The Victorian Surrealism of Jeffrey Micheal Harp

BEINART International Surreal Art Collective

http://beinart.org/artists/jeffrey-michael-harp/gallery/digital/

Turner - Snowstorm

I am astonished by the way in which Turner accepts the apparent randomness of the natural elements, and paints them as they are. There is brutal honestly in this work, and Turner gives one an insight into a helpless and unenviable moment; making it tangible for all. The madness of a second in stormy sea is represented as the chilling and terrifying moment that it must be.

Legend has it that Turner undertook a death defying voyage on a ship to experience at first hand, what he was about to render on canvas.

Turner said, "I only painted it because I wished to show what such a scene was like; I got the sailors to lash me to the mast to observe it; I was lashed for four hours and did not expect to escape, but I felt bound to record it if I did. No one has any business to like it."

Contemporaries saw Turner's work as having 'dreamlike' qualities. These 19th century flirtations with metaphor may seems to us now as uninformed, even a tad pretentious, but they contained some insight that is worth commenting on.

Thanks to the likes of Froid and Jung we now have knowledge of dreams as the expression of deep intuitions and buried memories, allowing us to examine Turner's work again and note that his pictures do have the oblique qualities of a dreamlike state. The warped perspectives, blurred focuses, image metamorphosis, and the general feeling of otherness and uneasiness: These are the images of the dreamer, or someone dabbling in hallucinogenic substances.

Within our sub-consciousness mind there are various patterns that pop up time and time again. One of these is the whirl pool or vortex, of which there is a strong suggestion in the Snowstorm. This became a reemerging image in some of Turner's later paintings.

Relax for a moment and allow yourself to be absorbed into the vortex, a scary and dangerous ledge, over which lies the abyss. The visual impact is caressed by the grim tunnel of darkness that leads one to the ships hull, at which point is shot towards the heavens by a band of bright light.

Mike

"Han XiZai Gives a Banquet" painted by Gu HongZhong (about AD 910-980) Five Dynasties

"Han XiZai Gives a Banquet" - Gu HongZhong (about AD 910-980) Five Dynasties Period

Impression Sunrise 1873 - Claude Monet

The sun is set against the dawn, the orange color against the gray and the vibrant force of the sun against its motionless surroundings. To many spectators, the sun undulates or pulsates slightly. Why is this so? The sun is nearly the same luminance as the grayish clouds. I am in two minds whether Monet's work fills me will hope or helpnessness. On one hand, it could be seen as the beginning of a new day filled with hope and promise, or perhaps the beginning of another drab, dark and monotonous twenty four hours of life; no fills no thrills, only bare existance. Saying this, the sun does seem to provide a focal point in the painting, perhaps reminding us that in life there is always a bring light of hope somewhere in the distance.

Do you have any views on this work?

Mike

Louis MacNeice - Prayer before Birth

I am not yet born; O hear me.
Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the
club-footed ghoul come near me.

I am not yet born, console me.
I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me,
with strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me,
on black racks rack me, in blood-baths roll me.

I am not yet born; provide me
With water to dandle me, grass to grow for me, trees to talk
to me, sky to sing to me, birds and a white light
in the back of my mind to guide me.

I am not yet born; forgive me
For the sins that in me the world shall commit, my words
when they speak me, my thoughts when they think me,
my treason engendered by traitors beyond me,
my life when they murder by means of my
hands, my death when they live me.

I am not yet born; rehearse me
In the parts I must play and the cues I must take when
old men lecture me, bureaucrats hector me, mountains
frown at me, lovers laugh at me, the white
waves call me to folly and the desert calls
me to doom and the beggar refuses
my gift and my children curse me.

I am not yet born; O hear me,
Let not the man who is beast or who thinks he is God
come near me.

I am not yet born; O fill me
With strength against those who would freeze my
humanity, would dragoon me into a lethal automaton,
would make me a cog in a machine, a thing with
one face, a thing, and against all those
who would dissipate my entirety, would
blow me like thistledown hither and
thither or hither and thither
like water held in the
hands would spill me.

Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me.
Otherwise kill me.

Vermeer-Women Holding a Balance (1664)

This painting has it all in my opinion. It invokes feeling of serenity, peace and harmonious oneness. The figure looks perfectly at peace, not quite with the viewer, but in a place of blissful content. She is holding sales symbolising the importance of balance in life; with her scales almost perfectly balanced she has found that equilibrium. The woman's clothes cast up comparisons with the Virgin Mary and the light from the window conjures up spiritual imagery with its soft, yet deliberate presence. The point where the woman is holding the scales seems to be the exact centre point of the painting, again giving the viewer an expression of balance and togetherness; at one with her surrounds and content in her being.

Do any of my fellow bloggers have an opinion on this highly evocative painting?

Mike

The Hunt in the Forest

The Hunt in the Forest (c1465-70) by Paolo Uccello in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford





A crowd of hunters gather in secluded part of an unknown forest, mounted on horseback, dressed in red and black. Dogs scurry into the distance with reckless abandon, continuing their frantic search for the kill. Above the beautiful and almost ornate canopy, the sky in deep blue, possibly that of daybreak. The unevenness and manic randomness of the animals and hunters, gives one the impression of a frenzied chase within the darkest depths of the forest.

Perhaps they have been chased by an unknown quantity until the break of dawn and are attempting to avoid disorientation by following the river on the right of the picture. Another possibility is that the group lost their way and naturally panic has descended into rabid madness. Perhaps they have been trapped within the bleakness for days, who knows?

As the dogs rush into the darkness, some of the men appear to hold back, as if a moment of clarity has been reached, momentarily calming their frenetic charge into the abyss. One of the hunters in bright red leans over backwards to rein in his horse, another in black raises his hand to stop the pursuit.

What have these individuals seen?

Could it be that a way out of the forest has been found, freeing them from the perplexity of their surroundings moments before dawn gives way to daybreak?

For definite, the hunters have seen something that has stopped them in their tracks, and soon all the rest of the group will see what they have seen, for good or ill. Their pause in the forests depths leaves one with an empty feeling.

There is an emptiness in the painting, a dark an unknown reality is about to be revealed and what it is, we can only speculate. The forest could represent the dark void of the mind in distressing times, and the hunters/dogs movements the way we manically live in our own heads in times of distress. The hunter pulling up the horse and the other holding up his hands, has noticed something and perhaps this is a way out from the madness that they have been actively engaged in.

The hunters have walked through a dark and sinful place, just like we all have felt at points in our lives. They may have found a way out from the void, and into a place of light and sanity.

There are lesson to be learned from this great painting.

Pikey

Live and Learn-Time to Fly

All of a sudden the countdown has begun. Time has flapped it's mysterious wings and once again one is watching the calender on the wall. Days are passing like the TGV on jacked up speed balls and what once seemed like tomorrow, becomes yesterday, and so the haze continues steamrollering along. Realisations like this make one sit comfortably in a comfy armchair and try to take stock of happenings. Its time to slow down, regroup, become mindful. No need to ride on blazing saddles, enjoy what you have, simplicity, enjoy the warm glow of grounded illumination. As Lennon said, 'Life is what happens when you are making other plans,' or somethings to that effect. How perceptive! His statement has beautiful imagery, albeit straight out of a Indian Guru's mantra chant.

A lot has been experienced in this particular period of life, and good chunky, diamonds of knowledge they are too, things that one can take, file away and learn from. Knowledge is indeed power. Power to learn from past mistakes and grow as a person, treading more gingerly along the par carious path of life, applying one's self with greater clarity of thought and action.

Alas, Thailand's sun baked shores are just within reach and I am ready.
Once again-

to sing the tune,
to dance with the language,
to tussle with the culture and,
marvel at gastronomy.

Pikey

Merry-Go-Round

On Sunday I had the pleasure of visiting the Tate Britain and saw many wonderful work of art. One caught my eye and following the guide's insightful speal, left me with a lasting impression. This was 'Merry Go Round' by Mark Gertler, painted in 1916The work was painted at the height of the First World War, which seems to be its subject. Men and women in rigid poses, their mouths crying in silent togetherness, seem trapped on a carousel that revolves in perpetual motion. Gertler was a conscientious objector, who lived in London at the time of the First World War. He dwelled in Hampsted Heath where a local funfair was often attended by wounded soldiers, providing inspiration for Gaitler's work. The fairground ride, traditionally associated with fun and entertainment, is horrifically transformed into a metaphor for the relentless military machine.
Notice the ghost like figure of the horses with their pale deathy figures. Do they and the almost human figures represent the dead?
Does the top of the merry go round represent a bomb shell?
Do the horse's legs represent canons on the front legs and rifles on the rear legs?
The horses are not connected to the ride, therefore does this represent a detatchment of the people from the war machine?
Do the clouds represent an explosion with their highly unusual formation?
I think this is a fantastic work that captures his anti-war sentiment with exceptional detail and visual impact.

Pikey