Art on Sunday: JD on "Dysphoria" by Lizzie Rowe

"Dysphoria", by Lizzie Rowe
http://artuk.org/discover/artworks/dysphoria-36375

I first saw this painting two or three years ago. It is hanging in The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle. The reproductions of it on the net are poor and do not reflect the subtlety of the colours nor the depth nor the mysterious shadowy details upper left. The paint is very thickly applied over most of the surface, especially the whites of the dress which seem to have been almost plastered onto the surface.

A very interesting picture, very visceral and with layers of unknown meanings within it. When I then walked forward to read the label, I was rather surprised to see the name Lizzie Rowe. Surprised because I had previously seen some of her paintings in The Biscuit Factory and they did not engage me at all. I was more impressed by other paintings by Paul Harvey (one of The Stuckists) on display in the same show.

I have not met Lizzie Rowe but I know several people who have and who know her extremely well. On her web page she and others make no secret of the artist's journey from married heterosexual man (and father) to transgendered woman. Knowing the story, or most of it from those who know her, it is obvious that the change was traumatic and very difficult psychologically and this is reflected in part in her paintings. One hundred years from now such biographical details will be but a footnote of little consequence, it is the paintings themselves which are, or should be, the focus of attention.

I went back this morning to have another look at the painting just to see if it still evoked the same response in me. It does. The thickness of the paint is a very striking feature of it. The white semi-circle looks as though it has been applied directly from the tube. The record player, the TV and the ironing board on the right are more vibrant than in the reproductions and the strange ambiguity of the top left is even more mysterious than I remember. Thickly applied paint may suggest a slapdash approach but, in fact, it is very carefully done and the various details are clearly defined.

Last night I was looking through a book called "What Painting Is" by James Elkins. This is one of the best books about painting that I have ever read.

Elkins says that painting is the act of 'smearing coloured mud onto paper or linen' and that is the cold analytical definition but '... it is also liquid thought.'

That is a very profound statement. He goes on to quote the painter Frank Auerbach who wrote, "As soon as I become consciously aware of what the paint is doing my involvement with the painting is weakened. Paint is at its most eloquent when it is a by-product of some corporeal, spatial, developing imaginative concept, a creative identification with the subject."

What he is trying to say there is that painting, or any creative activity, is not a product of the conscious mind but is an unconscious process. Just like walking - learning to walk requires great concentration and much effort but the more you do it the less you need to think about how you do it.

Elkins continues the theme of the difficulty of explaining the thought processes involved in creating a painting- "Things only get harder to articulate when the religious meanings come into focus, and it begins to appear that the studio work - the labour - really is about redemption."

That may sound grandiose but art and religion are inseparable. They have been intertwined since the dawn of time. There is no religion or belief system in history that does not have its artistic expression.

Elkins uses the word 'religious' but I would suggest that 'spiritual' would be a better word. As I said above, any creative activity is an unconscious process which is what Auerbach was suggesting. The artist or the craftsman, and to a lesser extent the artisan and the tradesman, is involved in a strange synthesis of hand/eye/brain with the thing being created. It involves a physical effort in the act of creation and often produces a spiritual elation. The mundane, secular world calls that 'job satisfaction' but that is to trivialise it with its hint of smug self-gratification. It is not that at all, it is the calm or 'inner peace' which is the result of deep concentration and, as Auerbach notes, identification with the subject.

In the painting, the figure at the centre is deep in concentration in the act of gathering together the pearls from the broken string and that gives a stillness to the picture; a moment of calm between the activity depicted on the right and the strange ethereal quality coming from the top left of the picture. Others may have a different interpretation but that is my own reading of it.

With the reference to religion made by Elkins, we reach a point where the modern secular world closes its mind. It is not the done thing to discuss religion. The case is closed - there is no ghost in the machine!

But art is a perfect link between science and religion, between the secular and the spiritual. As the painter, the late Iain Carstairs says-

'Art is that endeavour in which consciousness imposes an otherwise intangible element of itself onto matter in such a way that it can be decoded by others: it is an alchemy which maths can never analyse or create.'

And the physicist Richard Feynman had this to say-

"I wanted very much to learn to draw, for a reason that I kept to myself: I wanted to convey an emotion I have about the beauty of the world. It’s difficult to describe because it’s an emotion.

"It’s analogous to the feeling one has in religion that has to do with a god that controls everything in the universe: there’s a generality aspect that you feel when you think about how things that appear so different and behave so differently are all run ‘behind the scenes’ by the same organization, the same physical laws. It’s an appreciation of the mathematical beauty of nature, of how she works inside; a realization that the phenomena we see result from the complexity of the inner workings between atoms; a feeling of how dramatic and wonderful it is.It’s a feeling of awe — of scientific awe — which I felt could be communicated through a drawing to someone who had also had that emotion. I could remind him, for a moment, of this feeling about the glories of the universe."

Art is the gateway to the world of spirit, to heaven. If you prefer a scientific explanation you could say it is the gateway to what the physicist David Bohm calls 'the implicate order' from which the material world flows and to which it returns.

"Vita brevis, ars longa."
___________________________________________
References:

http://www.lizzierowe.co.uk/Lizzie_Rowe/Reception.html

https://laingartgallery.org.uk/

http://www.thebiscuitfactory.com/

http://www.stuckism.com/

http://www.jameselkins.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=227:what-painting-is&catid=2:trade-books&Itemid=9

Feynman quote from-
https://iaincarstairs.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/knowing-and-observing/

David Bohm (Wholeness & The Implicate Order)
http://david-bohm.net/

I, Prime Minister

How many people have died as a result of ACL Blair's falling-in with GW Bush's mysterious assault on Iraq? How many others in the Middle East, from DWD Cameron's overt and covert actions in the Middle East?

Thinking of Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics* (and the many related potential conundrums he explored in his stories), I wonder how we might frame general principles for Prime Ministers.

Here is my first and likely heavily flawed attempt:

1. A Prime Minister may not [on aggregate] injure a human being or, through inaction, [on aggregate] allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A Prime Minister must obey the law, Parliamentary conventions, the British Constitution and the outcome of British plebiscites except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A Prime Minister must protect the sovereignty, security and prosperity of the nation as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Any suggestions? And what Asimov-like plot twists could arise?

________________________________

*Or four, as they later came to be: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_robotics#Isaac_Asimov.27s_.22Three_Laws_of_Robotics.22

Friday Night Is Music Night: An Assortment Of Duplessy

JD introduces the eclectic work of a modern composer:

Mathias Duplessy is a French composer of film and TV soundtracks. He is also a musical explorer seeking out other musical traditions from around the world and adapting and fusing these into his own unique blend of music: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Duplessy

Duplessy & the violins of the world: "CRAZY HORSE"



Duplessy & Guo Gan: "LE VOL DU HERON" 


Mukhtiyar Ali & Mathias Duplessy: "Tere ishq natchaya" 



 "Hélas mon cueur n'est pas à moy"


Duplessy & Aliocha Regnard: "The road to east"

The Parliamentary assault on democracy: a sneak preview of coming changes

The British people are inconvenient:

* They lobbied their MPs against the bombing of Syria, thus depriving Mr Cameron of his opportunity to follow Blair's example as condom for the US President's illicit sorties.
* They voted the wrong way in the EU Referendum.
* They persist in the delusion (shared by some of their representatives, e.g. Hons Dennis Skinner, Frank Field, David Davis) that Parliament is there to serve the common man and woman, as though the contemptible riff-raff had ever been intended to share in the rights secured by their betters under Magna Carta and the Glorious Revolution.

The time has come to roll back the reforms of 1832 and other similar historical mistakes. Before the Great Reform Act, the MP for Old Sarum was decided by 7 voters. Even after it, the average British constituency size was merely 1,236.

Now, thanks to unrestricted breeding and the extension of the franchise to men of all classes, women and children (some wish the voting age to be lowered to 16), each seat has 71,300 voters, and once 50 of the present 650 Commons seats have been abolished it will be some 77,250.

This is proceeding most satisfactorily. Already, the people must combine and it takes all of them, including the voice of the littlest Who, to be heard by Horton:

Image adapted from
http://images.mentalfloss.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_640x430/public/jh4kjh4.png

But it must be admitted. even that was an impertinence. As the Duke of Wellington remarked when cheered by his men at the Battle of Waterloo,"It comes dangerously close to an expression of opinion."

As so often, we can learn from the Bard:

A Gentleman informs me, that doing away with 1/13th of MPs is merely the first stage in the national plan. I can exclusively reveal several future developments:

1. Progressive reduction in Commons numbers to two, one for the Government and one for HM loyal Opposition. The draft constituency boundaries are illustrated on the map below.

2. In divisions, each of the two MPs' votes will be weighted according to the number of votes cast for them in the previous General Election. Votes of no confidence will be pointless, since the Government will have a permanent majority.

3. Initially, General Elections will continue on the basis of "one person, one vote". But since the seats roughly represent Wealth Creators and Parasites, the system will at some stage be altered to "one pound, one vote." The expected revenues raised in this way may enable the Government to abolish income tax altogether.

4. The House of Lords to be abolished; their Lordships will be granted automatic membership of the Groucho Club or an alternative London club of their choosing. They will continue to receive their allowances, which will help defray their expenses at the buttery and cellar of their club.

5. Parliament to remove to a UK central location and the Palace of Westminster sold to developers fainting with greed and gratitude.

Where should the new Parliament be sited? The centre of the UK's population is said to be Appleby Magna in Leicestershire; of England (the only country of any importance), Meriden in Solihull. Neither of these is suitable: where is the room for civil servants, policy wonks, paid liars, lobbyists, hairdressers, restaurateurs, mistresses, whores, rent-boys etc?

Fortunately, a planned high-rise building in Birmingham could provide the necessary space and access to exploitable human dross:

http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/business/business-news/plans-birminghams-tallest-office-building-9890130

The top floor might accommodate both MPs and the Speaker, plus office retinue; upper floors could contain the other workers mentioned above; lower floors, the online and on-phone Customer Service Representatives who will perform the functions of the now-redundant constituency MPs' offices; security on the ground floor; and the army of spies where they belong, in the many-tiered basement levels, away from natural light and air.

The savings on taxis and ministerial cars will in themselves be sufficient to fund the move.

Far more efficient, and far less fuss.

Little-Known Facts 1: Laughter in Mesopotamia

One of the most popular features in the Sumerian equivalent of “Reader’s Digest” was a merry look at military life entitled “Humour in Cuneiform”. A sample is shown below:

The text reads: "What's an Elamite urn?" - "Thirty karsha silver* a year."

*(Regarded as a good wedge, in those days.)

The magazine throve because it was light reading - the monthly issue could be borne by a single yoke of oxen.

Ultimately it became a victim of its own success when the increased weight of advertising significantly diverted logistical resources during the Elamite siege of Ur, leading to the fall of the city, the abduction of King Ibbi-Sin and, of course, the slaughter or enslavement of its subscribers.

Choose your battles

Never contend with a Man who has nothing to Lose; for thereby you enter into an unequal conflict. The other enters without anxiety; having lost everything, including shame, he has no further loss to fear.

Baltasar Gracian - The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

Why did Theresa May choose to resurrect the battle over grammar schools and selective education? She may feel strongly about it as many do, but the issue is controversial and Jeremy Corbyn should have no trouble making political capital from it.

Unfortunately for May, she has now engineered a situation where she must contend with a Man who has nothing to Lose. 

Friday Night Is Music Night: A Night At The Operetta

JD serves up a tapas assortment of tunes:

Here is another selection of music which reminds me of my good old daze in Madrid :)

Many years ago there was a bar in Madrid who would have, every five or six weeks, a musical evening. There would be three or four singers plus a piano and they would belt out a few operatic arias and popular songs from Zarzuela which is a Spanish style of operetta similar to Gilbert & Sullivan. The bar was always packed with customers who enjoyed a splendid evening's entertainment. And in the early hours we would meander homewards full of joy and good cheer! I say meander because who walks in a straight line when they are happy? The bar is still there but under new ownership so I don't know if they still have musical evenings. I hope they do and here follows a sample of what we enjoyed on those splendidly convivial evenings.



This next one may look like "The Good Old Days" on BBC TV but the costumes worn on stage can be seen on the streets of Madrid during the Fiesta de San Isidro, 15th May every year (actually a nine day festival)