art was both political and integrated into everyday life. She embraced the principles of Constructivism, and was its most important practitioner outside of Russia.