Week 7: Text for Project 2

Lira and Peso            

Main Narrative:

I watched the kitten run around the house.  She jumped into the window sill to watch the birds at the feeder.  After jumping at the window in an apparent attempt to attack the birds, she gave up.  Instead, she entertains herself by becoming an acrobat on the rungs of the kitchen chairs.  I walk past her, catching her attention, so she gives chase biting my toes.  I pick her up to try to subdue her, but she wriggles free and her frenzy continues.

Variation 1 (List):

Crinkle ball. Untied shoelaces.  Blinds cord.  Window sill.  Chirping birds.  Tucker’s ear. Electric cords. Hanging tie. Doorstop.  Scratching post. Peso’s tail.  Backpack straps. Bed skirt. Jingle ball. Toy mouse.  Scott’s fingers. Chair rungs. Toy mouse.  Leather couch. Dog toy.  Amanda’s toes.  Coffee table.  Keyboard keys.  Cat tree.  Nap time.

Variation 2 (Lira’s Perspective):

Nosey birds, I’ll show them what’s up.  Bang. Dang!  Stupid window.  Guess it is time to find something else to play with.  Ooo… the rungs of the chair look like fun if I jump on them.  Weee!  Swinging around the rungs as I fall is an intense ride.  Ha, she thinks she can walk by me without playing with me, so I will bite her toes!  Ahh…Don’t hold me down!  Let go! Don’t ever grab me like that again.

 

Week 6: Magic and the Margins

“My sight is still excellent although I use spectacles for reading, when I read, which I practically never do.  True, rheumatics have bent my skeleton somewhat.  …  The fact that I have no teeth and never could wear dentures does not in any way discomfort me, I don’t have to bite anybody and there are all sorts of soft edible foods easy to procure and digestible to the stomach” (pg. 3).  “Indeed I do have a short grey beard which conventional people would find repulsive.  Personally I find it rather gallant” (pg. 5).

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington



Weirdness or qualities outside the norms of society can be interpreted as magic or witchcraft.  Marian’s appearance exemplifies the attributes possessed by individuals with magic power.  She is kind of misshapen, somewhat isolated from others, and doesn’t follow the norms of society. 

One aspect of a person that can deem them magic or a witch is the age of a person or the defiance of a life threatening illness.   Marian seems to defy death at the age of 92 when her son’s family feels that she should be better off dead.  Despite her mangled body and speech impediment, most likely as a result having no teeth, Marian believe she gets along well for her age.  Her family believes that she has become senile when, in fact, she seems to be quite sharp for her age.  Because of this perception of her, the family tries to keep her isolated and sends her away to an old folks home, which proves to be anything but normal. 

Marian’s hearing disability creates the outlet for her magical experiences with the hearing trumpet.  Up until Marian receives the hearing trumpet from Carmella, her life seems pretty ordinary.  Afterwards, however, her life is turned upside down (both because of the trumpet and because of her family’s decision to move her out). 

Week 5: Objects of Desire

Excerpt from Unica Zürn’s Dark Spring, pages 112-3:

She takes the ball of sealing wax into her hand and thinks about the fact that nobody knows what it contains.  When they find her body in the morning, they will wonder what the meaning of this ball may be.  …  Perhaps they will want to bury her wearing her amulet around her neck.

Painting by Scott Siedman @ http://www.eroticpaintingsparadise.com/

Throughout Dark Spring Zürn, the unnamed female is infatuated with the idea of discovering sex and pleasure.  She has found that every time she experiences a sexual high that it is fleeting, but she desires to prolong the experience.  Because each encounter is so brief, she is left feeling let down and somewhat empty. 

In the excerpt, Zürn’s unnamed female has collected several items (a strand of hair and a small photograph) from the object of her desire, an older man at the pool whom she watches and fantasizes about.  Because pleasure is so brief, she decides that she is going to die at the peak of her delight, which was gaining these objects. 

The strand of hair is extremely important because it is a physical piece of her desire.  She seemed to realize that she was never going to be able to have sexual relations with the man, so the hair somewhat replaces the phallus.  The hair is hidden in the ball of sealing wax because she doesn’t want to share her obsession with the man. 

Death with the man’s hair around her neck symbolizes that she is taking him to the grave with her.  To her there can be no greater pleasure because her brother already took away her first experience with sex and it was a disappointment because she felt there was nothing left to experience.  Death is the only other thing she has left to experience.  By having the hair around her neck in the grave means that she will always have that pleasure with her. 

Week 4: Desire, Transgression, Originality

"I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive. I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence." 

~ Man Ray

(Published in Man Ray Photographer: 1981)

Man Ray is commonly associated with rayographs, which are photographic images created by placing objects on photographic paper and exposing it to light.  Raygraphs were originally called photograms, but he renamed them after himself. 

This piece of art is one of Man Ray’s rayographs named “Kiss,” which he created in 1922 in Paris. 

“Kiss,” to me, is an interesting rayograph because of the technique used to create them.  Many rayographs are black and white because of the methods used to create them where the objects are placed directly on the paper, which creates a void where the paper is not exposed to light.  “Kiss” contains multiple shades of gray, which creates a feeling that Man Ray used multiple layers to create this photo. 

Man Ray’s family was in the textile/garment industry, which showed up throughout his artwork.  Because his family’s occupation is evident in some of his other works, I speculate about its influence in “Kiss.”    The layers of gray in this picture cause me to question whether or not Man Ray experiented with different types of fabrics.  The figure on the left doesn't have hard, defined lines; instead, he/she is somewhat bushy like frayed edges of fabric.  The fabric could be a loose knit fabric, which would allow some light through creating the grayscale figure.  The split in the photo combined with the points each figure has suggests that these are not two individuals engaging in a kiss, rather fabric or some other material which Man Ray can manipulate to create his photo.
  

This photograph qualifies as Dada or surrealism because it does against classic depictions of love.  The hands on the figures' heads are interesting because of the way the light exposed them.  Are there hands in the figures' heads or are the figures placing their hand on the other in a passionate embrace?  The photo doesn't answer this question and because of that "Kiss" pushes the photo into the surreal.