Film Review: Ancient Woods

I saw this film at the recent New Zealand International Film Festival. The festival has grown and developed over the years and has become quite a magical event. I thoroughly recommend it if you are in Auckland. Ancient Woods is a Lithuanian production and it’s a magical foray into the flora and fauna living inContinue reading “Film Review: Ancient Woods”

Ancient Word of the Day: Reave

Reave A long and low boundary wall or bank, found especially on Dartmoor and in Devon, mostly now sunk back into the landscape. Also, as a verb, to tear, split, divide or cleave. Rof/rifa An Icelandic word meaning to rip or tear something. Rof á landi refers to the rupture of the top soils ofContinue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: Reave”

Beltane of the Southern Hemisphere

Today, in the Pagan calendar, the north celebrate the coming of winter at Samhainn. And all the while the sun is peaking up from behind the lush vernal trees and dancing for us once more in the southern hemisphere, as we welcome Beltane on October 31st. Or as I like to refer to it BeltaneContinue reading “Beltane of the Southern Hemisphere”

Lucky’s 18th Birthday

Lucky sadly left this planet in recent months. Here he is a year ago on his 18th birthday. I just love this look of absolute and unfettered delight at eating the ice-cream cake. He was a good boy. My parents got him when he was only a puppy from the animal shelter. He was sentencedContinue reading “Lucky’s 18th Birthday”

All About Amazing Op Art

Op Art descended out of geometric art of the 50’s and the Bauhaus movement in Germany, which I have previously written about in the Origins of Flat Design. The 60’s was a period of discovery in science, psychology and new technology. This type of art reflects the experimental mood of that era. The pieces normallyContinue reading “All About Amazing Op Art”

The Sensual World of The Unseen By Photographer Duane Michals

Photographer Duane Michals pushes the boundaries of photography with evocative, erotic and sensual images. I’ve written about Polish poet Anna Świrszczyńska before, she also has a similar aesthetic. I think photographs should be provocative and not tell you what you already know. It takes no great powers or magic to reproduce somebody’s face in a photograph.Continue reading “The Sensual World of The Unseen By Photographer Duane Michals”

Forgotten Pop Art Pioneer Dorothy Grebenak’s Rugs Are Awesome

Dorothy Grebenak was born in Nebraska in 1913 and was a self-taught rug maker who originally made rugs stocked in a Brooklyn museum. Although these weren’t rugs in the folk style, they are designed to be displayed on walls as art. These rugs were depictions of humble and everyday objects, which brought them into theContinue reading “Forgotten Pop Art Pioneer Dorothy Grebenak’s Rugs Are Awesome”

Book Review: Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini

A surreal art book that redefines the meaning of imagination. Codex Seraphinianus has a lot in common with other bizarre books like the Voynich manuscript. This new edition by Italian publisher Rizzoli was republished in 2013. It has been redesigned by the author Luigi Serafini with includes new illustrations. The fascination and curiosity for CodexContinue reading “Book Review: Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini”

About Neon Art and Loneliness

There’s something comforting yet eerie about neon signs. They garishly proclaim sales on items, announce a lonely diner on a dark stretch of road, and tout the nefarious activities inside of peep shows and brothels. Neon signs have always fascinated me. They seem to emanate a metaphysical glow as though there is a secret messageContinue reading “About Neon Art and Loneliness”

Dismaland is Banksy’s dangerous molotov cocktail of pop culture rip-offs

Banksy’s pop up exhibition Dismaland in Weston super-Mare in Somerset this weekend  is a dangerous and provocative molotov cocktail of pop culture references, Eurozone politics, rabid consumerism, and Disney fetishism exposed for our bemusement. Graffiti artist Banksy along with fellow art legends Damien Hirst, Jimmy Cauty and Jenny Holzer have taken over a derelict beachside lidoContinue reading “Dismaland is Banksy’s dangerous molotov cocktail of pop culture rip-offs”