Author: babylonbaroque

I am a painter and printmaker working towards creating a body of work that reflects my own developing aesthetic. New work ,first link. The second link is an on-line portfolio.

Puppetry on Easter Sunday

David and I are experimenting with my marionettes, I’m looking forward to bringing more focus to  the project after I finish with this intensive class (two essay assignments this week alone).

I certainly am learning from experience. The marionettes are essentially quite cute but a bit clumsy-actually their puppeteer is the clumsy one. But they do photograph well, as is befitting fellows “born” in LA I suppose.

The following are some images taken from this afternoon’s “shoot”:

IMG_6022

IMG_6032

 

IMG_6027

IMG_6021

We obviously have a lot to learn concerning production value…

IMG_6024

Happy Easter!

LG

Skipped Mass;Painted Instead

IMG_6016

I love Maundy Thursday, the washing of the feet, the adoration and entombment of the Eucharist-the Slavic church I used to attend had the most incredible 19th c. “hill” crafted of  spit, glue and devotion. The all night vigil that follows is always deeply moving to me.

I had intended to participate this year after nearly a 25 year absence . After all there is this new welcoming pope and I had found this adorable church very close to our house ( Cathedral Chapel of Saint Vibiana).

But then I began to paint and it went well, so I stayed put, feeling this was my place.

I hope He understands.

This is the progress thus far on Descent from the Cross II, acrylic on canvas, started this week.

IMG_6015

IMG_6012

IMG_6011

Wishing all a moment of peace and reflection on this Good Friday.

Pax vobiscum,

Lg

IMG_5329

That Most Terrible Tree

Given that it is Holy Week and Good Friday is fast approaching, I have been at work on a Deposition of Christ. My friend and fellow LA artist J have been in a bit of a duel, each tackling this well known subject. I’m eager to see what he comes up with, this is my offering, a watercolor on paper,clicking upon the image enlarges it for detailed viewing.

IMG_6010

 Descent from the Cross, I

2015

watercolor on paper

11 by 14 “

My intention was to capture the unimaginable grief of those who had born witness. J and I had stumbled upon an early Renaissance gold-ground image in which the attending angels were painted black. That really stuck with me, how unimaginable the loss, that even angels who have seen it all could not control their grief. 

I started another Descent yesterday morning, this is the scribbling in…

IMG_6011

 I am back in class ( English Comp 1-c) and as usual overwhelmed, hence my cobwebbed  studio.

If I do not post before, Happy Passover and/or Joyous Easter!

11039267_797615396992531_1792383423343890184_n

The Inept Filmmaker

1517717_10203643104147747_7235238283109956222_n

A filmmaker friend has expressed interest in filming my marionettes , the making of them , performing with them,  our exploring the Popol vuh narrative, etc.  This all sounds like great fun. So in my naive enthusiasm I decide I’m going to explore  stop-action filmmaking. After all I have a bunch of articulated maquettes to play with. How hard can it be?

Tedious , certainly, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

Well it ain’t easy.

I purchased an app for stop-action, that has helped certainly, but so much more to figure out.  The following clip is one of my first experiments: Mictlantecutli, the Not-so -great Hunter.

Inept, but at least very short…this is even shorter . 

The First Kiss

This will obviously NOT be a career change anytime soon. But it is fun. I want that sense of play in my life in general, which often in my devoted studio practice can seem elusive. Particularly once I have committed to a large canvas. Such is the case at the moment, I’m working on a large oil, that I enjoy painting ;  but it is daunting, a commitment of time and energy. Dabbling with stop-action is a welcome distraction. I will in time master editing, lighting, buy better tools (a tripod perhaps)…but for now, I’m playing.

Be well,

LG

The Green Knight

Given that Saint Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and that I happen to be in the throes of attempting to read as many translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as I can, this still-wet painting/drawing seemed fit to post. 

IMG_5986

 The Green Knight 

2015

graphite and watercolor on paper

11 by 11″

As I mentioned I am on a Romantic frenzy with an emphasis on Gawain and the Green Knight. So far the Simon Armitage translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seems the most expressive and easily holds one’s attention, it is a real page turner. Thankful to Clive Hicks-Jenkins for introducing me to it.

What I love most is Armitage’s  almost erotic description of the beastly yet seductive Green Knight.  He is clearly a monstrous sight, green of flesh, massive and brutish; yet beautiful, well built and splendidly attired. A radiant greenish-golden yellow glow,save for the flaming red of his eyes, permeates his being. I was seduced immediately. Hence the image. 

In my readings I have come upon numerous interpretations of who or what the Green Knight is. Some have understood his unholy skin color to represent death; some believe he is the devil, yet others believe he is a Greenman or the Greenman’s cousin the wodewose.  I want to believe he is not anything particularly malevolent but instead  an old god, full of contradictions, light and dark, “good” and “evil”. The complicated  duality  that the chivalric court of Arthur found so difficult to comprehend with its rigid codes of behavior.

I have attempted to fit all of Gawains future into the blanket of the Green Knight’s equally green horse. There is the unholy beheading challenge, the castle/sanctuary of  Sir Bertilak ( the Green Knight’s alter ego), the seductive Queen with her charming bosom, and  finally the Green Chapel. The Green Knight and his horse are a writing pulsating tangle of vegetation.

Right now I am reading the latest Penguin translation and next I plan to see what Tolkien thought of this grand tale. The following image, which thankfully I did not see until just a moment ago for fear of undue influence, is from an original manuscript-it’s pretty splendid.

Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight

 Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

On Bosworth Field

Part of my studio practice lately has been to work with  acrylic on the weekend, putting to canvas images as spontaneously as possible. This practice benefits from my readings which often serve as an inspiration. Having just finished Richard III, the following is a result of this new and at times challenging experiment .

IMG_5957

On Bosworth Field

2015

acrylic on canvas

16 by 20″

 Richard III offers many scenes of pathos, violence and questionable morality, often with great wit, Richard is a very funny fellow. But only one scene inspired me to put it to paint ,Act V, scene 3.  Set on Bosworth Field, on the eve of battle, Richard is in his tent; his enemy (and future king Henry VII) Richmond is in his. Richard when he needs to be as steely and as brave as he ever has been ,is set upon by the ghosts of all those he  has slain: Prince Edward, Henry VI, Clarence, Rivers, Grey, Vaughan, the young princes, Hastings, Lady Anne and Buckingham. Quite an assembly and each rattles his slumber with the curse “Despair and die”. With that joyful tiding they depart, leaving Richard rattled and  in despair;they then  head to Richmond’s tent offering him the blessing of “Live and flourish! “. One can guess the outcome.

So this is that pivotal moment, and the one I chose to depict- with many liberties taken, the young princes are far from boyhood.

I’m not sure what I think of this painting and it has taken a certain degree of will and courage even  to just post it. But my discipline with this studio journal  is to post work even when I am unsure about it. I may go back to this painting, soften it, creating a more subtle surface with oil . I’m not sure, I might very well just shove it in the closet with the other forlorn paintings and drawings I have made. There is enough within the painting to justify not just chucking it, which is my usual inclination. It might inspire something in the future as this following sketch did for this very painting. I made the sketch after having read the remains of Richard III had been authenticated a few years back. I based the drawing upon the skeleton as it had been found. At the time the crooked skeleton seemed to validate the hunchbacked myth but that seems to have been disproven.

IMG_5958

If I am unsure of the painting I am sure of Richard III, its an incredible play.

Now onto Othello.

Be well,

Lg

Macbeth Act IV.i.90-115

I don’t set out to paint gruesome images yet somehow they keep popping up-in this case literally out of the cauldron. Since  a boy, I have loved Macbeth, it is the only work by Shakespeare that I had memorized passages of, namely the incredible spells cast by the Weird Sisters. In re-reading the play many decades later I find myself still drawn to the witchy drama of the fourth act.

The apparitions the three  bearded ones begrudgingly conjure up for brave Macbeth are particularly terrifying: an Armed Head , a Bloody Child and lastly a Child Crowned with a Tree in Hand. They call to mind armorial devices.

Given this inspiration I have attempted to depict, once again as spontaneously as possible, what I have just finished reading; a form of automatic drawing in conjunction with literature. Or as my dear friend Dr. Claire Barbetti might say, a studio practice incorporating ekphrastic traditions.

That said, it is a bit ghoulish.

IMG_5946Macbeth IV.i. 90-115

or

The Second Apparition

2015

acrylic on canvas

16 by 2o inches

I now need to go finish Richard III,  but do not expect images of infanticide.

 Until then,

be well,

Lg

 

the UNCANNY,OBSESSIONS AND delusions- an upcoming exhibition

I’m delighted that two of my paintings have been selected for a group exhibition of visual works and poetry here in Los Angeles, called the UNCANNY, OBSESSIONS AND delusions. It opens March 1st 2015.

cbe157e1-ebe8-4264-a563-c4bab48cb80c

Please join us for the Opening Reception for
The Uncanny, Obsessions and Delusions
A Juried Art Exhibit and Poetry Slam
March 1, 2015
3:00-6:00 PM
New Center for Psychoanalysis
2014 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025

Exhibition Coordinator: Esther Dreifuss-Kattan, Ph.D., Chair NCP Art Salon
Co-Curators: Suzanne Isken, Esther Dreifuss-Kattan
Exhibition Jurors:
Suzanne Isken, Director CAFAM (Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles)
Ashley Myers-Turner, Associate Editor at Outdoor Photographer Magazine &
Digital Photo Pro Magazine
Poetry: Bettina Soestwohner, PhD, Comparative Literature

It seems fitting that the  following works were selected by a bunch of psychoanalysts!

Actually the judges were well respected judges in their own right; the artists are in the field. I am the only non-shrink, just married to one.


Greco_Genesis

Genesis

img_5259

Tlazoltéotl, a difficult birth

(this one should open up conversation!)

I’m thrilled, my only disappointment is that David will be at a conference in D.C. that weekend; my consolation being that our lovely and glamorous friend Meme will be my date. I’m looking forward to it.

LG

My Shaggy Valentine

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day! 

IMG_5921

Romeo

 2015

relief print on rag paper, artist’s edition

9 by 12″

This print makes me giggle, the poor Wildman  just hasn’t a clue, finding himself befuddled by all the romantic hubbub. I can certainly relate to his confusion. So often in my own relationship with David ( 19 years?  ), I mess up on being openly affectionate. Often missing the cues , I can relate to the Wildman’s clumsy efforts …

But in truth dear David, you have my heart.

photo 12 copy

wedding vows, 2008, West Hollywood,CA

Lavinia, she is haunting me

I have been reading the plays of Shakespeare, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, now Richard III, but it is Titus Andronicus that has stuck with me, most particularly the tragic Lavinia. It is such a terrible and bloody tale that I would rather not revisit it yet I feel compelled to somehow honor Lavinia. To capture the brutal chaos that was her life. The following, a spontaneously  dashed off acrylic painting on canvas is one attempt.

IMG_5914

Lavinia

 2015

acrylic on canvas

16 by 20 inches

I wanted to avoid the obvious ( and seductive) bloody approach; instead I focused on her claustrophobic impotence, the pawn of so many men. And although there is tenderness shown towards Lavinia and empathy for her plight, as when her uncle,Marcus Andronicus, after her terrible rape and mutilation attempts to soothe her with: 

“Do not draw back, for we will mourn with thee:

O,could our mourning ease thy misery!” 

Act II 4, 56-57

There is this tenderness, this paternal, fraternal love yet she has no say-literally. And in the end, well the end , how does one deal with it all?

She haunts me, this sketch I made just last night before I went to bed.

IMG_5918

I’m toying with the idea of making a hand puppet , perhaps. I also wouldn’t mind not thinking about it.

Be well,

Lg