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Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:44 am
by mat james
A couple of friends of mine, one a poet and the other an artist have combined in a piece of work.
I love it.
If you are interested in reading the poem and viewing the artistic response to that poem, then connect to the link below.
http://www.simonfraser.com.au/gallery3.htm
Regards, Matj
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:08 am
by damellon
Like the poem better than the ?sculpture and can usually respond to the visual. Anyway thanks for bringing this here.
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:22 pm
by dangermouse
Really don't like the stick up the whale's ass or wherever.
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:24 am
by mat james
Yes Dangermouse, I agree.
I even suggested that he align that support mechanism ("stick up the arse") with the water spout of the whale and/to hide it somewhat.
The sculptor could still have followed the rule of thirds and re-positioned the point of interest (the whale) elsewhere within the blue frame.
I do like the frame though in the context of the poem.
How did you like the poem?
Matj
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 12:02 pm
by lizzytysh
I know you're directly asking DangerMouse about liking the poem, but since you originally put it out there for all of us, I'll give you my bit of response. It took me a while to figure out what that thing was iiiiiiiiiiiinside that frame, all but lost inside it. For me, it wasn't an effective artist's interpretation of the poem, which I do like.
So, that is a support device, eh? At least for the photo, it would have helped to eliminate it somehow, even via PhotoShop. It's not organic at all and creates a harshness that doesn't belong.
~ Lizzy
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:45 pm
by Diane
Hi Mat, long time no see! I like this blue poem about a whale. Does the writer want to, like the whale, experience his own vast, cold, blue depths, to become less unconscious of them, instead of drowning them in drink, and, again like the whale, expand into the ocean, metaphor of the soul?
Breach and dive and sound in me,
I've hunted your freedom
And want to catch it today.
You've got a bloody good mate up here,
A swimmer, survivor, drinker and innocent.
We are all swimmers, survivors, drinkers and innocents! Nice line.
I, too, don't like the presentation of the sculpture. Is it a white whale? Moby Dick? "Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul...I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can." Melville, Moby Dick. Love that quote.
I hope it is a warm, vibrant summer in everyone's soul today!
Diane
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 4:43 pm
by mat james
right on Diane,
and "breach for the blue of it"!
P R Eason mainly writes about the mystic, or "mystery", as he puts it.
He has found Carl Jung enlight'ning and an effective mentor, I would say.
He has a book of poems, "Journey to Anima", that I enjoy reading. They seem to become meditations for me as they are poetic, brief and often beautiful.
Quite unusual really. Sort of a cross between Marcus Arellius and Rabindranath Tagore and often (like Boozer of Blue) very Australian.
Lizzy,
You will find a larger image of that "blue frame and whale" on that site if you look around (if you are interested).
I'll pass on the criticisms when I catch up with Simon next.
If you don't hear from me again, he has probably buried me down an old mining shaft!!!
Matj
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 12:33 pm
by Diane
Sounds good, Mat. This is my current favourite idea of Jung's: The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved but only outgrown. Ain't it so. Forgot to mention that the blue background really adds something. Regards to your friend.
Diane
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:15 pm
by mat james
Regards to your friend.
Diane.
Which one?
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:56 pm
by Diane
Sorry, Mat, I didn't realise you had more than one friend

.
The one who wrote the pome. P R Easton. Ah, and Simon, too, sculptor of whales. Sea creatures are fascinating are they not. How fine it would be to live in the water all your life.
Mankind owns four things
that are no good at sea:
rudder, anchor, oars,
and the fear of going down.
Antonio Machado
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:54 pm
by damellon
to live in the water all our life
but Diane - how would we read books then and wouldn't our skin go all wrinkly and yukky? May I recommend an Irish artist to anyone interested in marine themes? Dorothy Cross. You may find something if you google her.
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 3:40 am
by mat james
Diane wrote:
How fine it would be to live in the water all your life.
Diane, I did when I was a "sperm"!
I had a whale of a time
but ended up with egg on my face

Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:07 am
by lizzytysh
If I may interject a laugh here

.
The friend of yours I'm wondering about is Bernard. How is he? Where is he?
~ Lizzy
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:03 pm
by Diane
Mat

. Mystic sperm

.
Hi Damel. I'll get the wetsuit out of the bin (again). So The Ghost Ship was by Dorothy Cross. Must've been a very evocative sight in Dun Laoghaire.
http://www.stunned.org/ghostship.htm#
The Ghostship is a personal homage to the many light ships which once marked dangerous reefs around the Irish coast, but have now all but dissappeared. The ship is covered in luminous paint and at nightfall is illuminated to glow and fade in cycles over a three hour period. Cross sees GHOST SHIP as honoring "the memory of the lightships whose presence was held dear around the Irish coast. The Role of the sea has now diminished for the Irish people and the view is inwards twords the cities." The original red, engineless lightships were moored to the bottom of the sea and and were crewed by men for weeks on end... Manned until 1974, they have now been decommissioned and replaced by automated, electric buoys.
Cross' ship brings to mind JMW Turner's Slave Ship, being a kind of 'negative' - in theme, mood and colour.
I swear I could see the Flying Dutchman this morning out in the Bristol Channel.
Sail on.
Re: Boozer of blue: (an artists response to a poem).
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:52 pm
by damellon
Left the house one night - late, after dark - with two small girls in the back of the car, all in our jammies, and drove about 15 miles to Dun Laoghaire to stand on the pier and watch the magical Ghost Ship appear and disappear, appear and disappear, appear and disappear way out on the horizon. Memories.