Rotary Telephones

By artist and cartoonist Jeff LeVine.

https://www.instagram.com/jefflevinecomics

I still have one. My father worked for the telephone company and he had a small collection of old telephones. I kept this one...it feels special somehow.

A War Anywhere...

Poster by multimedia artist and professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design Piotr Szyhalski. About the image, he says:

"For all the territorial obsessions, and the constant desire to redraw and defend the borders, war seems so obviously not contained by them. It spills, it spreads, it infects all. When we look away, pretend it’s not us, or that it’s not here: violence seeps through. Corrupts. Its malignant influence gnawing away at our humanity.

In the 20th century alone we killed more people in wars and ideologically or religiously motivated carnage, than in the entire human history prior to 20th century combined. Looking at our current century so far does not give much confidence. Ukraine, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Colombia, ... the list goes on, and on. And then there is the US, a country only 246 years old, yet at war almost constantly. Only 15 out of the 246 years we were not directly engaged in war somewhere, with someone, for some reason…"

Visit his Instagram to see more of his work:
https://www.instagram.com/laborcamp/
Or visit his shop to buy posters:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScEOz_HSKIJlmphFVMUpUufQx2h6N4SdIw2gZA6AuijJcjdPA/viewform

"Music For Psychedelic Therapy (Excerpt)" by Jon Hopkins

Sublime, profound sounds: "Music For Psychedelic Therapy (Excerpt)" by Jon Hopkins, from his recent release of the same name.

https://jonhopkins.co.uk/

BEAUTY: Paper Art--Cecilia Levy

Clever artist Cecilia Levy transforms old books and manuscripts into cute tea cups, tea sets, and bowls. Her approach is disciplined and the resulting pieces have a sort of minimalist flair. Magical...

Top to bottom: Band; Dear Jack; Longing, mocca set; Nothing is like expecting #5; Poesie; Red; Tea For Three; Tea For Two; Tea Party; Text Out

https://www.cecilialevy.com/

BEAUTY: Sculpture--Emmanuelle Piquart

I am enchanted with le petit peuple de terre, the Little People of Clay as sculptor and ceramic artist Emmanuelle Piquart calls them. Just look at their lovely innocent faces, all shining and happy. These tiny busts mounted on long metal stands are absolutely charming. There a lot of photos on her website of her atelier in Marseille where she makes other ceramic objects as well as 2D art. I'd love to visit...but more than that, I would love to have some of these sweet innocents gracing my home.

https://emmanuelle-piquart.com/

Happy Birthday Aries!

Happy Spring Equinox 2022!

Happy Spring Equinox 2022!

The day and night are of equal length today. Perfect symmetry.

Artists For Ukraine at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

The Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York and Los Angeles presents "Artists For Ukraine" from March 11 to April 8, 2022. The Gallery reps some very high profile artists who have donated works for sale on-line, with all proceeds going to organizations and charities that are helping Ukrainians refugees.

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery —its staff and artists — are shocked and appalled by the catastrophic human rights tragedy taking place in Ukraine. Our hearts go out to the innocent civilians, families, and especially children, caught in the crossfire of violent conflict. Unfortunately, empathy is not enough when confronting such challenging moments in history.

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery stands with Ukraine. With this announcement, we are launching a sale of important works by gallery artists with 100% of proceeds donated to relief organizations helping to alleviate the suffering of those seeking refuge from the conflict in Ukraine.

While we understand the limits of our influence and power in the context of this global conflict, we also believe that momentum starts with individual and local community activity. As a gallery, we have specific tools at our disposal. We have a platform. We have a certain power in communicating ideas. Even more, we are part of a community of artists, collectors and patrons who can help to raise funds so desperately needed right now.

Our gallery artists have been extremely supportive and generous in offering important work for this cause. We urge those who receive this message, and are in a position to collect, to consider one of these works for acquisition. Collectors will do so with the knowledge that the full purchase will be donated and all funds raised will be split evenly between the three organizations listed below.

For others interested in offering direct support for organizations involved in humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, we have included additional links at the bottom of the page.

Thank you in advance for your attention and support.

The image below is by Sabine Hornig. Intricate details from the cityscapes depicted in her commission for LaGuardia Airport are featured in individual photographs, digitally composed images that integrate succinct quotes from former mayor Fiorello La Guardia. Having famously described New York City’s unique image as “the entire world in microcosm,” La Guardia becomes a figure in Hornig’s work who embodies how leadership shapes our shared environment.

Please consider buying some art or donating to the organizations who are working to help victims of this shameful war.

https://www.tanyabonakdargallery.com/viewing-room/58-artists-for-ukraine/

Sabine Hornig's work can be seen here:
https://sabine-hornig.de/de#image-5

17.3.22

I'll have a boxty and a Guinness...

Top to bottom: St. Mary's Old Parish graveyard, Cahir, Ireland; Roadside sign, Cahir, Ireland; Ben Bulben mountain from Drumcliffe, Ireland; St. Columba's Church, Drumcliffe, Ireland; grave of W.B. Yeats, St. Columba's Church, Drumcliffe, Ireland; Giant's Causeway sign, County Antrim, Northern Ireland; Giant's Causeway sign, County Antrim, Northern Ireland; Giant's Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland; basalt columns at Giant's Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

All photos above by JEF


"Belfast Child" by Simple Minds
When my love said to me
Meet me down by the gallow tree
For it's sad news I bring
About this old town and all that it's suffering
Some say troubles abound
Some day soon they're gonna pull the old town down
One day we'll return here
When the Belfast Child sings again

Brothers, sisters, where are you now?
As I look for you right through the crowd
All my life here I've spent
With my faith in God, and Church, and the Government
But there's sadness abound
Some day soon they're gonna pull the old town down

One day we'll return here
When the Belfast Child sings again
When the Belfast Child sings again

So come back Billy, won't you come on home?
Come back Mary, you've been away so long
The streets are empty, and your mother's gone
The girls are crying, it's been oh so long
And your father's calling, come on home
Won't you come on home, won't you come on home?

Come back people, you've been gone a while
And the war is raging through the Emerald Isle
That's flesh and blood man, that's flesh and blood
All the girls are crying but all's not lost

The streets are empty, the streets are cold
Won't you come on home, won't you come on home?

The streets are empty

Life goes on

One day we'll return here
When the Belfast Child sings again
When the Belfast Child sings again

http://www.discoverireland.com/us/

http://www.simpleminds.com/sm/index.php

Citizen Brick Ukraine LEGOs

Citizen Brick, an independent LEGO retailer who creates their own fun minifigures, has created two new pieces to help Ukraine: all proceeds go to charities supporting Ukrainian refugees.

Their figure of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is $100 and worth every penny.

And the Molotv cocktail with the blue and yellow Ukraine flag is only $20.

Purchase these at the Citizen Brick website and help the victims of this insane war.

https://citizenbrick.com/

"The Curse of the Blackened Eye" by Orville Peck

Another great song and video from Orville Peck (previously here)! He has been releasing several videos for his upcoming album release, "Bronco" on April 8, 2022. I love this song, "The Curse of the Blackened Eye"...it has a wonderful pensive quality that feels like it might have even been a Patsy Cline song once upon a time. And the video stars actor Norman Reedus as a dark specter that could be the embodiment of depression, or the leftover shade from a lost love...which results in said depression.

I’ve been hiding out, running from the curse of the blackened eye
Uh huh
Darlin’ I can feel it coming every time
I sat around last year, wished so many times that I would die
Uh huh
Left it all and now I can see the night
It’s true – true it follows me around
Nothing to lose – wouldn’t miss it anyhow

It ain’t the letting go, it’s more about the things that you take with
Uh huh
And I can feel it getting closer with every kiss
You gotta beat or join ’em, try to act surprised
Just flip a coin cuz I’m too bored to lie
It’s true – true it follows me around
Nothing to lose – wouldn’t miss it anyhow

Always said I should work on my escape
Have a heart too long, it’s bound to break
Acting out the opus of your last eternal ache
Boy, just sing the song for heaven’s sake

It’s true – true it follows me around
Nothing to lose – wouldn’t miss it anyhow
It’s true – true it follows me around
Nothing to lose – lost it all anyhow

Northeast sun, northeast sun
Northeast sun, yeah – northeast sun

https://www.orvillepeck.com/

BEAUTY: Painting--Men of Antiquity, Part Ten

In a continuing series (previous entries seen here), here are, yet again, a lot of handsome-ass men from long ago...

Top to bottom: Albert Edelfelt--Self Portrait, Paris, 1874; L. Doucet--Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac; Philip Alexius de László--Francis Wright Fabyan Jr.; Thomas Gainsborough--Gainsborough Dupont, the artist’s nephew; Gustave Courbet--Self Portrait; Philip Alexius de László--John Loader Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby; George Louis Carspecken--Portrait of a Young Man, 1901; unknown artist--Portrait of an Artist; Attributed to François Clouet or Pierre Dumonstier, Dated 1568--Portrait of an Unknown Man; Ferdinand Bol--Portrait of Carel Fabritius; Émile Jean Horace Vernet--Portrait of Charles Auguste de Bériot; Denman W. Ross--Portrait of Henry Hunt Clark; Eugène Déveria--Théodule Déveria; Vlaho Bukovac Veldes--Portrait of Gustav Pongratz