Johann's place

My grandson Johann

A view from Johann's porch

A visitor at Johann's house

Johann's catalpa tree

Johann's hill

In Pursuit of Anima

   All significant crusades must be given descriptive names or titles that can garner the original intentions that launched such endeavors. In Pursuit of Anima was  the phrase I hung around my neck like a banner to encourage my creative efforts in the computer "darkroom". Many times this Anima theme reminded me of my goal and both fruitful and fruitless efforts made in its behalf.

A few years back this print, Amatao, was exhibited in Sarasota at a half-swanky downtown gallery show entitled "I Narcissus".

Amatao is a phonetic Japanese word meaning "I love." For me it carries many nuances of the journey to find love both within and without. The image reminds me of all the misdirected paths I've taken in pursuit of love. It reminds me of the foolish expectations that caused more grief than relief, more emptiness than fulfillment. It reminds me of being human and imperfect.

Furthermore, this image reminds me that love cannot find a resting place until Narcissus is dealt with. I go along with the Jungians who believe finding your Anima/Animus provides the only relief for a love tortured soul.

Amatao

i narcissus

it's me. it's always been

about me. even when i see

you lying naked on the bed

it is me. always me.

yet, how can i not be you?

you who gives form to light?

you who swims between spheres?

you who bathes in the fundamental

floatingness of i?

gaz

DREAM CLOCKS

Last year I made a dozen or more clocks. I painted the clock faces in Photoshop, printed them on archival paper, and sandwiched them between sheets of transparent plexiglass. I made clock faces of ecstatic dreamers, many-eyed faces, and mandalas composed of human and natural forms. Against these forms I placed just four sets of numbers.

When the center hole was drilled and the stem of the clock mechanism was inserted through the plexiglass, the faces began to represent real possibilities. Possibilities that could transcend time and space... If only for a few ----- units. 

The faces became reminders that clocks must not rule life.

This year, rather than making clocks, I obsessed on music. I collected every version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" into iTunes and made a continuously playable cd for the car and home. Now I can listen to it for as long as I want, without buds and wires hanging from my ears. 

Deprived of a working clock in the car, I find myself singing hallelujah a lot. 

~~~

Papal Confessions Over Due

With all the Papal confusion and the confessions in Belgium and elsewhere, I offer this photo abstraction of lustful behavior. Let it be known that we Sincerely do inhabit two worlds: Human flesh and spirit are united to the end. Get your shit together, Boss!  Stop relying on 13th century mentalities.

Papal_1

On behalf of all believers in the dignity of the human body and soul, I offer this Anima image as a prayer for peace and grace in the healing of all wounds.

Angelus

A Confession

I was a good Catholic boy until a cranky old priest broadcast my teenage sins from the confessional. His voice thundered throughout the dimly lit church where old Polish ladies knelt to pray for the last drippings from holiday gravy bowls and Papa's lingerings down at the tavern.

I didn't get gravy, didn't get beer! But I learned how to turn invisible as I walked out of the church.

Turkey Legs

Turkey Legs

 Gerry Zeck Photoshop manipulation, Dualities Series

Confrontation with a Feline

I barely caught Popi wearing Pam's pearls.

"Mine," she said, "They're mine!"

You can't reason with a stubborn Bengal.

~~~

Ed's Closet

Click to enlarge

If you've ever spent time cleaning up someone's estate, this may seem familiar.

Blind Ali

Looking for BP's oil spill, Tanda follows Blind Ali through Siberia.

A Touch of Color

Well, today I'm wondering how many of you are wasted on the bi-cameral brain topic. Fortunately, I am not quite done with exploring the associations, the rights and lefts, the blacks and whites. But here comes a little variation: a touch of color. Just a bit of color, like a piece of chicken in a lettuce sandwich.

How's your chicken today? Well, Tanda's left brain, like yours, processes data in a serial manner I'm told. You can see where that leads him. His right hemisphere processes the world in parallel; notice the difference? At full size this drawing presents a true challenge to keep your feet. Wiggle, wiggle. Enough for today!

~~~~

Time to test another touch of color. Just for fun I decided to extract some residue from an empty ink jet cartridge. A few drops of Cyan ink were coaxed onto the drawing paper to begin the next ink therapy session. 

What, may I ask, is the imagination for? OK, so you compose your reality there; so do I. May your realities begin and end with big smiles. May your life be full of fun.