One of these things is not like the others ...

Monday 10 August 2009

... one of these things just doesn't belong
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?


It was chilly at the Olinda Arboretum today. I'm talking spencer and long johns (sexy), long-sleeved top, windcheater, thick jacket, hat and gloves. After taking the little path wending its way off into the trees, I sure warmed up quick though. Heart attack walking. I need more of it.

I want to live in Olinda. I'm going to see if the mountain is there after this next firebomb summer. If it is, I seriously want to think about it.

It smelled so fine amongst all those trees. We saw nobody else on our walk. Heard nothing except the birds. It was rejuvenating.

Goodness me, look at those wrinkles :\


This below is Blob. He is my inner critic. As you can see, he is a surly bastard. It's funny, but externalising this part of myself has allowed me to have more compassion towards it somehow. Blob is scared. I can see it underneath his horrid ugly surliness :) I am hesitating about whether to smash him to pieces with a hammer. If I do, I am going to do it at Spring equinox. My inner perfectionist, which Blob fuels, however, feels much more inclined to smash him now that I have ruined him. This morning, while hollowing out his base, I inadvertently gouged a hole in Blob's throat. Which is ironic, really, considering that he's the bastard that gives me such struggle with speaking my own truth. Ha. See how you like it.

I could yell it at him but it wouldn't make any difference because while I was hollowing him out both his ears also fell off. I tell ya, my inner perfectionist screams seeing this thing with a hole in its neck and no ears. It maketh me to laugh.


I went to the Counihan Gallery yesterday afternoon specifically to see this. There were two of them, stuck up on the wall like deer heads. Amazing. And very confronting (as is much of the work by amazing artist Sam Jinks). Amazing, so unbelievably lifelike. A most disconcerting experience too because the heads are about half the size bigger again than a human head. So you're standing in front of this bloke looking at his nose hairs, literally, and feeling almost like he's going to open his eyes, this larger than life tattooed human with no body. Made me ponder and think lots about different sorts of things which I wont go in here because I don't want to sound like a wanker :)


Pic: Most likely copyright violations going on all over the place here, but you can see them at their rightful place at www.samjinks.com.

5 comments

  1. I quit oil painting because my perfectionism meant I never finished a work and when I stopped it never looked like what I had hoped. And it is messy. So I do stuff like Japanese calligraphy that is over in seconds and permanent, no second thoughts, no remorse, no erasing. It is all emotion from somewhere deep inside. I can empathize with your sculpting.

    Hyper-realism is spooky. I have seen paintings that were as unsettlingly real as that face upon the wall. What makes it all so spooky, I wonder?

    BTW, it is winter down under. So why are there leaves on the trees? Is that normal for your part of the world?

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  2. That is a great photo of you!

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  3. Hey Sue,

    Well, now I'm feeling a little sorry for Blob. I think I like him. I remember you saying you were going to make something, then smash it. Whatever happened to "Music Head"?

    I lived on a mountain once, and some days, all I heard was the sound of birds. It fed my soul.

    Oh, BTW, I like the first two photos - the 3rd one, not so much.

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  4. to answer the sesame street song:

    the first photo is not like the others

    it's you
    you are real

    not a figment of an artist's imagination or a fragment of an artist's inner world

    ~~~

    how amazing to see that out of clay you have sculpted compassion
    a gift for your own soul

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  5. Barbara - what a pain perfectionism is, huh? Calligaphy looks so difficult to me; I would MUCH rather read about YOU doing calligraphy than me do it :)

    I don't know about the hyper-realism, it's funny, isnt it. Part of it is this disorientation of feeling like your eyes are playing tricks on you because this person looks SO REAL it's almost impossible to believe what you know. It was sort of fun :)

    There are so many trees in the arboretum. Many of them have lost their leaves but yeah, there's still plenty that are deciduous even in winter. Lovely.

    Erin - thank you. I want to add disparaging remarks about myself and I am gritting my teeth to not do so :)

    Sherry - don't feel sorry for him. He does me dreadful amounts of damage. He is so unadventurous :) I am still working on "music head" - I keep changing my mind about how to do it.

    Oh, living on a mountain. That sounds delightful!!

    Kel - you are correct! Congatulations! Oh, and this comment was brought to you by the letter P and the number 7!

    I agree, sculpting compassion out of the clay has been really sweet :)

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