BEAUTY: Painting--Chris Stott

I am in awe of these impeccable, photorealistic paintings by Chris Stott. He elevates vintage objects like cameras, typewriters, electric fans, and books into charming celebrations of an era that created solid, dependable industrial objects that were also beautiful. But the way he does it blows my mind: working in oil on canvas, he manages to capture every element, curve, fold, reflection, and shadow of these still lives. Such work requires incredible skill and control of the medium.

Selected prints of his work can be bought at his sites!
https://chrisstott.com/
https://www.xmarksthestott.com/

All The Love

The first time I died
Was in the arms of good friends of mine.
They kiss me with their tears.
They hadn't been near me for years.
Say, why do it now
When I won't be around, I'm going out?

"We needed you
To love us too.
We wait for your move."

Only tragedy allows the release
Of love and grief never normally seen.
I didn't want to let them see me weep,
I didn't want to let them see me weak,
But I know I have shown
That I stand at the gates alone.

"I needed you
To love me too.
I wait for your move."

All the love, all the love,
All the love you should have given.
All the love, all the love,
All the love we could have given.
All the love, all the love,
All the love

The next time I dedicate
My life's work to the friends I make,
I give them what they want to hear.
They think I'm up to something weird
And up rears the head of fear in me.
So now when they ring
I get my machine to let them in.

"I needed you
To love me too.
I wait for your move."

All the love, all the love,
All the love you should have given.
All the love, all the love,
All the love we could have given.
All the love, all the love,
All the love

"Take care, tootle-ooh."
"Bye."
"Bye for now then."
"Bye!"
"Later."
"Bye!"
"Cheerio."
"Bye!"
"Bye bye."
"Bye."
"Stay healthy."
"Bye-ee!"
"Bye."
"Bye."
"Cheers."
"See ya, love."
"Bye!"
"Good bye."
"I'll see ya soon."
"Good night."
"We needed you
To love us too.
We wait for your move."

http://www.katebush.com/home

READ! Fight The Coming Conflicts!

Or the ones that are already here.

https://zenpencils.com/comic/149-mother-jones-sit-down-and-read/

Currently watching...

..."The Magicians" on Syfy while I have had the stomach flu for several days. This bug hit me hard and I was really not in a position to do much of anything but catch up on what's on the DVR in between naps (um, very long naps).

Maybe it's because I have been steeped in that weird, sick, delirium/fever dream way of looking at reality when one is ill but the show just struck me right. Based on author Lev Grossman's Magic Trilogy (THE MAGICIANS, THE MAGICIAN KING and THE MAGICIAN'S LAND), the story could be compared to a cross between the Harry Potter and Narnia books but with clear adult themes. I've not read the books, but I can see the comparison. Yet it feels a little unfair to suggest such an idea because somehow it all seems fresh. Quentin Coldwater (played by Jason Ralph) grew up reading a series of books called "Fillory and Further," about three British siblings who can enter a magical realm through a tall case clock (invoking Narnia) and spends his life longing for a sense of magic here and now. He gets his wish when he is summoned to Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy where he learns that, indeed, magic is real and that there is a reason he feels a connection to the books he loves.

The story presents the actual practice of magic not in a Harry Potter way, but more in a Harry Dresden way (previously here) in which magic is a physical act that requires energy. To create something, that something must come from something else. And Newton's Third Law plays a big role too: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." It's fun to see "magic" more as science than impossibility. After all, Arthur Clarke himself suggested that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Go to the official website at Syfy to watch the first four episodes if your DVR can't find them...
http://www.syfy.com/themagicians

BEAUTY: Painting--Jordan Buschur

Jordan Buschur paints stacks of books as if he were the love child of Francis Bacon and Wayne Thiebaud! There is a nice geometry and safety with books (they hold and safeguard information), but here they seem haphazard and lumped together. A nice juxtaposition...

Top to bottom: An Outline; Complete Guides; How To Be; No Thank You; Options Open; Possible Potentials; Step One; Weight

http://jordanbuschur.com/

BEAUTY: Mixed Media--Alexis Arnold

Working with discarded books she has found in the street, San Francisco artist Alexis Arnold petrifies them in a crystal solution, making some rather lovely geode-like formations.

Arnold says, "The Crystallized Book Series addresses the materiality of the book versus the text or content of the book, in addition to commenting on the vulnerability of the printed book. The crystals remove the text and transform the books into aesthetic, non-functional objects. The books, frozen with crystal growth, have become artifacts or geologic specimens imbued with the history of time, use, and nostalgia. The series was prompted by repeatedly finding boxes of discarded books, by the onset of e-books, and by the shuttering of bookstores."

Top to bottom: The Alchemist's Handbook; All's Well That Ends Well; All's Well That Ends Well detail; Catcher In The Rye view and detail; Crime and Punishment; The Dictionary of Superstitions; Linux: The Complete Manual; The Autobiography of Benevuto Cellini

http://www.alexisarnold.com/

On My "To Read" List

BEAUTY: Illustration--Evan Lorenzen

Oh, the delightful irony: such huge ideas packed into such a tiny space. Miniature handmade books conceived, drawn, and made by artist Evan Lorenzen.

Big things do come in small packages...

The Mini Book of Major Events

The Little Book of Big Ideas

http://www.artandsuchevan.com/