art
Katsushika Hokusai – Plum Blossom and the Moon
(from the collection of The Art Institute Of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Appalachian rock art an interconnected retelling of Native cosmology in three dimensions, even over vast distances
Ah, I love even the whiff of an idea like this! UTK anthropology professor Jan Simek postulates:
“The cosmological divisions of the universe were mapped onto the physical landscape using the relief of the Cumberland Plateau as a topographic canvas,” said Simek.
The location of each set of petroglyphs –surface, mixed surface & cave, and cave– was seen to correlate to the represented figure’s role in the Native cosmology of 6,000 years ago. Figures associated with life, light &c were found in open-air sites, whereas figures associated with darkness and death were found in caves. ‘Life figures’ were often painted red –a color the Native folk associated with life– whereas ‘death figures’ were often painted black, the color associated with death.
“This layered universe was a stage for a variety of actors that included heroes, monsters and creatures that could cross between the levels,” Simek said
For Dr. Simek –a professor at the University of Tennessee: Knoxville– this insight represents the culmination of a life’s work. Read the rest here.
Veniamin Briskin – Death To World Capitalism
Veniamin Briskin was a Ukranian-born Soviet artist whose art in the social realism style covered themes including capitalism and the American war against Vietnam. Click here to see a collection of his work at digitalsovietart.com.
![Veniamin Briskin - Death to World Capitalism [USSR, 1957]](https://wesharman.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/ki6ngie.jpg?w=705&h=428)
Albert Bierstadt – Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California, 1865
German-born American landscape master Albert Bierstadt is known for capturing the American West in its native dramatic light. His painting ‘Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast‘ hangs in the Seattle Art Museum.\
Katsushika Hokusai – A Woman Ghost Appeared From A Well
Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi – Red Sunset on the Dnieper
Joseph Mallord William Turner – Mortlake Terrace (1827)
The Social Consciousness Artwork of Ricardo Levins Morales
I first became aware of the work of Ricardo Levins Morales through his contributions to the much-lamented Northland Poster Collective in Minneapolis, MN. His broadly-lined woodcuts and illustrations are explosive, bold, evocative; a direct counterpoint to the sometimes delicate tint & color found in his skies, crowdscapes, and portraits.
I wasn’t able to find online representations of those selections of Levins Morales’ work I have in my home, but I did find one that used to hang in my office in the English Department at St. George’s University in Grenada, WI (so noted).
Levins Morales maintains an online studio and shop at http://www.rlmartstudio.com/ where he sells posters, buttons, stickers, and greeting & holiday cards (almost all along the lines of social justice, labor organizing, and various ongoing struggles for full civil rights). Click any image below to be taken to Levins Morales’ page for that piece. You should really browse a while. Odds are if you have a conscience you’ll find one of his works that speaks to you as well.
“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.” Dom Hélder Câmara © Ricardo Levins Morales All Rights Reserved
In the process of looking up information for this post I encountered this video of Levins Morales giving a brief tour of the former NPC space. He appears exactly as I expected.
Bea Arthur wrestling a velociraptor
Brandon Bird is a Los Angeles, CA-based artist who apparently has access to top quality hallucinogens.
A Biscuit In The Sun 